Once upon a time, there was this grand idea: to expand Walt Disney's company vision on to television. And soon after this grand idea came to pass, the public ate it up, and all was well within the Magic Kingdom; even better, in a way. Once upon a time, this channel showcased classic and contemporary Disney animation, behind-the-scenes specials on the parks, classic Hollywood films, and various "young adult" television series of the highest caliber. And the channel was doing very well: The Disney Channel Magazine was flourishing, and the annual "free previews" always seemed to coax fair amounts of new people into subscribing. The old addage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" seemed to work perfectly here.

But then, in 1994, Frank Wells died. And soon after, in the mid-1990's, Michael Eisner took the helm. And The Disney Channel slowly began to change; so slowly, in fact, that much of the public didn't pay much attention to this "transition." Over the years that followed, classic Disney programming was phased out, culminating in the 2002 decision to get rid of Vault Disney (the late night/early morning block of classic programming). Many fans (yes, including pre-teens and young teenagers) were -- and still are -- outraged at the dismissal of Vault Disney (real Disney programming, for that matter) from The Disney Channel, and if you agree with us (and I hope that you do) in saying that a new Disney Channel should be created to showcase more family fare and everything the original channel initially did (and was always meant to), please sign the petition. Join the Yahoo! group. Purchase shirts in the campaign store. Write letters to the appropriate heads and departments at Disney. Fully commit yourself to this worthwhile cause, and join us in saying, "We are the fans! We matter!" We are the ones who go to the parks and drop hundreds of dollars. We are the ones who see the movies and eventually purchase some of them on DVD. But, most of all, we care; we care about this company. We care about this one man and his vision, and all those who have tried their best to uphold it, even after he died. Rather than simply go the easy money-making route and turn everything into a pre-teen's fantasy world, these people found ways to keep the company above water while sticking to the Disney ideals. And in doing so, eventually transformed it in to a leader in entertainment. Just think: all the down times of the 70's and early 80's was like a blessing in disguise, in that it "set the stage," if you will, for Disney's re-birth.

And although the company is popular now, that popularity is extremely shaky at best. With Feature Animation and Television Animation not doing nearly as well now, and with many fans extremely disgruntled at one or more areas of the company, something needs to happen. Something for the better. And fast. Otherwise, whatever possibility existed for a complete turnaround of Eisner's lack of long-term vision will be completely lost. And in that case, we might as well demolish Disneyland and replace it with a cheap playground for "future generations to enjoy." After all, we already have pre-teens who don't have a clue as to what the name "Disney" really stands for.

And that, my friend, is the saddest thing of all.