Disney Movies, Where to Begin?

PeachyGigi

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 6, 2020
To answer the first initial question, "Have you been living under a rock?" Yes, yes I have. I grew up super poor, didn't have a TV until I was 14. No cable or anything, just PBS. I'm 31 now, so I grew up during the release of a bunch of Disney movies but only got to see a few. I believe I saw maybe 6 in my whole life. I saw them when I was a little kid, so I don't remember much about them. I recently came across some lovely British Disney vloggers and realized that Walt Disney World/Disneyland existed and people regularly traveled there. Traveling is something I have wanted to do my entire life and I do intend to go to Disney in the future. So, for someone who is a Disney newbie and may some day go to Disney, which movies are "must watch" before I go? Are there any movies that I have to see to understand what is going on during rides or shows?
 
This post is for anyone who has more questions about my "under a rock" life. It isn't relevant to my questions, so feel free to skip it. If you are completely bewildered how someone could live 31 years without knowing of Walt Disney World or Disneyland, then read on.

I knew of the Disney brand because of the few movies I saw as a kid, but I never saw the parks until recently. I grew up in a family that taught me not to want anything, not to ask for anything, not to dream, because you'll never get what you want so what's the point? No TV, no movies, no books, no video games, no trips, no internet, nothing. It wasn't feasible to drive 30 minutes to the nearest library when you barely had enough to eat and gas was expensive. I never touched a computer until High School. Never experienced the internet until then either. Youtube didn't even exist yet. After High School, I went directly to community college and juggled 18-20 credit hours every semester [12 credit hours is full time], plus a job and later an unpaid internship too. I didn't have time for anything and really had no money to spend. I lived at home, in the same situation I grew up in. All my money went toward splitting rent/utilities/food/gas in the car and paying for textbooks and other college necessities. By the time I graduated, I was so burnt out, that I didn't really care about anything. I lived for so long deprived of media, that I didn't have any interest in it. It is very easy to live oblivious when you don't know what you are missing. Yes, my life seems completely out of the realm of possibility, but I'm probably not the only one who lived like this. This wasn't meant to garner sympathy or anything like that. I've had to explain to people about my upbringing all my life, so I know there will be questions that need answers. I hope this answered them.
 
Hi, Peachy. Welcome to the Dis!

It's great that you are becoming inteested in Disney, but don't worry, nothing is essential to watch before visitning the parks, at least not to where you wouldn't understand. A lot of times the rides made me more interested in the films, so it can work both ways. I do think a great place to start with Disney would be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated feature. That's the baseline and a true classic. You might also watch some Mickey Mouse shorts. Other than that, there are so many great ones, I could practically recommend them all! I think, Dumbo, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty are the real classics. There's always Mary Poppins too which may be the most "Disney" of all movies. There's some fun stuff after that but they don't become essnetial agian until The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and others from that time. Toy Story is a good way to get into the Pixar side of things and more recent high-water marks are Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. Have fun exploring and hopefully you will discover some favorites in the bunch!
 
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The Disney parks nowadays focus a lot on their most recent films like Frozen and the Star Wars franchise, The Lion King and movies since the late 80's to the present. But any movies are a good starting point. The previous poster is correct and has a lot of good ideas for you.
 
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My advice- if it is in budget, grab a subscription to Disney+ ($5.99/mo or so? can be cancelled at any time), and just start browsing. Start stuff that looks interesting to you, and if it doesn't hook ya, pick something else. One of the great things about that service is you have access to a HUGE collection of Disney movies, shows, shorts, etc.. as well as documentaries on those shows, Disney itself, the various production houses (Pixar, Lucasfilm, etc), and it is not terribly expensive.
 
BTW, many public libraries have DVDs that may be checked out. So that's essentially a free way to find some Disney movies.
 
My advice- if it is in budget, grab a subscription to Disney+ ($5.99/mo or so? can be cancelled at any time), and just start browsing. Start stuff that looks interesting to you, and if it doesn't hook ya, pick something else. One of the great things about that service is you have access to a HUGE collection of Disney movies, shows, shorts, etc.. as well as documentaries on those shows, Disney itself, the various production houses (Pixar, Lucasfilm, etc), and it is not terribly expensive.

I agree! It appears you should seriously consider a Disney+ subscription, or see how you can get a free trial. That way, if a film is doing nothing for you, you can simply turn it off.

That Darn Cat! (1965) and Swiss Family Robinson are great examples of live-action films. While I would of course recommend Snow White, Pinocchio is one I would probably start with.
 


Thank you so much for your great advice everyone! I do know about Disney+ but finding an extra $70 a year is a bit tough right now. I've used the library in the past, but I haven't had the best experiences with it. I've ordered movies only to be disappointed in the fact that they are too scratched to play. It takes a week to get the movie, sometimes longer, and by the time it gets there and is unplayable, I have to start the process over again. You can't pick the copy you want [luck of the draw which gets sent], so I have to borrow a family member's card and request another copy while holding on to scratched copy so they don't send it back to me again. After a couple tries, I just gave up. I toyed with the idea of just renting a few Disney movies on Amazon/Youtube [this was before Disney+] but it always seemed like too much money. At one point, a lot of the classic Disney movies were $14.99 each to watch.
 
Thank you so much for your great advice everyone! I do know about Disney+ but finding an extra $70 a year is a bit tough right now.
You should be able to sign up just on a month by month basis. Watch a bunch of stuff in a month for like $7, then cancel until you could get it again.
 
You should be able to sign up just on a month by month basis. Watch a bunch of stuff in a month for like $7, then cancel until you could get it again.

Exactly.. we signed up for month-to-month for the first couple of months to make sure we'd like it and continue to use it, and when we were convinced, converted to an annual subscription to save a few bucks. (And to correct my original post, it is $6.99/month for month-by-month, rather than the $5.99 I quoted)
 

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