It’s time to peer here, documentary fans! Tune into the Disney+ streaming platform and its whole world of things to learn. Witness the neck and neck competition with cute doggos training to become guide dogs, jump into the magic behind Disney theme parks, and dive into the comic book inspiration behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Disney+ spans six various content brands, including Marvel, Pixar, National Geographic, Star Wars, and Star. Animals, superheroes, film crew, ballet dancers? Disney+ has got it all.
1. Blast through the MCU in Marvel, 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop
If you’ve watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Emily VanCamp makes a familiar reappearance as host in this hour-long special. The time speeds past in this fast-paced recap: from the low times when Marvel was struggling within the dying comic industry in the 1990s to the current, massive, global-scale Marvel Cinematic Universe it is today.
Fun fact: “Iron Man”, which was a groundbreaking concept within the broadcast world back then, would not have existed without Marvel declaring bankruptcy. Whatever do we mean? You’d have to watch to find out!
2. Never let it go with Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2
We know you’d totally shiver with excitement for Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2. Go behind the scenes with directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, listen to the songs that never made the cut, and learn all about that Frozen trivia. The six-episode series will keep inspiring kids to belt out “let it go” for the hundredth time in forever.
Fun fact: The documentary doesn’t miss out the real moments, like how career mum Jennifer Lee juggles helping her daughter with homework while directing the all-time highest-grossing animated film, ever. Totally relatable.
3. Cheer for your favourite dog in Pick of the Litter
Going one level up beyond YouTube cat videos is this wholesome six-episode series on guide dog training. The dog-compete-dog world in Pick of the Litter will tickle your doggy-loving bone while shedding a light on what it takes to succeed at the ultimate doggy career – a guide dog.
Fun fact: The photogenic Guide Dogs For the Blind are siblings! Only one winner will emerge among Paco, Pacino, Tulane, Raffi, Amara, and Tartan.
4. Exercise the non-sweaty way with Brain Games
It’s all fun and games until you feel challenged to think harder. Then it gets mind-bending, then personal, and then intense. Exactly what went down in Brain Games. (Well, we might be exaggerating, but this show wasn’t an Emmy® Award nominated documentary for nothing!)
This documentary explores the science of fascinating topics like perception, memory, attention, illusion, stress, morality, and more. Through interactive games and experiments designed to mess with your mind and reveal the inner-workings of your brain, you might just end the episode feeling like you spent a productive 30 minutes attending a psychology class.
Fun fact: When the show aired its second season in 2013, the series premiere broke viewer records for the National Geographic channel.
5. Salivate as a food traveller with Gordon Ramsay Uncharted
This man needs no introduction. We could, however, do with his introduction of cuisines in exotic, far, obscure places. (Plus, watch him get scolded by the native master chefs.) From the mountains of Morocco to valleys in Peru, from rugged landscapes of Tasmania to the bayous and swamps of Louisiana waterways, there is no native landscape left uncooked.
Fun fact: Watch Gordon Ramsay learn how to make his first beef rendang in West Sumatra, Indonesia!
6. Or travel far away with the animals in Great Migrations
This is so much better than the screen-saver scenic pictures that pop up on idle devices. Enjoy the rustic scenes of far-flung landscapes in extra crisp high-definition shots as you follow the animals across seven episodes.
Fun fact: This documentary took three years to film, and won the Primetime Emmy as Best Documentary Film for its stunning cinematography and photography.
7. Relive your theme park adventures with The Imagineering Story
What does it take for a theme park to become the happiest place on earth? This documentary goes behind the scenes – all the way back to the craft and magic of Disney theme parks. This six-hour deep dive by the Academy Award nominated director Leslie Iwerks will walk you through the walls into the heart of Walt Disney Imagineering, a place best described as equal parts artist studio, design center, think tank and innovation laboratory.
Fun fact: Creating happiness is hard work, but the unique blend of artists and engineers – these designers of happiness – are called Imagineers by the people at Disney.
8. Be On Pointe on all things cool
Follow the posture-perfect ballet students as they train relentlessly in the School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City. Featuring unprecedented access to the famous ballet institution, the six-part docuseries follows the lives of the students ages 8 to 18 pursuing their dreams – and spinning us a captivating glimpse of what it takes to become ballet dancers.
Fun fact: The filming team had to follow the students’ busy schedules for this docuseries and was largely dependent on SAB’s schedule. They said, “We were truly a fly on the wall – nothing is manufactured or scripted.”
Discover all sorts of content on Disney+
If you’re looking for even more Disney+ content to watch, why not check out our article 10 must-watch Disney+ shows! From the award-winning Hamilton, to the classic Titanic, to a galaxy’s worth of Star Wars content, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
