Is the Disney+ Premium plan tier rising in price in the UK next month?

HaroldWhistler

Does "Disney+" e-mail you if and when they are increasing their annual price plan?

I noticed on the headlines mention that the price for a Standard Disney+ subscription is going to increase (whether you pay monthly or annually) at the end of September 2025. This appears to be mentioned on the Disney+ website as well. However, there is no mention as far as I can see anywhere at time of writing as to how other tiers (e.g. the Ad tier or the Premium tier) might be affected. 

Going by prior years, all tiers have gone up in price. I believe MSE did a piece back in 2024 and one of the ways to save money was to pre-empt the increase and sign up for an annual plan at the lower price before the increase kicked in. At that time last year prior to the increase, the Premium plan for instance cost us £109.90. 

Currently, if one logs into the Account section, it displays a renewal date sometime next month and an upcoming charge of £129.90 (which is the current prevailing price at time of writing after the 2024 increase).

However, I am wondering if the Premium plan tier price will go up to a "new" 2025 price when it comes to actual Renewal next month given the Standard plan is supposedly rising in price from 30/09/2025. As I said there is zero mention of an increase for any other tiers other than the Standard tier on their website. 

If the price increases across the board are similar to last year, it could be a £2 increase on the monthly rate for the Premium tier to £14.99 or £149.90 if you do an annual plan. My question is will existing subscribers get the stated "Upcoming charge" price of £129.90 as displayed in the Account section, or will we find the price has gone up by that date?

I was contemplating simply cancelling and signing up for a new annual plan at the prevailing price, but of course there is still part of a month left on the existing subscription and you'd be paying for something you already paid for.

The Disney+ website is (currently) not clear on this, nor are their Help chat who don't seem to know. Anyone know what is what?

JSmithy45AD

In the US they're increasing the monthly premium service by $2 with ads and $3 ad free, the annual price is going up by $30 for ad free, so they're probably putting it up here too.

Detail_Merchant

I think that currently the only confirmed price rise is the annual standard (without ads) going up from £89.90 to £99.99 - but it wouldn't be surprising if the other prices rise not long after.
I think Disney have to give some notice, but there isn't any guarantee about how long the prices will stay at their current level.

There's an article here with some guesses of what the new prices might be - https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/disney-plus-uk-hikes-prices-again-bad-time/

HaroldWhistler

Detail_Merchant said:

I think that currently the only confirmed price rise is the annual standard (without ads) going up from £89.90 to £99.99 - but it wouldn't be surprising if the other prices rise not long after.
I think Disney have to give some notice, but there isn't any guarantee about how long the prices will stay at their current level.

There's an article here with some guesses of what the new prices might be - https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/disney-plus-uk-hikes-prices-again-bad-time/

Yes I saw that and like you said, Disney would quite likely increase the other tiers too. The trouble is there is no official mention on their website or in the press regarding other tiers or if the specific date applies to all other tiers.

I saw somewhere that they apparently would e-mail existing customers about any price increase in advance. My current renewal date is next month so I am wondering whether the current "Upcoming charge" stated in the Account section is going to be the actual price or whether by the time we get to that point next month, it will be different. 

Last year, they mentioned a specific date where all tiers were going to increase. Hence one could time signing up for an annual plan just before that. So you knew exactly what you would be paying on a particular day. The current renewal price showing is the price after last year's increase. I'm trying to determine whether I have to cancel now and renew at that price early, or else be assured that it will renew at that price next month and that they would provide enough time to notify existing (and new) customers of a price increase on other tiers like Premium and what day any such increase comes into effect.  

JSmithy45AD said:

In the US they're increasing the monthly premium service by $2 with ads and $3 ad free, the annual price is going up by $30 for ad free, so they're probably putting it up here too.

The trouble is here in the UK, their own website (and news articles) only specify an increase and date of increase in one tier and not the others. 

My current renewal date is next month so I am wondering whether the current "Upcoming charge" stated in the Account section due next month is going to be the actual price currently showing there or whether by the time we get to that point next month, it will be different. 

Last year it was a lot clearer given they publicly announced a specific date and all increases/prices for every single tier. So you knew exactly what you would be paying on a particular day. 

Detail_Merchant

Re 

I was contemplating simply cancelling and signing up for a new annual plan at the prevailing price

I don't think you can cancel early.
From https://help.disneyplus.com/en-GB/article/disneyplus-cancel "Disney+ subscribers are able to cancel their subscription at any time, and this will go into effect at the end of the current billing period"

So if your account is showing an upcoming charge next month, I don't think you have anything you can do to pre-empt that, using your existing account.

Of course if a price rise is announced between now and then, you could cancel your existing account and sign up using a different email address before the new price takes effect. As you say, you would be paying double for the overlap period. Also the new account wouldn't have your viewing history.

HaroldWhistler

Detail_Merchant said:

Re 

I was contemplating simply cancelling and signing up for a new annual plan at the prevailing price

I don't think you can cancel early.
From https://help.disneyplus.com/en-GB/article/disneyplus-cancel "Disney+ subscribers are able to cancel their subscription at any time, and this will go into effect at the end of the current billing period"

So if your account is showing an upcoming charge next month, I don't think you have anything you can do to pre-empt that, using your existing account.

Of course if a price rise is announced between now and then, you could cancel your existing account and sign up using a different email address before the new price takes effect. As you say, you would be paying double for the overlap period. Also the new account wouldn't have your viewing history.

That's a point yes, it runs till the end of the billing period which in this case is a year. I was wondering whether to sign up at the current price (which is what shows up as the upcoming charge) as a new account though yes there is an overlap (though you still save money given the possible increase). If any price rise is after the renewal date then the current displayed upcoming charge is the price which I would let renew. 

I guess I'm wondering whether the other tiers are also going to increase at the same time given they only announced an increase for a specific tier on a specific date. There's a degree of uncertainty. At least last year they announced the respective increases across all tiers and subscription types (monthly/annual) in advance along with a specific date for all tiers.

Are we to assume that since they have not mentioned the other tiers that the prices of these will not go up on 30/09/2025? And that they have to actually announce another date for other tiers?

Detail_Merchant

HaroldWhistler said:

Are we to assume that since they have not mentioned the other tiers that the prices of these will not go up on 30/09/2025? And that they have to actually announce another date for other tiers?

I think Disney have to give some notice.
If they said on a given date that the price had gone up with immediate effect, that would be problematic for anyone who by coincidence had a monthly or annual subscription renewing on that day.
The customer could argue that they had let the subscription renew based on the price that was being shown the previous day.

I've just done a quick search for "disney+ terms and conditions" and it finds this page:
https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/legal/subscriber-agreement

Looking in part three, paragraph 3.4 of that, it says:

3.4. Price change. We reserve the right to change our pricing and, in the event of a price change, we will notify you at least thirty (30) days in advance of the change by sending an email to the email address you have registered for your account. Please ensure you always provide us with your most up to date email address in order to receive these important communications to your chosen email address. If you do not wish to accept a price change, you may cancel your subscription in accordance with the instructions included in the notice. If you do not cancel your subscription after the price change takes effect and prior to the start of your new subscription period, your subscription will be renewed at the price in effect at the time of the renewal, without any additional action by you, and you authorise us to charge your payment method for these amounts.

So I think, if you are less than 30 days away from your annual renewal, that you are safe to assume it will be at the current price.

MSE_Petar

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the discussion.

We've just published an MSE News story about the price rise on the annual Standard plan.

We've been chasing Disney for clarification about the other plans (including the Premium plan), but we've not had any response so far.

As soon as we get more info we'll update the story and post here.

Thanks,

MSE Petar