The magazine was first published on October 9, 1990 (and cover dated November 12, 1990) and featured a wide assortment of educational material, entertainment news (from Disney and other studios), sports coverage, profiles of celebrities, user contributions, and puzzle games.

Regular features included a guide to television, movies, books, and music called “Ticket”, factoids about unusual yet real things under the title “Weird Yet True”, and a sports guide that appeared during the late 1990s called “ESPN Action.” The first issue featured Canadian actor Rick Moranis and Baloo from TaleSpin on the cover.

As the magazine evolved, non-Disney material from artists such as Sergio Aragonés, Evan Dorkin, Matt Groening, William Van Horn, and Jeff Smith began appearing with some regularity.

The magazine offered features on Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as well as music, movies, trends, science, travel, games, puzzles, heroes, explorers and "real life adventures" (archaeology, extreme sports and other hobbies and careers).

For subscribers, Disney Adventures was normally replaced with Sports Illustrated Kids or Family Fun for the remainder of the subscription period.

The decision to cease publishing Disney Adventures evidently came rather suddenly, as the October 2007 issue contained a "Cool Christmas" subscription gift order form.

Frequent contributors included: Garry Black, Art Baltazar, Eric Jones, Matt Feazell, Landry Walker, Rick Geary, Evan Dorkin, John Green, Bob Fingerman, Elizabeth Watsin, Christine Norrie and Jeff Smith.

The Fall 2007 issue reprinted the first six installments of the Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales comic strip adaptation of The Black Hole drawn by Jack Kirby.