May 2020 New TV Shows & Movies on Disney+
Wondering what’s coming soon to Disney Plus? Here’s our guide to all of the new television shows, movies, specials, and other titles that will be added to Disney+ in May 2020.
With Walt Disney World and Disneyland still closed indefinitely, we need to get our Disney fix somehow, making Disney+ the top temporary ticket. Plus, we noticed a few standout pieces of programming on the press release Disney+ sent out, and thought we’d share the list along and highlight a couple of our favorites.
We’ll start be sharing the list of Disney+ additions over the course of the month, followed by some commentary. Suffice to say, it should be a pretty good month on the Disney+ streaming service…
May 1, 2020 New Library Titles
Awesome Animals (S1)
Birth of Europe (S1)
Bride of Boogedy
Buried Secrets of the Bible with Albert Lin (S1)
CAR SOS (S1 – S7)
Disney Kirby Buckets (S1-S3)
George of the Jungle
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
How to Play Baseball
In Beaver Valley
Lost Treasures of Egypt (S1)
Love & Vets (S1)
Nature’s Half Acre
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Prairie Dog Manor (S1)
Primal Survivor (S1-S4)
Prowlers of the Everglades
Secrets of the Zoo
Secrets of the Zoe: Tampa
Survive the Tribe (S1)
United States of Animals (S1)
Unlikely Animal Friends (S3)
Water Birds
May 2, 2020 New Library Titles
John Carter
May 22, 2020 New Library Titles
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story
Disney Just Roll with It (S1)
Disney Mech-X4 (S1-2)
Disney Vampirina (S2)
Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Heartland Docs, DVM (S1)
Hello, Dolly!
Marvel’s Future Adventures (S2)
May 29, 2020 New Library Titles
Disney Doc McStuffins (S5)
Disney Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (S1)
Disney The Evermoor Chronicles (S1-2)
Mickey and the Seal
The Moon-Spinners
Violetta
May 2020 Disney+ Originals
The press release lists a lot of Disney+ original programming, including several new episodes of Be Our Chef, Disney Family Sundays, One Day at Disney, and It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer. I don’t care about any of these shows (no offense if you do), so I’m not going to fixate on any of them.
Instead, I’ll highlight some of the most interesting episodes…
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian – An eight-episode documentary series that pulls back the curtain on The Mandalorian. Each chapter explores a different facet of the first live-action Star Wars television show through interviews, behind the scenes footage, and roundtable conversations hosted by Jon Favreau.
I question whether the Mandalorian really needs an eight episode documentary, or if this is simply a “lack of content, so let’s milk our flagship show for a bit more” scenario. Either way, I’m eager to give it a chance–there have been several ‘making of’ glimpses of the Mandalorian, and it was pretty fascinating stuff–particularly the way it was shot.
Prop Culture (all 8 episodes) – Film historian and prop collector Dan Lanigan reunites iconic Disney movie props with the filmmakers, actors, and crew who created and used them in some of Disney’s most beloved films.
Throughout this journey, Dan will recover lost artifacts, visit private collections, and help restore pieces from the Walt Disney Archives to their original glory. Among the films featured this season are Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Mary Poppins, The Muppet Movie, TRON, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
I already shared some thoughts on this in another recent post, so I won’t rehash those here. Suffice to say, I’m hoping for something that offers a deep dive into the Walt Disney Archives for each of the aforementioned films.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Series Finale) – Ahsoka and Rex must use their wit and skills to survive the turbulent end of the Clone Wars.
I’ve never watched this series and had many preconceived notions about it until the chorus of fan praise became too much to ignore. With nothing better to do for the next ??? weeks/months, it’s probably time to give this series a chance.
One Day at Disney (E123) – Ride along with Attractions Host Joe Hernandez aboard the historic Mark Twain Riverboat and take in the iconic scenery around the Disneyland Resort. From the helm of the wheelhouse, Joe creates a mesmerizing and memorable experience for all guests, young and old, as they embark on one of Disneyland Resort’s favorite floating adventures.
Not a huge fan of this series, but I’ll watch anything set on the Rivers of America at Disneyland. Especially right now.
One Day at Disney (E124) – Fulfilling her lifelong dream of working with horses, Stephanie Carroll has served as a Ranch Hand at Walt Disney World Resort’s Tri-Circle-D Ranch for over 8 years. From caring for the majestic Cinderella Ponies to driving the Main Street Trolley, Stephanie creates magical moments for guests by bringing fantasies to life through her love of horses.
Ditto the above, but with the caretakers of the critters of the kingdom at Walt Disney World.
One Day at Disney (E125) – Ride Project Engineering Executive Ed Fritz brings new attractions like Avatar Flight of Passage to life through cutting edge immersive and interactive technology. From the initial sketch to the grand opening, Ed is one of the many talented cast members behind Disney’s favorite attractions.
Imagineering one of Walt Disney World’s best attractions? Sign me up.
Other Highlights
John Carter – This is one of the first movies we reviewed on the blog and, like many other movie reviews, it was prompted by my belief that audiences weren’t giving it a fair shake. It’s been several years since I’ve watched John Carter and I’ll admit that I’m a little anxious about how it’ll hold up.
At the time, I absolutely loved the character depth, art design, and layers of details–all of which I thought would make John Carter an eventual cult classic. Maybe joining the Disney+ lineup is the push it needs.
Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair – This is an episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color that showcases the attractions Disney developed for the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York. This means a look at Magic Skyway (a spiritual predecessor of several attractions at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World), Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and “it’s a small world.”
This is a great episode, and it’s great to see the hard-to-find Walt Disney Treasures releases finding a home on Disney Plus. Some of these were screened a few years back at Disneyland for “Wednesdays with Walt” and were restored for that–hopefully the same is true here, and this episode is looking better than ever!
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story – This documentary about Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman was directed and produced by their sons, and is a beautiful and moving tribute to the brothers who composed iconic, ear-worm songs for Disney films and theme park attractions. It should go without saying that we’re huge fans of the Sherman Brothers and their work (as recently demonstrated here).
All in all, a pretty good month for Disney+ content. Still fairly light on top tier original programming as compared to its streaming counterparts, but the overall library is getting more respectable by the month as the pre-Disney+ deals with other services come to an end. Hopefully that’ll be enough to bridge the gap between now and whenever Disney+ starts gearing up development of new content.
Want to know what else to watch? Check out our Best Movies & Shows to Watch on Disney+ for our top recommendations. For more info about Disney Plus, read our Is Disney+ Worth It? Review, Library Info, Pros & Cons which is our ultimate guide to the service, covering everything you need to know if you’re thinking of subscribing!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of what’s coming to Disney+ in May 2020? Are you planning on watching any of this? What’s most exciting to you? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
It looks like neither Man in Space or Disneyland goes to the World’s Fair showed up. What’s the deal?? Dying to see these!
Was Man In Space released as scheduled in April? I can’t seem to find it. Looking forward to Disneyland at the World’s Fair Friday!
I love visiting Tri-Circle-D and seeing the huge horses, the ponies, and last visit got to meet Lilly, the new itty bitty white little pony. She was all dirty from playing and got hosed off and then you could see her beautiful white hair. Absolutely adorable! Although you are not allowed to pet the bigger horses, you can see them in their stalls (they are rotated through so I don’t always get to see my favorites Paul and Red every visit) and you can get pretty close. Don’t get so close that the horses can reach you because you could get a horse bite! There’s a grand calliope at the entrance and lots of pictures and info in the first room on the right. (All this is subject to change since they are redoing Tri-Circle-D right now). The Cast Members are very nice and will answer your questions. I read that, sadly, the farrier isn’t there anymore and someone comes in to shoe the horses at times. If you asked nicely the farrier Cody would give you a horseshoe to keep if they had any. I think this is now closed. It’s a very nice, peaceful boat ride over from Magic Kingdom and a pleasant place to wile away a few hours on a crowded park day.
I’m waiting for Mickey Mouse Club episodes. Early 90s TV royalty!!!!
Hi there! I am new to Disney + so I am playing catch up. There was an article I recently read about an original series “Behind the Attraction” produced by Duane Johnson that was supposed to be coming… Did I miss it, is it still in the works? I’m slightly confused. I can’t find anything about it anywhere.
I obsessively watched YouTube videos of so called Easter eggs and insights on each episode so I think there is a market for this. Definitely good stay-at-home content anyway.
Why don’t they have those wonderful 60s classics such as Summer Magic, the Happiest Millionaire, Toby Tiller, Darby O’Gill, etc etc… that’s why I bought the subscription. I think they are really disappointing their adult audience. Very sad about it.
Any hope for the future showing of these, Tom?
I just saw Darby O’Gill listed tonight as we clicked through.
Do the specials stay on or go away after the month? if you can’t watch it all is it lost come June? Any idea on retention of content
Wish they would release mandalorian and more imagineering ealry
Things Im looking forward to in these May additions:
1. More classic Mickey shorts additions
2. Rewatching Sherman Brothers and Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair documentaries
3. Prop Culture since I enjoy most of the movies on that list.
4. More park content on One Day at Disney rather than focusing on ABC, Lucasfilm, Marvel, or Disney Channel
Is releasing the series Dinosaurs in the lineup any time soon?
I wish they would make an episode of Imagineering Story that focuses on all the Disney world resorts. They were completely overlooked!
I’m hoping for a second season where they focus on individual rides and showing the different versions.
It was originally intended to be a single documentary rather than a series, so a lot ended up being overlooked.
I’d love to see a WDI series along the lines of Imagineering Story–especially the tone that actually is somewhat probing and reflective, rather than just being puffery. I’m not holding my breath, though.
100% agree with Julia
While I’m glad to see Moonspinners on there, I’m disappointed with the fact that they’ve left so much material from the 60’s and 70’s TV show sitting in their vault unused and untouched. There’s a lot of material such as The Adventures of Gallagher, For the Love of Willadean, Kilroy, Moochie and the Little League etc left wasting away somewhere. Not only that, why put 5 episodes of the original Mickey Mouse Club up and no more than that? I’m afraid our television history will soon be forgotten for much lesser quality fair that came afterwords. What’s funny is you can find some of this stuff in very very low quality that others have taped back in the day on You Tube. But I seem to be the only one interested in this stuff because I’ve not seen one article questioning the fact that Disney has forgotten its roots.
I’m with ya! I already own the five episodes on the Disney Treasures set. Where’s the rest?
The adults at our house have been loving The Imagineering Story, I’m looking forward to One Day at Disney, too.
And the old movies. I’m going to hijack the remote and force the kiddo to watch the movies from my childhood (and earlier!) like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Swiss Family Robinson, etc
It’ll be payback for the 80 gajillion times I watched Frozen, Tangled, and all the episodes of everything on Disney Junior…
Treasure Island holds up pretty well too. This’ll blow your mind; watch Treasure Island and take notice of how much of Jack Sparrow comes from the old school Long John Silver…
Adding it to the list. Thanks!
we just scored a 2! week free disney+ trial thanks to buying a kelloggs cereal product. i almost never buy name brand anything, but i’m avoiding stores right now. so my usual trips to aldi are on hold and i’ve been shopping at the neighborhood momandpop store thanks to their contactless curbside pickup option. well, they don’t really have anything but name brand, so real froot loops it was, and lo and behold the deal was on the back of the box (i almost missed it, husband caught it). we just met the purchase deadline. looking forward to when it gets authenticated!!
Where do you find the “One Day at Disney” series on Disney+? I’ve never seen it
I have trouble finding it too. We watched the original documentary but struggle to find the subsequent mini-episodes.
Try searching “One Day at Disney Shorts” or something like that.
I guess because the documentary was a single show and the shorts are technically a different series, they don’t show up together, even though I really don’t see why they couldn’t.
Got it now, thanks!
Absolutely love the One Day at Disney specials. Hurray for more! Just watched Disneyland Around the Seasons today, was so wonderful! Looking forward to more of those such as Disneyland Goes to the Worlds Fair, we need more of that content .