Back view of a relaxed family watching TV on sofa in the living room. (Photo: Getty Images)
As if parents weren’t already freaking out about Disney’s new streaming service, now they are throwing in sports and The Handmaid’s Tale, too.
Disney announced Tuesday it would bundle its three streaming services — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — for $12.99 per month.
Hulu now costs $5.99 and ESPN+ costs $4.99. When Disney+ starts later this year, it’s to cost $6.99. So the cost savings of the bundle is about $5 per month (Starbucks coffee anyone?).
The company seems to be really going after Netflix, whose standard plan costs, you guessed it, $12.99 per month.
Disney is making the package available Nov. 12, the same day its new streaming service launches.
(Photo: Walt Disney)
So, why will parents throw all their money at the Disney+ bundle?
While we do our best to manage screen time, sometimes the only 30 minutes we have to do the dishes is while the kids are watching an episode of “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Those kids’ shows will be covered by Disney+.
Then, when they finally fall asleep…it’s binge-watching time! Enter Hulu and ESPN+ content.
Here are more reasons parents are losing their minds over the new streaming service and bundle.
Lots of your kids’ favorite shows and movies are here
By the end of the first year, Disney+ promised to house more than 8,000 Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic movies and TV shows.
Some popular titles on the list so far include “Frozen,” “Moana,” “The Incredibles,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Toy Story” and “Wall-E.”
And yes, it also includes “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Hot dog! (Netflix will continue to stream some recent tiles as late as mid-2020).
This image provided by Disney shows a teenage Elsa the Snow Queen, voiced by Idina Menzel, in a scene from the animated feature "Frozen." Although the animated film opened late in 2013, the story of Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven easily outpaced other vote-getters like ìSherlockî star Benedict Cumberbatch, TV guru Shonda Rimes, musicians Beyonce and Pharrell Williams for entertainer of the year. "Frozen" has earned Disney more than $1.27 billion at the box office worldwide, becoming the most successful animated movie of all time. Its signature song ìLet It Goî won an Oscar and a national touring live version on ice has been a huge draw. (AP Photo/Disney) ORG XMIT: NYET999 (Photo: Disney via AP)
Recent Disney releases will be there
Disney’s newest live-action films “Dumbo,””Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and more will stream exclusively on Disney+, after their theatrical and pay-TV runs. The list will eventually include the much-anticipated “Frozen 2” and “Toy Story 4.”
And let’s not forget “Captain Marvel,””Avengers Endgame,” and “Star Wars: Episode IX” for the older kids.
New stuff for kids to watch
It probably won’t be long before your kids to get hooked on something new, and parents will be hiding their kids’ devices. Some are:
- “Forky Asks a Question” and “Lamp Life,” animated spinoffs based on characters in “Toy Story 4.”
- “Monsters at Work,” a series inspired by “Monsters, Inc.” with returning cast members Billy Crystal as Mike and John Goodman as Sullivan.
- “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” 10 episodes following a group of high-school students through life and friendship.
- Hulu original “The Bravest Knight” is a new animated series following Nia on her path to knighthood.
Disney+ will have nothing rated R
The Disney+ streaming service is family-friendly, so no R-rated programming is planned. Kids’ profiles will provide parental controls to help keep children away from more mature content.
This is huge in a time of the Momo Challenge and other concerns about the safety of kids on the internet.
Everything can be downloaded
All content on Disney+ will be available for download. So that means you can download “Frozen” for your kids to watch 100 times on that eight-hour road trip, with no internet connection needed. (Just a lot of storage space.)
Hulu and ESPN+ offer post-bedtime binges
Hulu originals include “Veronica Mars,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Castle Rock” and more. Plus there’s old favorites like “Seinfeld” and “Cheers.”
As for ESPN+, the service now offers live games from MLB, MLS, NHL and more. It also shows UFC fights, tennis, and “college sports like football, basketball, and lacrosse,” the website says.
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