Miley and Lily, the ones who taught us what it means to be best friends; Zack and Cody, the beloved siblings that made us all want to live on a cruise ship, and Teddy, the original vlogger, have all been replaced.

For me watching Disney Channel was one of the best parts of being a kid. The thrill of turning on the TV at night to see which guy Miley picked on the new Hannah Montana episode, or timing your bathroom breaks around the commercials is unmatched to anything kids do today. With the new Disney Channel, all of that has disappeared. Now kids can go on the Disney app any time of day and watch the most recent episodes. As kids, missing an episode meant we had to search through the TV guide to find out when they were going to replay it.

The shows on Disney in 2019 are mostly unrealistic cartoons that teens today can’t relate to. Big City Greens, Elena of Avalor and Vampirina are some examples of cartoons now playing on Disney, who has now geared their company toward younger audiences. Back when we were kids, the shows were more relatable. They included real life problems in the plot, which made us feel closer to the characters and developed our continued love for the shows today. Besides loving the shows, other things that made old Disney the best were when the stars would draw the Disney logo introducing their shows, the unique music in each episode, crossover episodes and the best, the holiday movies and episodes.

When doing my ‘research’ by watching Disney Channel, I came to a realization: they are running out of ideas. Now listen, I get it, Disney Channel is an ongoing program and coming up with plots must be challenging, but no one asked for High School Musical: The series with random characters. Don’t get me wrong, I get that as time changes, so do shows, but I think that Disney could do better incorporating life lessons teenagers need today, such as mental health and self image .
Despite me bashing Disney, I do want to thank them for being on when Nickelodeon had its day of play. Disney had some good shows and still holds some good childhood memories, but all I’m saying is if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.