Want to compare the 1961 version of The Parent Trap with the 1998 remake with Lindsay Lohan?
Now’s your chance!

During the almost four weeks my family has been ‘social-distancing’ at home, and with longer on the horizon, we have been trying to find ways to keep occupied. Naturally, we turned to Disney for some help! 

We have watched many ride videos (Splash Mountain and Soarin’ are our current favorites), listened to Disney playlists on our Alexa, and played all the Disney board games we have (which is a lot). 

But our favorite by far has been the Disney+ movie marathons! We subscribed back in November when the service launched and until now have watched it sporadically, but with nothing else to do lately we have been making great use of our subscription. We had a family movie night to watch the new release of Onward (great job by Disney releasing this so soon) – we all enjoyed the touching story about two brothers so much so that my boys have watched it almost every day since!

Besides being home to two of my favorite Disney movies ever, the under-rated Meet the Robinsons and the beloved Coco, Disney+ has enough options for the whole family!

Movie/TV Series

• Toy Story – Toy Story 2 is my personal favorite, and my boys (ages 5 and 8) really love Toy Story 3. But don’t get me started on Toy Story 4, I am not ashamed to say I wasn’t a fan. We love the shorts though, especially the hilarious new Forky Asks a Question! By far this is the one series we never get tired of.
• Incredibles – Watch the original on Disney+ and Incredibles 2 on Netflix (until July 30, when it moves over). Tough call here, but I do like the original best. 
• Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet – My kids love these and I have to admit, the movies are pretty clever. Ralph Breaks the Internet will be available on Disney+ in December 2020, but for now you can catch it on Netflix.
• Marvel – My kids are a bit young to be into the Avengers but if you’re a fan, you’ve really hit the jackpot on Disney+. Have your own Marvel movie marathon and spread it out over days/weeks to give yourself something to look forward to! 
• Star Wars – For Star Wars fans there is the extra treat of adding The Mandalorian series to the existing set of movies. 
• The Imagineering Story and One Day At Disney shorts – These are MUST sees for true Disney fans!

Musicals

Besides all the usual Disney princess favorites (Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Frozen, Moana) that you can sing along to, here are some others: 

• Disney Descendants – These are exactly the kind of movies that I would have loved as a kid.
• High school Musical – Beyond my time, but fun for kids of all ages!
• Camp Rock– See where the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato got their start!

Disney+ also has a great selection of movies that you may have always wanted to watch with your kids but never had the time – like such 90’s classics as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Honey I Shrunk the Kids! (and sequels), Newsies, Cool Runnings, and baseball favorites like Rookie of the Year. Or one of the greatest sports movies ever, Miracle (besides Rudy, which is sadly not available on Disney+, though I have an old DVD I may dig out one of these days). Honorable mention to the Mighty Ducks and Mighty Ducks 2 (the rare case where the sequel is better than the original), not available until July 2020 and January 2021 respectively.

Which of these will be next on your list to watch? Tell us!

by Regina Saake – Director of Communications Marketing at ET Family Travel