While this had been announced as coming today – I don’t think anyone ever really realized what it meant. This is not a Disney+ Original. This is a Disney Channel special that is literally not premiering on Disney Channel. Based on Disney’s usual style of scheduling mistakes I am fairly confident they meant to schedule it for next Friday (one week after airing). This is backed up by the awful decision to announce yesterday that the 50th Anniversary of Disney World special airing on ABC October 1st will be available next day on Hulu but “later in the month on Disney+.” Way to make Disney+ sound 2nd tier…
But regardless, here it is. Enjoy it before it “officially” premieres tonight on Disney Channel.
I’m going to say it – this should have been a Disney+ Original. They still could have aired it tonight but it would have been promotion for Disney+ at the same time. Hire me… I would make better choices and deemphasize linear.
For those unaware – DisneyNow has always operated this way. Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD episodes are added at 2AM Chicago time the day their air. As a result, it’s always been possible to see Disney Branded TV content before it premieres which is really odd and a reason people are so frustrated with Disney’s release windows on Disney+. If DisneyNow can premiere ever episode of their shows ~17 hours before they air on TV why can’t Disney+? Why does Disney+ usually wait until the following week to add content that aired in the previous week?
We may never know.
Do you wish Disney+ did same-day (or next day) additions of episodes like DisneyNow? Do you think this premiere was accidentally scheduled before it airs?
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
