If you haven’t read my previous post about Disney introducing VHS to their company and eventually phasing out so they could produce DVDs, check it out here!

What feeling does this video bring you?

Disney DVD logo and introduction. Video by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL4xo5Wtmok

For some, going to the theatre was the only way to see Disney films as a child. For others, placing chunky VHS cassettes into a player and rewinding it all the way back to the beginning each time was the only way to watch a Disney classic. For the newer generations, DVD and streaming services are the way to enjoy them, and VHS may not even be in their vocabulary. So how did Disney DVD begin?

The Limited Issue Series

Disney began releasing DVDs of some of their live action movies in 1998, and created a plan for some of their animated features for the year after. The Limited Issue series was a collection of 8 animated classics and 1 direct-to-video feature to be released on DVD. The collection included:

Pinocchio
101 Dalmatians
Hercules
Mulan
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride
The Little Mermaid
The Jungle Book

It wasn’t as successful as anticipated, as the retail price for these movies were extremely high. It also wasn’t ideal because each film was only available for a few weeks, so if you missed your favourite film on the market, you were out of luck; they would be returned to the vault. Instead of letting all of these classics go to waste, some of them were later included in other collections to be released again.

Gold Classic Collection

Following the failure of the first collection, Disney decided to go a different route this time and not put a limited time on every film they put out. Now, consumers could buy the titles at any time for a smaller price. This collection started in 2000, ending in 2001, but the 47th anniversary of 101 Dalmatians in 2008 made it into the collection too. They were released as a DVD and a VHS. Pinocchio, Mulan and Hercules were included again within this collection for rerelease.

The company finally realized that consumers wanted more than just the film to be included with the hefty prices, so they started adding extras and sing-alongs to each disc too. And although it was marked as unlimited, Pinocchio and Mulan eventually were taken off the market as this collection still wasn’t very successful. There were 26 films in this collection, including Toy Story, The Three Caballeros, A Goofy Movie, A Bug’s Life, and other titles that had already been released in the past.

Collector’s Edition

Along with the previous edition, the Collector’s Edition was from 2000 to 2002 and included far less movies, but also had multiple discs in a set. You could buy a collector’s edition of the Toy Story series including the original and the sequel, as well as The Fantasia Anthology. The rest of the collection included Tarzan, Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Platinum Edition

The most popular collection of them all, the Platinum Edition was created to celebrate the top-selling Disney films to hit the market. Originally it was comprised of 10 films, all with 2-disc features and were released twice during the year from 2001 to 2009. The original 10 were:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2001)
Beauty and the Beast (2002)
The Lion King (2003)
Aladdin (2004)
Bambi (2005)
Cinderella (2005)
Lady and the Tramp (2006)
The Little Mermaid (2006)
The Jungle Book (2007)
101 Dalmatians (2008)

Platinum edition Aladdin. Image from: https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/walt-disney-characters/images/31374738/title/walt-disney-dvd-covers-aladdin-2-disc-platinum-edition-photo

Eventually, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty joined the lineup to create this master list of Disney classics. These titles were released again as the Diamond Edition series, which catered to Blu-Ray systems as opposed to DVDs. They were released in a different order from 2009 to 2015, and Disney has not returned to Blu-Ray since. There were other special anniversary editions and collections that have been released all throughout this time, but this routine eventually came to an end when streaming services picked up.

Disney+

Disney+ began development in the mid-2010s, and sent out a test in the UK in 2015. Since then, Disney+ was fully developed and launched in November 2019, finally ending the tradition of keeping Disney films locked up until certain release dates. The Disney Vault is now a category to search for on the streaming service, opening your eyes to all of the classics you may have missed out on over the years. I have it, and personally believe it’s worth it to have these films you may have watched on VHS tapes as a child at your disposal. It continues the magic.