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When it comes to Christmas movies, Disney+ isn’t just kid stuff. Sure, there are plenty of family films, like Home Alone (which has a new installment coming this year), Santa Buddies and LEGO Star Wars. But if you want a Christmas rom-com, they have ABC Family Channel originals that rival anything you’d see on Hallmark. Christmas sing-alongs? Choose if you want to croon with Ryan Seacrest and friends or the cast of High School Musical. A Christmas Carol? There are not one, but three different versions on the streaming service, including Mickey and the Muppets. There’s even a Yule Log! We’ve rounded up our favorite Disney+ Christmas movies, from new favorites to old classics, so you can have some holiday cheer at your fingertips ready to go.
If you don’t have Disney+, you can still gather the family around the TV and watch a Christmas movie together on so many other streaming services including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, whether it’s a Christmas movie for kids, a romantic Christmas movie, a Christmas horror film or a funny Christmas movie. It’s the perfect thing to do after the presents are opened, the food is eaten and you’re too full and happy to move.
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
Premiering on November 12, Home Sweet Home Alone will follow another young kid defending his home from intruders. This time, it’s Max Mercer (not Kevin McAlister) who has to thwart a couple trying to retrieve a priceless heirloom from his house.
LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special (2020)
The original Star Wars Holiday Special was notoriously bad, so the LEGO crew took a big risk by attempting another one. This time, it works! It follows Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose and Chewie for a “Life Day” adventure with the signature zany LEGO sense of humor.
The Disney Holiday Sing-Along (2020)
Consider it modern caroling: You can gather the family around the TV and belt out tunes like “What’s This,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” with stars like Leslie Odom, Jr., Michael Bublé, Chloe x Halle and BTS. Who in the family has the best pipes?
Godmothered (2020)
In this movie, Jillian Bell plays a fairy godmother-in-training who tries to help a struggling single mom in order to prove that the world still needs fairy godmothers. It’s more of the “set at Christmastime” style of movie than the “really about Christmas” kind, so throw it on if you only need a little dose of the holidays.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special (2020)
Who wants to see Olivia Rodrigo starring in a holiday special? This oddly punctuated 45-minute Christmas treat features the stars of High School Musical: The Series performing their favorite holiday songs. Prepare to sing along with “This Christmas,” “Feliz Navidad” and other seasonal favorites.
Noelle (2019)
This was Disney’s first big, original holiday movie for Disney+. It centers on Santa’s children: His son, Nick (Bill Hader) goes missing when he’s supposed to take over as Santa Claus and his daughter, Noelle (Anna Kendrick), has to put things right to save Christmas.
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (2017)
If it’s winter, that means Frozen is on your kids’ minds. If you need a break from Frozen and Frozen II and your kids won’t leave Arendelle, you can try this holiday-themed, 22-minute special. In it, Anna and Elsa realize that their estrangement means they don’t have any family holiday traditions of their own, so Olaf searches the kingdom to find them some.
Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic (2017)
For those who like getting a behind-the-scenes look at the Disney parks, this 42-minute special shows how Walt Disney World and Disneyland are transformed into winter wonderlands each year. And, for another look at the parks during the holidays, there’s Disney Fairy Tale Weddings: Holiday Magic, which is a similar length.
12 Dates of Christmas (2011)
A movie that originally appeared on the ABC Family channel, 12 Dates of Christmas stars Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a couple who keep reliving their Christmas Eve blind date, Groundhog Day-style. Kate (Smart) must figure out how to break the cycle and move on to Christmas morning.
Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011)
Based on the Disney Channel series, this full-length movie follows the Duncans on a road trip to Amy’s parents’ house for the holidays. Does it go smoothly? Of course not.
A Christmas Carol (2009)
You can watch a different take on A Christmas Carol every week from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and never run out of options. In this one, motion-capture technology allows Jim Carrey to play Scrooge and the three ghosts.
Santa Buddies (2009)
A spin-off of the Air Bud series, Santa Buddies features a team of rascally pups that have to save Christmas. There’s a prequel, The Search for Santa Paws, and its sequel, Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. Due to pre-existing streaming rights agreements, they’re not all on Disney+ at the moment, but they will be by November 5, 2021.
Snowglobe (2007)
Another ABC Family original movie, Snowglobe stars Christina Milian as a Christmas-obsessed woman who learns she can magically transport herself into the holiday village inside her snowglobe. When she realizes her choices are starting to affect the world inside, she has to figure out how to balance her real life and the world of Christmas enchantment.
Full Court Miracle (2003)
For anyone celebrating Hanukkah, this movie follows a group of high school basketball players at Philadelphia Hebrew Academy. The team struggles, but then the players start to notice similarities between the life of their new coach and the story of Judah.
‘Twas the Night (2001)
This Disney Channel original stars Bryan Cranston as a ne’er-do-well who is in trouble with some criminals, so he hides out with his brother’s family. Things change, though, when he gets ahold of a device that can freeze time. Where’d he get it? From Santa, of course. (How else do you think the Big Guy can make so many deliveries in one night?)
The Ultimate Christmas Present (2001)
When kids find Santa’s weather-making machine, they use it to make a snow day in Los Angeles. But they soon learn that there’s a price to pay for playing with forces of nature.
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (1999)
If you only have a little bit of time and need a quick dose of Christmas cheer, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas is an hourlong anthology of holiday-themed shorts starring classic Disney characters. You can follow it up with the similar Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, or Pluto’s Christmas Tree (from the ’50s!), which is just six minutes long.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
JTT fans already know this one: Jonathan Taylor Thomas stars in a Planes, Trains and Automobiles-style comedy about all an ill-fated trip home for the holidays, and all the obstacles that need to be surmounted to get home in time. The twist: He’s a self-centered college student who wants to get home to claim his father’s classic car. Maybe he’ll learn a thing or two about the Christmas spirit on the way?
Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish (1998)
You’re not seeing things — that’s not Macaulay Culkin as Richie Rich. He was recast for this direct-to-video holiday movie, which is a twist on It’s a Wonderful Life with Richie Rich in George Bailey’s spot.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)
This hourlong special takes place while Belle is still a prisoner and the Beast is still, well, a Beast. It recounts a Christmas that brings everyone in the castle closer together.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The only Christmas move you can appropriately start watching in September, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion holiday mash-up. If someone tells you it’s too Halloweeny for December, point out that it’s the movie that gave us “What’s This?”— aka one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and all the rest of the Muppet friends teach Scrooge — this time played by Michael Caine — the true meaning of Christmas. In addition to the iconic holiday story, this version of A Christmas Carol features original songs by Paul Williams (who wrote “Rainbow Connection”).
Home Alone
Catch up with the OGs before you watch the remake: In this holiday classic, Kevin McCallister learns about the importance of family — and gets the upper hand on some burglars — when he’s accidentally left alone to defend his house over the holidays. Home Alone 2 and Home Alone 3 are also on Disney+, but you’ll have to look elsewhere for Angels With Filthy Souls.
The Christmas Star (1986)
Think of it as a bad Santa before Bad Santa: A counterfeiter escapes from jail because he looks like St. Nick, then enlists a couple of kids who believe he’s the real deal to help him find some stashed loot. Do you think he learns a Christmas lesson?
One Magic Christmas (1985)
It’s a Wonderful Life usually gets all the spotlight when it comes to holiday guardian-angel movies, but this film also features a heavenly protector. Mary Steenburgen plays a mom having a down-on-her-luck Christmas, and Harry Dean Stanton turns up as an angel sent to watch over her family.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)
There have been dozens of adaptations of the Charles Dickens classic of the years, but some (me) might say that this one is the best, since it distills all of the essential elements of the story into 25 all-killer-no-filler minutes. Plus, Goofy is Jacob Marley!
RELATED: Animated Christmas Movies That Are Too Cute to Resist
Babes in Toyland (1961)
In some parts of the country, it’s an annual tradition to watch Babes in Toyland as the first movie of the holiday season with an yearly viewing on Thanksgiving day. And, with Mary Contrary, Tom Piper and a host of other storybook characters getting mixed up in a fantasy story that takes place in an enchanted Toyland, we can see why it merits an annual re-watch.
Arendelle Castle Yule Log
It’s not movie, per se, but it should be a yearly tradition: Disney has a streamable Yule Log that looks like a fireplace straight out of the castle of Arendelle. There’s no plot, no music, no characters and nothing happens, just three hours of a crackling fire. Throw it on while you’re opening presents to feel cozy.
…and One to Look Forward to
Disney has already announce that there will be a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special coming to Disney+ in 2022. It’s being filmed at the same time as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with the same cast and director.
Parenting & Relationships Editor
Marisa LaScala covers all things parenting, from the postpartum period through empty nests, for GoodHousekeeping.com; she previously wrote about motherhood for Parents and Working Mother.
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