Best Disney Plus deals: Watch for 2 months FREE


(Image: DISNEYPLUS • EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)

Disney Plus (stylised as “Disney+”) is home to a wealth of popular TV shows, documentaries, and blockbuster movies, including every Star Wars film, hand-drawn animated classics from Walt Disney, all entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the latest films from Pixar Studios and Fox Searchlight, as well as award-winning documentaries from National Geographic.

And that’s not even mentioning the ever-expanding catalogue of films and boxsets created exclusively for Disney Plus, including award-winning shows like The Mandalorian, The Bear, Abbott Elementary, Prey, The Menu, Welcome to Chippendales, and more.

Given all of that content, it’s unsurprising Disney Plus has now toppled Netflix as the most popular steamer on the planet – beating Apple TV+, Prime Video (pretty shocking given Amazon still offers a 30-day free trial to binge-watch without paying), BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and many, many more.

Disney Plus is also where you’ll find critically acclaimed series from US streamer Hulu, such as Dopesick, Reboot, and Only Murders In The Building. The all-new The Kardashians reality series is exclusive to Disney Plus worldwide. Every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including recent movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness as well as exclusive series Secret Invasion, Ms. Marvel and WandaVision can be streamed and downloaded on the platform.

All-new TV shows set within the Star Wars universe, like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Andor are only available on Disney+, alongside shorts starring fan-favourite characters from Pixar like Cars and Walt Disney animated films such as Frozen and Zootopia.

All to say… whatever your tastes, there is plenty to binge-watch on the streaming service.

Unfortunately, the  is no longer available in the UK, but there are ways to catch the latest shows from Disney+ without paying. Buying an annual subscription drops the price of the streamer down to £79.90 – the cost of a 10-month subscription. That means you’re effectively getting two months for free when you pay upfront. You’re also shielded from any spontaneous price rises that might be announced in the next 12 months or so.

And that’s not the only Disney Plus deal available – there are a number of ways to save on this must-have streaming service. Scroll down for the latest deals and answers to some of the most commonly-asked questions about Disney Plus, news on the latest releases coming to the streamer, and more.

Get annual subscription to Disney Plus for lowest ever price

For a record-low Disney+ subscription, you can combine the lower cost of a one-year plan (Disney charges just £79 for its annual subscription, compared to over £95 if you subscribe on a rolling monthly basis) with a £15 discount code that’s available for a limited time to new members who sign-up for TopCashback.

For those who don’t know, TopCashback is a brilliant tool for bargain-hunters that returns a small percentage of whatever you’re buying online.

All you need to do is launch your chosen retailer – like Amazon, Currys, Argos, or in this case, Disney Plus – from the TopCashback dashboard and then shop as usual with the same login, same saved payment card, same shipping address. But a few days after your order has shipped, you’ll be credited with cashback from the purchase.

For a limited time, new TopCashback members will get £15 to spend on any existing deal from its partners.

With both the one-off £15 discount code and lower-cost of the annual plan applied to your Disney Plus subscription, you’ll pay less than £5 per month to watch everything on the streamer ad-free. And because you’ve paid for a one-year plan, you’ll be shielded from any price rises in the next 12 months.

That could be incredibly important with the expected launch of a new ad-supported subscription tier for Disney Plus users in the UK next year which, if the House of Mouse follows the same pattern established in the United States, could see the price of the ad-free plan increased and the new ad-support tier take its place – leaving the starting price untouched.

Get free streaming on Disney Plus for 2 months

While Disney Plus doesn’t offer a discount on its pay monthly plan, those who opt for an annual subscription will secure a generous discount of £15.98.

Put another way, you’ll be getting two months for free compared to those who pay each month. That’s a pretty solid deal.

In total, Disney charges £79.90 per year for its 12-month Disney Plus plan. And there’s another bonus of opting for this deal – buying an annual subscription to Disney+ means you’ll be shielded from any price rises that occur during the following year. That’s because you’ve paid in advance, rather than on a rolling monthly basis.

This has already happened once in the short time since Disney Plus launched in the UK back in March 2020. The following year, Disney introduced its new Star brand, which is aimed at an older demographic than some of the other sub-brands within Disney+, like Pixar.

With the arrival of 270 films and 75 boxsets, Disney decided to increase the monthly cost for all subscribers from £5.99 to £7.99. However, those existing Disney subscribers who had bought an annual plan ahead of the price rise were able to avoid the extra cost for almost an entire year!

With another price rise on the way, CEO Bob Chapek has already confirmed to shareholders, you’d be wise to sign up for Disney’s 12-month subscription service as soon as possible!

Get 3 months of Disney Plus for just £8

If you shop at Tesco, you can trade your Clubcard points for a free subscription to Disney Plus.

A three-month subscription code – worth £24 when bought by non-Clubcard owners – will cost you just £8 in Clubcard vouchers. Crucially, if you don’t have enough vouchers, you won’t be able to pay £8 in cash to unlock the deal – it has to be Clubcard points, which is bad news for those who don’t own a Clubcard or who shop at a different supermarket chain.

After the three-month period ends, you can choose to continue to subscribe with a 30-day rolling contract, or you can walk away. If you have collected enough Clubcard vouchers, you can trade these for another three-month subscription to continue watching.

Get £2 off Disney Plus with O2

O2 customers can enjoy some stellar deals on Disney+ right now. If you’re looking to buy a new smartphone or upgrade to a new SIM-only plan, you can claim a six-month subscription to Disney Plus for free. O2 offers a range of free subscriptions to new customers or existing users who take out a new plan, including Amazon Music, Prime Video and Audible. You’ll need to select Disney+ when presented with the list of O2 Extras during the checkout process. This deal is available on the most popular smartphones available today, including the latest iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and many more. You can shop the full range here.

If you’re already with O2, and not looking to buy a new handset or SIM plan anytime soon, you can still enjoy a discount. If you add Disney+ to your current plan within the My O2 account settings, the subscription fee (£7.99) will be included as part of your monthly direct debit for your pay monthly smartphone deal or SIM plan. However, O2 will discount your bill by £2 each month just for linking your Disney Plus subscription to your O2 account. That means you’ll be getting Disney Plus for £5.99 a month.

And that £2 a month discount isn’t limited to the same six-month promotional period as the free subscription, either. As explained in the small-print on O2’s website “we’ll give you £2 off your bill each month for as long as you keep the paid Disney+ Extra”. That makes it a slightly better deal than buying a 12 month subscription direct from Disney Plus, although of course, if you’re not already with O2, you’ll need to calculate whether you’ll be able to get the same deal on your phone bill as your current provider.

What is Disney Plus?

Disney+ (pronounced “Disney Plus”) is a video streaming service launched by the House Of Mouse to compete with the likes of Netflix and Prime Video.

The Walt Disney Company had previously experimented with its own subscription service with the launch of DisneyLife in the UK in late 2015. However, Disney had signed deals with a number of companies, like Sky TV and Virgin Media, to broadcast the Disney Channel and a number of its blockbuster movies. Netflix and Prime Video also carried a number of Walt Disney-owned titles, and the former was the home to a number of exclusive shows with Marvel characters, including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and more.

But that all changed with the arrival of Disney+. The boxsets produced exclusively for Netflix will now appear exclusively on the House Of Mouse’s own streamer.

Not only that, but Daredevil will return in a continuation of the Netflix-produced show, dubbed Daredevil: Born Again, next year with much tighter integration with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe …something that wasn’t possible when the property was owned by a rival streaming platform.

Disney Plus is available on iPhone, Android, tablets, Smart TVs, laptops, games consoles, and more (Image: DISNEY)

Likewise, the Disney Channel is no longer available on Sky TV and Virgin Media TV. Instead, it can be streamed exclusively on Disney+.

In March 2020, DisneyLife was shuttered and replaced with Disney+ too.

And finally, Disney+ hosts a number of shows unavailable anywhere else. The critically-acclaimed Dopesick and The Dropout, which both premiered on Hulu – a streaming service owned by The Walt Disney Company that’s only available in the United States, can only be watched on Disney+ in the UK.

A number of films, like Fresh, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story have also premiered on Disney+ in the UK after leaving your local multiplex. The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe films, like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and Thor Love and Thunder, arrived on Disney+ within weeks of leaving cinemas. Disney has also commissioned a number of shows exclusively for Disney+, including The Kardashians, which sees the Kardashian family return to reality telly following the end of their Keeping Up With The Kardashians show.

Disney+ Subscription – In Numbers

Picture quality

HD and 4K Ultra HD

Broadband speed required

5.0Mbps for HD, 25Mbps for 4K UHD

Parental controls

Yes on all platforms

Minimum commitment

One-month rolling contract, cancel anytime

Smart TVs supported

Android TV, Hisense, LG WebOS, Panasonic, Samsung Tizen

Devices supported

Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV (4th generation and later), Chromecast, NOW, PlayStation, Roku, Sky Q, Sky Glass, Virgin TV 360, Xbox Series X|S, iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire tablets, Windows 10 and 11 tablets, macOS, Windows

Web browsers supported

Google Chrome version 75 and later, Microsoft Edge, Firefox version 68 and later, Safari version 11 and later, Chrome OS 79 and later

Disney Plus price rise

From November 1, there will be a monumental shake-up in how Disney Plus subscriptions work in the UK. From that date, Dixsney Plus will launch 3x different subscription tiers – replacing the one-size-fits-all approach at the moment…

  • Disney Plus Standard with Ads | £4.99
  • Disney Plus Standard | £7.99 per month, or £79.90 annually
  • Disney Plus Premium | £10.99 per month, or £109.90 annually

Those with an existing plan Disney Plus plan will keep the same features, which will be renamed Disney+ Premium.

The only way to keep all of the same features currently available with the single £7.99 subscription – including the ability to stream in 4K Ultra HD with HDR and Dolby Atmos, download content to watch offline, stream on four devices simultaneously – is to pay for the Disney Plus Premium plan at £10.99.

An annual subscription costs £109.90, or roughly the cost of 10 months with a rolling monthly plan.

Customers will have the option to switch to Standard Plan or Standard with Ads Plan.

Both the Standard Plan or Standard with Ads Plan on Disney Plus will max-out at a 1080p High Definition (HD) resolution with Stereo Sound or 5.1 Surround Sound not Dolby Atmos. These subscriptions enable up to two devices to watch content with the same login simultaenously.

As the names of these pricing tiers suggest, Standard with Ads will have advertisements during your shows and movies, while the Standard plan will be ad-free. The only other difference is the latter supports downloads for offline viewing.

If you subscribe to the one-and-only Disney Plus subscription at the moment with an annual plan at £79.90 – you’ll pay £30 less than you’ll need to pay to access all of the same features (4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos, Streaming on 4x Devices) when the new pricing plans are introduced in the UK on November 1, 2023.

When did Disney Plus launch?

Disney+ made its debut in the United States, Canada and Netherlands at midnight on November 12, 2019.

It was followed by an expansion to Australia, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico on November 19, before its release date in mainland Europe and the UK came around in March 2020. Disney+ is currently available in 60 nations around the globe, with plans to expand to 42 new counties by the end of summer 2022.

For comparison, Netflix is now available in 190 countries worldwide. When the US streaming service rolled out across the globe back in 2016, expanding from 60 countries to 190 nations in one fell swoop, CEO Reed Hastings announced that it was “the birth of a new global Internet TV network”.

Disney offers apps for a wide range of devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android, Smart TV, Fire TV (Image: GETTY • IMAGE POSED BY MODELS)

What’s available to watch on Disney Plus?

Disney+ brings together a wealth of content owned by the Walt Disney Company, including the feature-length animated films that its brand is most associated with, like Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, films and shorts from Pixar Studios (acquired by Walt Disney in 2006), such as Toy Story, Wall-E, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and more.

It also bundles every entry in the Star Wars saga, which became part of Walt Disney following its acquisition of George Lucas’ Lucasfilm firm back in October 2012 for $4 billion, as well as exclusive new entries, like the award-winning The Mandalorian and hugely-popular Obi-Wan Kenobi. The events of these shows are considered canon and could impact future feature film instalments set in the Star Wars universe. A number of other shows, like Andor and Ahsoka, are scheduled to launch in the coming months.

The Simpsons, which came under the ownership of Walt Disney when it bought most of the properties owned by 20th Century Fox in December 2017, is available in its entirety on Disney+ with new episodes arriving each week as they air on FOX in the United States.

Other titles previously owned by 20th Century Fox, including the likes of Alien, Die Hard, The X Files, Avatar, X-Men, Ice Age, Independence Day, Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, American Horror Story, Prison Break, to name a few, are now available on Disney+ under the banner of sub-brand Star.

The Mandalorian is an exclusive Disney show set within the Star Wars universe (Image: DISNEY PLUS)

Disney+ also includes all entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, which has been owned and operated by Walt Disney since 2009. As well as the 29 film instalments in the ongoing saga, which includes some of the biggest blockbuster hits of all time – like Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and The Avengers, which have all cracked the top ten biggest grossing films in the history of cinema.

Disney+ is the exclusive home to a number of new series set in the same universe. Shows like WandaVisionLoki, Hawkeye, and Moon Knight are already available to stream, with new entries in the pipeline like She-Hulk: Attorney At LawLoki: Season 2, Ironheart, and Secret Invasion.

Ms Marvel is a new Disney show that introduces the latest hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Image: DISNEY PLUS)

Boxsets that were created in collaboration with Netflix, like Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, have vanished from the rival streaming service and found a new home on Disney+. One of the most popular Netflix-produced shows, Daredevil, has been renewed by Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel years after Netflix squashed all dreams of further adventures. The new show, Daredevil: Born Again, arrives in the coming years and will be tightly integrated with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Rounding out the selection on Disney+ is National Geographic, which hosts a number of its most popular and critically-acclaimed shows and films, including Free Solo, The Rescue, and Cosmos. A number of new shows, developed for Disney+, have also appeared under the National Geographic banner, like The World According to Jeff Goldblum.

What devices can I watch Disney Plus on?

Like most modern video streamers, Disney+ is available on a wide range of devices. However, each subscription is limited to a maximum of four devices simultaneously, so larger families will need to make sure they’re under the limit before launching the Disney+ app on another device.

You can create up to seven profiles with each Disney+ subscription, which will be synchronised across all of your devices, so you’ll be able to see your Watch List across all of your gadgets and resume any ongoing boxsets or movies with a single tap. Everything you watch on your Disney+ profile – even if it’s across different devices – will be used to improve the intelligent recommendations surfaced on the main menu when you login.

Here are all the ways to watch Disney+

  • Web Browsers (Google Chrome version 75 or newer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox 68 or newer, and Apple Safari 11 or newer)
  • Apple iPhone
  • Apple iPad
  • Apple phones and tablets running OS 5.0 (Lollipop) or newer
  • Amazon Fire tablets
  • Windows 10 & 11 tablets and computers
  • Android TV
  • Hisense Smart TVs
  • LG WebOS-powered Smart TVs
  • Panasonic Smart TVs
  • Roku-powered Smart TVs
  • Samsung Smart TVs
  • Amazon Fire TV streaming set-top boxes and Smart TVs
  • Apple TV 4th Generation or newer
  • Google Chromecast
  • NOW (formerly NOW TV)
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Roku streaming set-top boxes
  • Sky Q
  • Sky Glass
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X
  • Xbox Series S

Upcoming Disney Plus releases

Despite launching a few years ago, Disney+ has built up an enviable library of shows and movies that you cannot watch anywhere else. Excitingly, Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek has confirmed that it plans to add much more content to the streaming service in the coming months and years.

Delays to productions due to the Covid-19 pandemic have slowed the arrival of a number of projects commissioned for Disney+, however, the company has now achieved its internal goal of launching at least one new title on the streamer every week. And starting next year, Disney+ will double its production output, then-CEO Bob Chapek confirmed.

There’s already plenty on the horizon to get excited about. Disney+ has announced an impressive slate of titles for the next few months. Here’s what we know is coming to the streaming service in the coming weeks and months…

Coleen Rooney – The Real Wagatha Story

This exclusive three-part Disney Plus documentary looks at the jaw-dropping libel case that gripped the nation in 2022.  The series will be told through exclusive access to the woman at the heart of it all, Coleen Rooney, alongside interviews with family, friends and key players involved in the resulting trial.

Uncovering one of the biggest tabloid news stories in Britain for the last decade, it reveals how Coleen turned amateur online sleuth to find an explanation for why private stories concerning herself and her family continued to appear in the media.

The three-part series looks at the circumstances that led to her infamous Instagram post that ‘broke the Internet’ all the way to Coleen successfully defending herself in one of the UK’s highest-profile High Court defamation cases of recent years.

As well as the case itself, we will explore how Coleen has had her life played out in public for the last 20 years. We know her as one of Britain’s most famous celebrities and the wife of England’s record-scoring footballer Wayne Rooney. 

Release Date – Autumn 2023

Culprits

Culprits explores the law of unintended consequences, when a crew who have gone their separate ways following a high stakes robbery find themselves being targeted by a killer one-by-one. The cast includes Gemma Arterton, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Eddie Izzard, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Niamh Algar.

Mixing dark drama, with moments of absurdity and jet-black comedy, Culprits is a propulsive thriller where the extraordinary and the everyday live side by side, the past and present collide and where you can never really leave your old self behind. The series kicks off where most crime stories end. What happens after a heist, when the crew have gone their separate ways, and everything suddenly starts to go scarily wrong. The question is, why, and who is behind the mayhem?

Release Date – Autumn 2023

Welcome To Wrexham (Season 2)

Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds run Wrexham Football Club as they try to create an underdog story that the world can root for From Hollywood to Wales, the docuseries tracks their crash course in ownership and the interwoven fates of a team and a town.

Release Date – September 13

The Kardashians (Season 4)

The family you know and love is here with a brand new series, giving an all-access pass into their lives. Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall and Kylie bring the cameras back to give truth to their stories. From the intense pressures of running billion-dollar businesses to the hilarious joys of playtime and school drop-offs, this series brings viewers into the fold with a rivetingly honest story of love and life in the spotlight. New episodes will be available every Thursday.

Release Date – September 28

Brawn, The Impossible Formula 1 Story

This brand-new unscripted four-part documentary series with Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix Resurrections) tells the remarkable story of how, in 2009, competing in the most expensive and technologically advanced racing series on Earth, the impossible happened.

An understaffed, underfinanced and independent team won the World Championship – with a team that cost just £1. Go behind the scenes of this Formula 1 fairytale with the people who were there – on the track, in the garage and the boardroom – giving their own thrilling versions of a miraculous year. Expect exclusive access to the F1 archives – much of it previously unseen – from a year that global sport will never forget, with contributions from British F1 driver Jenson Button and Ross Brawn, who led the team to victory.

Release Date – Late 2023

The Lions Of Sicily

Set between 1800 and 1861, the eight-part series follows the Florio family as brothers Paolo and Ignazio, two small spice merchants, escape from a Calabria stuck in the past – in search of social redemption. In Sicily they invent their future, turning a small, run-down shop into a flourishing business activity that young Vincenzo, with his revolutionary ideas, will transform into an economic empire.

However, overwhelming Vincenzo’s life and that of the entire family is the disruptive arrival of Giulia, a strong and intelligent woman who acts in contrast with the rigid rules of the society of the time. The series stars Michele Riondino (Fidelity), Miriam Leone (Diabolik), Donatella Finocchiaro (Upside Down), and Adele Cammarata (Elementi).

Release Date – October 25

The Other Black Girl

Nella, an editorial assistant, is tired of being the only black girl at her company, so she’s excited when Hazel is hired. But as Hazel’s star begins to rise, Nella makes a shockingly sinister discovery and quickly spirals out of control. Starring Sinclair Daniel, Ashleigh Murray, Brittany Adebumola, Hunter Marrish. Executive Producers include actress Rashida Jones.

Release Date – September 13

Loki (Season 2)

Marvel Studios’ first-ever second season of a series. It features Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, picking up immediately where Season 1 left off.

Release Date – October 6 



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