Highly anticipated streaming service Disney+ launched earlier today, and the platform’s early sailing has not been smooth.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, subscribers were in an uproar Tuesday as “[they] complained of a variety of problems, from logging in, to setting up their profiles, to certain content being absent from the platform, to shows not loading, to long wait times for customer service.” A significant amount of users were unable to access the app and had been unable to do so since the early hours of the launch.
As of this writing, 73% of reported problems involve the actual streaming of video, per DownDetector.com (via EW), with over 8,000 users reporting issues as of 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning. While some luckier users managed to get the service up and running, most took to social media to berate Disney for the lack of foresight and apparent lack of customer support, getting the hashtag #disneyplusfail trending.
30min wait just to live chat with support. Thousands of people “in line” in front of me. My “session” timed out. I hope we all get a free day added to our “trial”. Trial indeed. #DisneyPlusFail#DisneyPlusDown
— Christ-en Mandrac-ula (@Ch_Mandracchia) November 12, 2019
According to Disney+’s Twitter, they simply didn’t expect the demand for the service and are “working quickly to resolve any current issues.”
The demand for #DisneyPlus has exceeded our highest expectations. We are so pleased you’re excited to watch all your favorites and are working quickly to resolve any current issues. We appreciate your patience.
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) November 12, 2019
To make the situation a little more awkward for Disney, subscribers based in Puerto Rico are blasting the service for being unavailable despite Disney’s original statement that it would launch on Nov. 12, as well, being shown the following message: “Disney+ is only available in certain regions. Depending on where you are located, you may not be able to access Disney+.”
#DisneyPlus | La aplicación está funcionando para compañías que tienen IP americano, de lo contrario no. En el peor de los casos deberán esperar hasta el 19 de noviembre para comenzar su servicio streaming. Es lo que he leído hasta el momento respecto al problema.
— Disney Plus: Puerto Rico. (@DisneyPIusPR) November 12, 2019
So, uh, not the ideal first day for Disney+. While you wait in the customer support line, check out our ranking of the service’s best movies.