The Launch Of Disney+ Was A Big Ol’ Minus

There’s a disturbance in the force that is Disney+.

Two weeks after the successful launch of Apple TV+, Disney’s long-awaited streaming platform debuted on Tuesday with faulty landing pages and broken mechanics. Lots of “Sorry something went wrong” messages. Lots of coffee spilled. Lots of boiling hot frustration. 

When HuffPost reporters Leigh Blickley and Bill Bradley attempted to sign in and watch episodes of the highly anticipated “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the site’s issues became evident.

Narrator voice: For reference, Bill’s profile avatar is a dolphin. Leigh’s is Belle of “Beauty and the Beast.” Also, Bill apologizes for his superfluous use of the word “yo.”

After staring at a spinning wheel for what seemed like days, the main page for “The Mandalorian” appeared with just a poster and short description. Oddly enough, not a play button or video link could be found.

Narrator voice: Bill wasn’t doing it wrong. A quick online search found others were experiencing similar issues. 

The reporters attempted to download the channel onto their respective Rokus and Amazon Fire TV Sticks. No luck there either, as Disney+ was unavailable. Perhaps their versions were out of date? Who knows?

Then, Bill and Leigh logged out of the platform, relaunched it and hoped for the best. Still, nothing but a home page filled with images. 

Narrator voice: They could tell something was wrong, and not just because of the pop-up error messages reading, “Sorry something went wrong.”

Bill attempted to call Disney+’s customer service line, but was put on hold for an hour. Leigh reached out to press contacts, but there was no response. 

Around 10 a.m. Eastern, Disney released a statement about the technical issues a number of users were experiencing.

Narrator voice: Then … tragedy struck.

The coffee spill would prove a good omen, however. Suddenly, Disney+ started to work for Leigh. Play buttons began to appear and certain TV shows and movies fully loaded on the site. “Star Wars” content, on the other hand, was still faulty. And Bill was still getting error pages.

After an hour and a half on hold with customer service, Bill hung up his coffee-stained phone. Leigh’s “Mandalorian” page finally loaded, so she went ahead and watched it.

Narrator voice: Bill settled for a Slack recap.

And you know what? “The Mandalorian” sounds really interesting.

Narrator voice: Who doesn’t love calamari and flan?

After a rocky start, Disney+ eventually worked for Bill as well, and finally, there was balance in the Force.