What Was The Disney Vault And Why Did Disney+ End It?

If you're a Disney-loving child of the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s, then you probably have clear memories of commercials for DVD, VHS and even theatrical re-releases of Disney films which mentioned the Disney Vault. This mystical, magical place was where the Walt Disney Company stored all of their films — and, very occasionally, let a few of them emerge every single year. A practice established to control the market when home media became a major part of the consumer landscape, it's caused as much frustration as it has joy for some fans. 

Every year, the company would place movies back into theatres — usually to commemorate major anniversaries. Some of them, like "Snow White," "Alice in Wonderland" or "Peter Pan," were released on VHS or DVD and put on store shelves for a few weeks — but after a certain amount of time, the doors of the Disney Vault would swing closed, and those movies wouldn't be available anymore for a good long period of time. This often caused an artificial scarcity of certain movies, which would lave parents at their wits end trying to locate copies before they vanished.

Announcements about what was escaping from the Disney Vault used to be quite a big deal. But Disney+ has ended the program, cancelling the controversial vault program forever. Why is that, and how did fans try to circumvent those limited releases back in the day?

Disney fans looking to build their collection of movies used to try to circumvent the Disney Vault program in many different ways. From taping movies during rare airings on the Disney Channel or network television to bootlegging recordings from other countries or buying used copies of the official Disney releases, there was a thriving black market surrounding the Disney Vault for those who missed out on those limited releases. Upcharging for official albeit used copies was not an uncommon practice in certain spheres.

Disney+ ended the program entirely in 2019, per a shareholders meeting headed by Bob Iger. "At some point fairly soon after launch it will house the entire Disney motion picture library, so the movies that you speak of that traditionally have been kept in a 'vault' and brought out basically every few years will be on the service," he said at the time (per Polygon). 

Years later, while there are still some rarer television movies, direct to DVD releases, and Disney-owned television series which still aren't on the streamer, the larger majority of their catalog resides there. Fun fact: there's a real Disney Vault, but it doesn't store copies of their films. Instead, it preserves props, sketches and other ephemera related to many Disney films. It can be visited, but rarely, by scholars, journalists and others who want to learn how Disney's magic came to be. Want to read more about the House of Mouse? Then be sure to read about some of the best Disney movies ever made and some classic animated Disney moments that haven't aged well.