Whatever Comcast Corp.'s bid to buy Walt Disney Co. might mean for shareholders, one group is decidedly grumpy about the prospect of having a new name on the corporate headquarters: Disneyphiles.
This community of hard-core Disney fans is distraught, in particular, at the notion that the Magic Kingdom could fall into the hands of a new owner that may fail to preserve its rich heritage and culture.
"I'm just so afraid they're going to change," said Jay Aldrich, 60, of North Hills, who is president of the National Fantasy Fan Club for Disneyana Enthusiasts -- the world's largest Disney collectors group. "The Disney name represents so much."
Indeed, perhaps no other company in the world has such a dedicated following, made up of countless thousands who relish their childhood memories of Disneyland, Mickey Mouse and Snow White -- and squawk at any tinkering to Walt Disney's original vision.
That's why many Disney devotees, especially the more rabid among them, reacted to last week's Comcast news as if they had just heard about a loved one who had taken ill and might soon die.
A cable TV company like Comcast "shouldn't be in charge of Mickey Mouse," said Arlen Miller, president of an Orlando, Fla., chapter of a national Disney fan club. "Disney needs to stay within the family."
Added George Reiger, a part-time postal worker from Bethlehem, Pa., who calls himself "the world's No. 1 Disney fan" and has the Disney-themed tattoos across his body to prove it -- 1,579 of them in all: "There's hundreds and thousands of us who love Disney and want to keep it the way it was and the way it is. Walt would be turning over in his grave if he knew somebody would be coming in and taking over his dream."
After launching their unsolicited $49-billion takeover bid, Comcast executives went out of their way to stress that they would preserve Walt Disney's legacy. Among other things, Comcast Chief Executive Brian L. Roberts and top lieutenant Stephen B. Burke -- himself a former Disney man -- have vowed to revitalize Disney's sluggish theme-parks business.
Yet many still fear that Comcast would dismantle the empire that Walt and his brother, Roy O., started in 1923, perhaps even selling off Disneyland and Walt Disney World to raise cash.
As a result, the Disney faithful have lighted up Internet chat rooms with doomsday talk.
"The very thought of Comcast owning Disney gave me the shudders," said one.
