DisneyLife Reaches Ireland!
By Mallika Venkatramani | Nov 7 2017
Mallika Venkatramani discusses the launch of DisneyLife and recommends some classic Disney movies.Greetings, Disney fans! As you might have heard, we received exciting news on October 11th, DisneyLife, Disney’s streaming service, has landed on Irish shores. Ireland is the second nation after the UK to receive this service.DisneyLife is Disney’s own service that allows you to not only stream over 400 Disney movies, but also watch live TV from Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior, sing along to Disney tracks, read books of the Disney tales, and so on. You can begin a seven-day free trial after which the cost is €6.99 per month. It can be downloaded from Google Play, the App Store, or the Amazon App store, or subscribed to from your laptop. DisneyLife was a well thought out move on Disney’s part, as it allowed it to establish its own distinct platform for movie streaming, hence drawing increased attention and viewership, to its own productions.
Before the launch of DisneyLife in the UK in 2015, Netflix was the main site from which people streamed Disney movies. As the UK market displayed strong interest in Disney productions, Disney decided to test DisneyLife there. It quickly became a success. While Disney films are still available on Netflix, Disney has recently announced that it will withdraw its films from there and rely on its own streaming service. Given the movie and video streaming nature of both, many often compare DisneyLife with Netflix. However, unlike the latter, DisneyLife allows customers to stream books and Disney soundtracks, which allows the Disney fan-base to enjoy a closer interaction with Disney movies. The service aims to attract families and even allows family members to create Disney-character profiles upon subscription.The Walt Disney Company was founded by two brothers in 1923, with the Mickey Mouse cartoon series being their breakthrough. Subsequent years saw a growing audience and the premiere of the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937. It flourished in the following decades, producing endearing classics like Alice in Wonderland (1951), Robin Hood (1973) and The Lion King (1994). Disney movies and shows remain an integral part of the childhoods of today’s youth.Disney was the first company in the film and entertainment industry to achieve such success and fame such that it opened theme parks, but it certainly faces competition from various other entertainment companies today. Disney’s theme parks have become hugely popular and successful worldwide, does launching DisneyLife give Disney the same edge over other entertainment companies? DisneyLife was a well thought out move on Disney’s part, as it allowed it to establish its own distinct platform for movie streaming, hence drawing increased attention and viewership, to its own productions. By providing its members with more than just movies and TV shows, DisneyLife aims to increase audience engagement, using features such as books helps meet this aim.DisneyLife allows customers to stream books and Disney soundtracks, which allows the Disney fan-base to enjoy a closer interaction with Disney movies.
The service was well received in the UK and has retained a good number of UK viewers. The next step in making DisneyLife global has been the expansion to Ireland. This availability means that Irish viewers can choose from a large collection of movies to stream. If anyone is unsure which film to watch, The Lion King or Pocahontas are always sure to entertain and inspire.The Lion King is a family favourite. Simba, a young cub of Mufasa, the king of a pride of lions, grows up to confront and oust his scheming uncle Scar. An important take-home message from this story is that our world is not a Utopia; one should have the courage to stand up for his or her own rights and must remember that good will ultimately triumph over evil.Pocahontas is a gem among the Disney Princess movies. We see how a young Native American woman, Pocahontas, the daughter of the tribe’s chief, meets and falls in love with John Smith, a young Englishman. This message is very relevant to the current day and age where we still see violence every day based on people’s differences, on a large and small scale.If you have not previously heard of or accessed DisneyLife, now is a great time to explore it. A feast of Disney awaits all, so hurry up, get some ice cream and a huge bowl of popcorn, and start streaming your favourite Disney movies.