The Walt Disney Company has apologized to subscribers of the new Disney+ streaming service following reports that many users were experiencing outages on the service’s first day.

The entertainment giant issued a rare mea culpa Tuesday on the new service’s official Twitter account, blaming high “consumer demand” for the technical issues.

“The consumer demand for Disney+ has exceeded our high expectations. We are working to quickly resolve the current user issue. We appreciate your patience,” the company said.

The consumer demand for Disney+ has exceeded our high expectations. We are working to quickly resolve the current user issue. We appreciate your patience. — Disney+ Help (@DisneyPlusHelp) November 12, 2019

The multimedia company has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build and promote Disney+, which is the company’s first foray into the crowded streaming entertainment field. The service represents one of Disney’s most ambitious gambles to date as it seeks to play catch up to competitors like Netflix, which have redefined the entertainment industry and re-shaped consumers’ viewing habits.

The new service features an expansive slate of original TV shows and movies, including the new Star Wars series The Mandalorian, and a feature remake of Lady and the Tramp, as well as library content from Pixar, Marvel, National Geographic, and the recently acquired Fox.

But its big debut has been marred by reports of outages, with subscribers taking to social media to vent their frustration. The technical problems have led to the hashtag #DisneyPlusfail to trend on Twitter early Tuesday.

Some users posted screenshots to social media showing that they were unable connect to the service, with some saying that the connectivity issues persisted for at least an hour.

I was up at 1am and downloaded the app. Started adding movies and shows to watchlist,Woke up excited to add more and this is what I got. It's been this way for an hour. I understand it just launched to alot of people immediately downloading it but still come on #DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/995kpXhWnZ — GothamSiren☠🖤 (@JayDoll) November 12, 2019

If I were to summarize my afternoon in one image. #DisneyPlus #DisneyPlusfail pic.twitter.com/r8SoTocjFZ — Chris Coke (@cokeandcomics) November 12, 2019

Former Wall Street Journal tech guru Walt Mossberg tweeted his own frustrations using the Disney+ app.

This appeared after a 100% successful @disneyplus signup and verification via the @verizon free offer. The whole thing appeared fine on Web, but this is what happened on the app, which does verify my account. It just won’t show me programming. pic.twitter.com/31iJrKpPPY — Walt Mossberg (@waltmossberg) November 12, 2019

Some users reported compatibility problems with specific hardware, including Roku. One Roku user noted that Disney+ was slow to load and that she later experienced password problems.

@disneyplus at 630 I signed on to my account on one Roku, slow to load, but it eventually worked, at 1030 it tells me my password is not correct on my second Roku, the SAME ONE I used 4 hrs earlier! the one that is primarily in use. #DisneyPlusfail — Shannon Tuten (@sctuten) November 12, 2019

Subscribers in Puerto Rico noted that they must wait another week to access the service, even though the company originally said it would launch there on the same date as the rest of the U.S.

Disney+ is priced at $6.99 per month, which is cheaper than Netflix’s most popular package, which goes for $12.99 per month. Disney is also offering a bundle that includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for $12.99 per month.

The company acquired a majority stake in tech firm BAMtech in 2017 to build Disney+ and ESPN+.

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