One of my earliest childhood memories is of walking hand-in-hand to my childhood best friend’s house, directly across the street from our ivy-covered preschool. We would snuggle into their big family couch and eat smuggled pink and white animal cookies as an after-school snack. Occasionally, we would multitask and play with her larger-than-life pink Barbie cruise ship while watching our favorite TV shows. It was the early 2000s, Justice was the brand to wear and My Scene dolls were a household staple.
Turns out, we can re-visit that era, and from the comfort of our own homes. Disney+, which launched earlier this week, was met with instant media frenzy. Similar to other streaming apps such as Netflix and Hulu, Disney+ is a streaming platform with a monthly fee, which includes movies and TV shows which can be watched on multiple devices. Intrigued, but unwilling to pay for it (as most college students are), I was thankfully given the login info of a friend.
And let me tell you: Worth. It.
The idea of Disney+ seemed mildly entertaining when it was brought to my attention, but experiencing it firsthand was a time trap. For the first time since 2001, I watched Lizzie McGuire and was instantly transported back in time to sitting on the Polly Pocket-covered floor of a friend’s house, where we sat eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not only does Disney+ contain a plethora of original Disney movies and shows, it also streams Pixar, National Geographic, and Marvel offerings. Last night, my housemates and I came home after a long day of Week 8 drudgery, made Trader Joe’s chocolate chip cookies, and watched Tangled. There is literally nothing better than that.
Why is this new streaming site so popular? Because it’s nostalgic. Because it houses the shows of our youth, which coincided with the various phases of our lives. I know I’m not the only one who remembers watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody after school instead of doing homework, or going to the movie theaters to see Up the day I graduated from 5th grade. Those moments, those shows, still hit home.