My childhood was made by Disney, the princess movies and Mickey Mouse; I lived and thrived off them. I never even realized the many life lessons that a simple TV channel taught me, but now, thinking back I see that Disney channel has made me, and many other teens my age, into the people we are today. Which makes it heartbreaking to see what Disney has become in the last 10 years.

The once great masterpiece known as The Disney Channel was launched in 1983, airing shows directed towards the entire family, which parents could sit down and enjoy with their children. The first series ever aired on Disney channel was Welcome the Pooh Corner, starting that beloved fat, yellow bear and his dear friend Christopher Robin.

Disney Channel changed their look in 1997; they dropped the “The”, and expanded to three programming blocks. Playhouse Disney, directed toward young children, Vault Disney, which aired the classic movies and TV shows, and Zoog Disney, played in the evening and had a target audience of mainly teens. Zoog Disney gave us the shows that many of us grew up on such as Flash Forward, The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird, Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, and Kim Possible, among others.

In 2002 Vault Disney stopped being aired, putting an end to the beginning. Disney Channel wanted to create a more hip look, directed primarily to teens.

2002 was the end of Disney as we know it. The teens who grew up in the 90s said goodbye to: The Even Stevens, Sister Sister, Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven, Kim Possible, Phil of the Future, Suit life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place.

Our childhood was replaced by shows like Jessie, Girls Meets World, Dog with a Blog, Austin and Ally, Liv and Maddie, I Didn’t Do It, KC Undercover, Gravity Falls, and How to Build a Better Boy. These shows teach kids how to sass their parents, lie and skip class, nothing that the old Disney taught me.

Disney will never be as we remembered it, but maybe that’s what happens when you grow up, things change.