The channel's opening night was marked with Toy Story at 8pm, in conjunction with its launch, a special event was held that same day at 6:30pm at Pavilhão de Portugal with the participation of Luís de Matos,[5] and the promotional participation of Mickey and Goofy as well as Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.

The channel had 230,000 subscribers at the time and was now open to isolated subscriptions.<[9] One of the presenters of the localized Playhouse Disney slot was actor Manuel Sá Pessoa.

[10] When Simón Amselem left his post at the Iberian branch in order to focus on the French market in January 2005, José Vila took over as director-general of the channel.

Unlike other versions of the channel throughout Europe, Disney Channel in Portugal never had any original productions produced and made in the actual country excluding a Portuguese version of Art Attack hosted by Pedro Penim,[13] later hosted by Salvador Nery in its revival.

It was also the first kids channel in Portugal to be available in high definition, with the HD feed launching at the beginning of 2009.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese television premiere rights to subsequent Disney films, including productions from Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, were instead transferred to ZON's own set of premium channels TVCine, previously known as Canais Lusomundo.

As of October 2012, Disney Channel Portugal has disputed the leadership of subscription television ratings, in terms of daily average, with Canal Hollywood, finishing second for all but one week.