Walt Disney will be streaming full-length versions of the movies that appear on ABC as part of the "Wonderful World of Disney" series, according to a press release issued by Disney last week. You can find them on the Disney web site, located at www.Disney.com/WonderfulWorld

The movies will be available for a week after they air on ABC, and the following schedule was posted of current and upcoming movies that will be available:

• “Finding Nemo” – currently available online through June 13
• “Monsters Inc.” – airs on ABC Saturday, June 14 at 8pm; available on Disney.com June 16-20
• “Haunted Mansion” – airs on ABC Saturday, June 28 at 8pm; available on Disney.com June 30-July 4
• “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” – airs on ABC Saturday, July 5 at 8pm; available on Disney.com July 7-11
• “Princess Diaries 2” – airs on ABC Saturday, July 12 at 8pm; available on Disney.com July 14-18
• “Freaky Friday” – airs on ABC Saturday, July 19 at 8pm; available on Disney.com July 21-25
• “Peter Pan” – airs on ABC Saturday, Aug. 2 at 8pm; available on Disney.com Aug. 4-8

The quality of Monsters, Inc. is pretty good for streaming video, but when expanded to full screen on my 1920x1200 monitor, there were some obvious examples of compression visible. This is an extreme situation, though, so anyone viewing them at the default size and/or from a longer viewing distance, the quality is actually pretty good. The movie also appeared to be shown in its correct aspect ratio. Sound was limited to stereo (no 5.1 here), but for what it is, I was suitably impressed.

Why would one want to stream movies like this instead of owning or renting the DVD? Well, for one, it's free. For another, they may be offering something that you don't already have, or don't have with you. I can see a scenario where you're on vacation and the kids want to watch a movie, but you didn't bring anything they want to see. Using the hotel's internet connection, you could fire up disney.com and play one of these movies.

I didn't watch the whole movie, but in the first 5-7 minutes, there were no commercial breaks, with only one pre-roll commercials, but no other annoyances. Kudos to Disney for delivering what appears to be a very decent service!

Click the Read link below to visit the Disney web site!