Disney Story Realms
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Familiar stories, fun graphics, OK games, lots of purchases.
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Disney Story Realms
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Based on 2 parent reviews
Happy (late) birthday to Sussybaka88’s mom
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What’s It About?
Choose an available story to explore to get started in DISNEY STORY REALMS. Tap Read to read the story, or Play to enter the realm. The Read option presents a story for kids to read on their own. After a few pages, kids are invited to play games to unlock more. The Play option takes kids to a setting from the story full of props and characters. Kids move as the main character to see what's around. There are six mini-games distributed around the realm for kids to find and play. Games include a word search, puzzles, dress up, painting, and finding hidden objects.
Is It Any Good?
Beautiful graphics and jaunty music create magical and familiar worlds that, unfortunately, don't end up delivering on substance. With blockbuster stories like Frozen and Toy Story, kids will likely be drawn to yet another Disney-branded product. And since Disney Story Realms does a great job of delivering the magic of Disney, some kids may be satisfied with the ability to wander around their favorite setting, see their favorite characters, and read their favorite stories. But there's disappointingly little to actually do in the app. In the realms, kids simply wander around. Interactive elements are limited to the handful of mini-games embedded in the realm. The games are typical for an app that wants to call itself educational but doesn't want to invest in creating something inspired or unique. It's not clear why it's set up so that kids need to play games to read, though that feature can be turned off. The text in the stories will feel familiar to those who know the plot but isn't always clear enough for someone who doesn't. And the in-app purchase model can feel sneaky because there are no actual prices, and it's not clear that pretty much all content is available only through purchase until you tap on what you want and run into a parent gate. Ultimately, Disney Story Realms is visually appealing and delivers on letting kids imagine they are their favorite characters, but more meaningful activities and a pricing model that's friendlier for kids would make it more worth your while.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the stories in Disney Story Realms. Which characters do you identify with most and why? What motivates the characters to do what they do? Would you make different choices? Why?
Talk about Disney branding. Is this app more appealing because it features Disney characters? Why or why not?
Set clear expectations for in-app purchases before you hand over this app to your kids. What are you willing to buy and what is off-limits no matter what?
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects: Language & Reading : letter or word recognition, reading
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning : solving puzzles
- Pricing structure: Free to try (Free download includes first chapter of one story. More content via in-app purchases from $1.99-$3.99)
- Release date: August 9, 2019
- Category: Education
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More , Brothers and Sisters , Fairy Tales
- Publisher: Kuato Games (UK) Limited
- Version: 1.7.1
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 9.0 or later; Android 4.4 and up
- Last updated: August 19, 2019
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