With 10 million downloads on launch day Nov 12th, Disney+ offers a sweeping challenge to its primary competitor, Netflix

Disney+ Ties into the Company’s Rich History of Storytelling, its Theme Parks, Live Entertainment and More

Disney stands apart from other streaming services in offering theme parks and live entertainment for consumers directly that tie into its new video streaming service, Disney+. Guests who visit Walt Disney World Resort in Florida can enjoy live shows and entertainment from DJ dance parties to kid parties, costumes, photo ops, themed food and beverage, and unique merchandising for original shows such as The Mandalorian at Keystone Clothiers, Star Wars Launch Bay and Tatooine Traders at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. New guests and existing fans of Disney can also sign up for Disney+ at any of its theme parks or stores. www.disneyplus.com

“Disney Plus is the future of our company.”

— Disney

Disney also offers new videos sharing the company’s history of original storytelling and its founder, Walt Disney’s vision.

“There’s no real secret about our approach. We keep moving forward.”

— Walt Disney, founder of Disney

Ad-Free and Affordable with 10 Million Downloads on Launch Day

Unlike the video streaming platforms Hulu and ESPN+, both of which Disney has a stake in, Disney+ is completely ad-free. Back in April of this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger shared more specifics about Disney+, the company’s new online video streaming service at the end of the investor call.

Disney+ is not the company’s first streaming platform as the company already successfully launched ESPN+, the sports-centric video streaming service earlier this year in April, built on technology developed by BAMTech, an arm of the Major League Baseball Advanced Media www.mlb.com that develops direct-to-consumer streaming technology.

Hot on the heels of Apple TV+ launch on November 1st and premiering at $7/month on November 12th of this year, Disney+ secured over ten million downloads on launch day — an unparalleled feat for any online video streaming service and outperforming analyst expectations by over two million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Disney+ offers a seven-day free trial before payment commences. The service is a discount compared to Netflix’s lowest tier that starts at $9/month.

After demand exceeded expectations, Disney+ suffered some launch problems such as slowed streaming and users being pushed out of the app for several hours — something that did not go unnoticed by rivals in the increasingly competitive online video streaming direct to consumer space. Nonetheless, this is expected to be remedied and managed well as the company’s new service continues to expand to households worldwide. HBO Max from AT&T and Peacock from Comcast also debuted soon after Disney+, showing how eager companies are to offer consumers direct entertainment online. Despite its technical glitches and its entry into an increasingly crowded space of entertainment options, Disney+ stands apart because of its large content library of original content, existing popularity, global reach and scale. To put it in perspective, HBO Now took three years to reach 5 million subscribers — something Disney+ achieved in half a day on launch.

Verizon has also offered a full year of free Disney+ service to all subscribers on its unlimited plan. Ronan Dunne, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, reported that Verizon has approximately 100 million total wireless subscribers, of which half — 50 million — are on unlimited plans, according to Variety.

Impressive Lineup of Content: Exclusive Home of Disney Favorites, New Movies and Shows, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic

With almost 500 movies and 7,500 original shows, Disney+ comes in strong with a massive content library that includes both new and old Disney favorites previously not available on streaming networks, new movies and original shows in development and the full catalog of original content from its acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

While the entire catalog of each entertainment brand in the Disney portfolio is not available immediately as some still have existing contracts with Netflix that will expire in three years, Disney+ does include popular favorites like the entire first two Star Wars trilogies and the newer movies “Force Awakens” and “Rogue One” as well as Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame.” Also with its acquisition of Fox, Disney now is the sole distributor of “The Simpsons” series.

Disney+ Worldwide Rollout In Stages

Disney+ will roll out worldwide in stages, as revealed during its investor call over the next two years.

Currently, Disney+ is available in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. Disney+ will launch in Western Europe on March 31st. This includes the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other areas. The service is slated to roll out in Eastern Europe and Latin America starting in October 2020 and in Asia Pacific in progressive stages over the next two years.

The Mandalorian: A New Era for Star Wars

Disney+ offers an original spin-off from the Star Wars franchise with “The Mandalorian,” written and produced by Jon Favreau, known for “Ironman” and “The Lion King.” Each episode has a different director. “The Mandalorian” is a story about a lone gunfighter in a lawless galaxy. It also introduces a baby Yoda character, who has already stolen hearts all over the Internet, propelling searches for baby Yoda toys right before Christmas. Baby Yoda not only appeals to fans of the adult Yoda created by Daniel Oz in the original Star War series, but has enthralled new audiences in a charming way that only Yoda can.

How to Stream Disney+

Disney offers many ways to stream its new popular video service via smartphones, tablets, computers, connected TVs and also streaming media. The company has agreements in place with numerous tech companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft as well as TV and streaming media service companies such as Sony and Roku. Disney also has recently expanded Disney+ to Amazon, Samsung and LG. Thus you can watch Disney+ using any of these methods below:

Roku's boxes, sticks and TVs
Apple TV, iPhone and iPad
Smartphones and TVs running on Android operating systems and Chromecast streamers
Xbox One
PlayStation 4
Amazon Fire TV devices
Samsung smart TVs
LG smart TVs

Product Features

Disney + offers features such as:

streaming 4K Ultra HD content in Dolby Vision, HDR10 and Dolby Atmos immersive audio
simultaneous streaming to 4 devices
creation of 7 user profiles for 1 account with over 200 avatars available
unlimited mobile downloads for offline viewing for up to 10 mobile devices
English, Spanish, French and Dutch at launch with audio support and subtitles
support for closed captioning, descriptive audio and navigation assistance for subscribers with disabilities

Every week, we’ll feature an in-depth review of one Disney+ original show, allowing for at least five to five episodes to be live first, before we offer any perspective on it. Enjoy! In the meantime, go ahead and sign up for Disney+ at www.disneyplus.com and try it out for the first week. Share your feedback or ideas you want to share about this post at hello@elf.agency.

Create characters that people can relate to.

Comic book writer and storyteller Stan Lee brought to life superheroes with flaws - men and women who had imperfections and problems that differed greatly from the ideal archetypes that were written for preteens. Lee had started early in the business, like Walt Disney, following his heart, to work in the creative industry writing stories.

For example, Peter Parker was an anxious teenage science student when a radioactive spider bites him, transforming him into the agile, super strong Spider Man. Despite his heroic acts where he changed the world for the better, Spider Man still struggled with his teenage problems with girls, being bullied and his own angst. He was flawed, lovable and heroic all at once - a complex, compelling and relatable character. While Batman was a superhero of epic proportions, Spider Man was a kid with real problems who was making things up as he went along, who inspired us but also invoked our sympathies. Peter Parker was truly a friendly, neighborhood Spider Man!

Offer Life Lessons in Memorable, Unique Ways

While many readers young and old alike, may never read French author Voltaire, Stan Lee etched Voltaire’s famous words permanently in the minds of comic book readers and fans of the Spider Man movie franchise worldwide. The famous phrase “With great power comes great responsibility” was perfectly illustrated in the stories of Spider Man, teaching readers self-discovery and responsibility.

Provide Individual Empowerment and Representation

Few franchise writers and storytellers have pushed forward the concept of equality and empowerment as vigorously and consistently as Stan Lee did in his Marvel series. His characters also evolved over time and provided powerful examples of freedom and individual achievement and prowess, which in turn, inspired people worldwide. This is most noticeable in the Black Panther series, particularly after the release of the new movie based on Stan Lee’s comics in 2018, that was very popular among the African American community, providing long-desired theatrical representation in an empowering way.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Lee wanted his character of Peter Parker to be imperfect, awkward at times and relatable. He chose to work with Steve Ditko to do this instead of Jack Kirby who was known for making perfect superheroes. Ditko had studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. When Spider Man’s popularity catapulted Lee into the spotlight, he did not take all the credit for himself and shared it with his co-creator, Steve Ditko. He also publicly stated that he could not have truly envisioned the lovable, flawed, angst-filled teenage character of Peter Parker without the assistance of Ditko.

Stay Positive

Born on December 22, 1922 in Manhattan, New York, Stan Lee started working at a very young age, taking on odd jobs to help the family and meet the month’s rent. In later interviews after he had achieved success with his comics, Lee shared that his mother’s optimism and encouragement had a very positive influence on his life and perspective, enabling him to believe that he could do anything he wanted. This sunny perspective helped him throughout his career.

Don’t Take it All Too Seriously

Like the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, Stan Lee liked to poke a little fun at himself and the movies inspired by his stories by appearing in cameos. His cameos range from avoiding falling concrete to watering his lawn, delivering the mail, crashing a wedding and more.

Astutely enough, in Spider-Man 3 (2007), Lee chats with Tobey Maguire's character, Peter Parker, on a street by Times Square. They read the news that the web-slinger will soon receive the key to the city.

A Month Into Its Launch, Disney Reveals Its Long Range Prowess as Disney+ Ties Into Theme Parks and More

With 10 million downloads on launch day Nov 12th, Disney+ offers a sweeping challenge to its primary competitor, Netflix

Disney+ Ties into the Company’s Rich History of Storytelling, its Theme Parks, Live Entertainment and More

Ad-Free and Affordable with 10 Million Downloads on Launch Day

Impressive Lineup of Content: Exclusive Home of Disney Favorites, New Movies and Shows, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic

Disney+ Worldwide Rollout In Stages

The Mandalorian: A New Era for Star Wars

How to Stream Disney+

Product Features

Profile: Stan Lee, Marvel Legend, Comic Book Writer and Creator of Beloved Superheroes

Few storytellers have inspired the imaginations of adults and children alike across the globe so vividly with such a lasting impression as Stan Lee.

Create characters that people can relate to.

Offer Life Lessons in Memorable, Unique Ways

Provide Individual Empowerment and Representation

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Stay Positive

Don’t Take it All Too Seriously