Disney+ says it has surpassed 10 million signups for new streaming service in first day

With Day Two of Disney+ availability, the chatter has moved from the new streaming service's first-day hiccups to how to get a free subscription – and some nits about the content.

If you don't know by now, the Walt Disney Co. flipped the switch on its Disney+ subscription video service – stocked with Disney's collection of animated and live-action classics, as well as Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars films. Demand was overwhelming and many consumers found themselves unable to connect as the service began rolling out after midnight ET Tuesday.

Complaints had leveled off to a lion cub's roar Wednesday, with many users touting all the movies and episodes they had consumed already.

That led some to seek out Disney+ deals. For starters, the service (www.disneyplus.com) has a seven-day free trial for all users. But Verizon is giving a free year of the new service to new and existing 4G LTE and 5G wireless "unlimited" customers – and new Verizon FIOS and 5G Home Internet customers.

If you are an existing Verizon customer not looking to upgrade your wireless plan, you can opt for Disney's $12.99 streaming bundle, which includes Disney+, ESPN+ ($4.99 separately) and Hulu's ad-supported, on-demand plan ($5.99 separately) – a savings of about $5 monthly.

Interest in the new service was, well, incredible on Tuesday. Disney on Wednesday said the service had surpassed a remarkable 10 million sign-ups. How many will remain as subscribers remains to be seen, as some could depart after the free trial.

Shares of Disney rose 7% Wednesday to close $148.72.

Demand was "jaw dropping," said Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives in a note to investors Wednesday. The number "is considerably higher than we and many on the Street were anticipating," he said, and could drive Disney to hit its goal of 60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024 two years ahead of time.

His Wedbush Securities colleague analyst Michael Pachter posted a poll on Twitter Tuesday that foreshadowed the 10 million mark, with more than three-fourths of the 343 participants predicting 10 million or more subscribers. 

About 3.2 million downloaded the Disney+ app from the Google Play and iOS stores in the first 24 hours, according to app tracking research firm Apptopia. Disney+ remained the top download on the iOS store Wednesday.

Of course, millions more likely were watching on streaming devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku, as well as video game consoles.

Demand is "a slow and steady build that was unleashed on day one," said Apptopia spokesman Adam Blacker. "Disney has a media property list to die for and they’ve been using it to advertise for weeks now, getting their top personalities to tweet about it as well. I was watching Monday Night Football on ESPN and saw plenty of bottom scroll advertising as well a sneak peak of 'The Mandalorian' at halftime."

Many took to Twitter to tout what they had already watched. 

Some of the most-watched content was surprising. "Okay who had Simpsons and Moana as the top two pieces of content" ahead of new original Star Wars series "The Mandalorian" and "Frozen," tweeted Rich Greenfield, tech/media/telecom analyst for LightShed Partners. 

That new series “The Mandalorian,” generated 102,000 tweets on Tuesday with nearly half approving the series, according to Media Play News, which cited data from social network analytics firm ListenFirst.

Disney+ generated about 1.15 million mentions on Tuesday, according to Sprout Social another social media research firm: 36% of them positive, 15% negative and 49% unrated.

Still, several viewers had some complaints. One biggie: "The Simpsons" is played in a cropped 4-by-3 aspect ratio, which cuts off some of the content at the sides.

That means some jokes created by the animators are lost in translation. Example "The revelation that all of Duff's beers come from the same source," noted tech news site Engadget and Tristan Cooper, a writer for websites College Humor and Dorkly. 

And news sites such as Cnet and Fox News noted that some older films including "Dumbo," "The Jungle Book" and "Lady and the Tramp" have notices that the movies are "presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions."

USA TODAY entertainment writer and movie critic Brian Truitt discovered that the infamous scene from "Star Wars: A New Hope," when Han Solo and Greedo shoot it out has been changed again. "Much of the scene is the same in the updated Disney+ version, except Greedo says, "Maclunkey" – we're still translating that one – and he and Han shoot simultaneously," he wrote.

Despite the glitches and concerns, Disney+ seems to have launched a new streaming hope.