A User Portal is being developed for NSF-funded Expanse supercomputer. The Expanse portal is based on the NSF-funded Open OnDemand HPC portal platform which has gained widespread adoption at HPC centers. The portal will provide a gateway for launching interactive applications such as MATLAB, RStudio, and an integrated web-based environment for file management and job submission. This paper discusses the early experience in deploying the portal and the customizations that were made to accommodate the requirements of the Expanse user community.