Wasn't this basically just "Let's put the headquarters for the Perry game in the old Camera shop"? And then people thought it was something more substantial?
As far as other ideas for "Let's cram some Epcot throwbacks into Imagination 4" go, they'd never go for it, but I've always felt the Dreamseekers from Tapestry of Dreams could fit into JII's world since they were basically created as a collective "Discount Dreamfinder" anyways.
The cancelled Figment 3 comic was supposed to be all about Dreamfinder and Figment uncovering the secrets of Spaceship Earth and tying it all to SEA along the way.
I could see Sue and the Mr. Imagination statue ending up on Discovery Island. Personally I'd love to see the Oasis or the Planet Watch trail receive the Cretaceous Trail stuff.
"We can't compete with Jurassic Park, let's just give up on making anything else with dinosaurs and let Universal have a monopoly on them" thinking has been a plague on Hollywood. Like I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to take the Simpsons bit seriously.
This is the one time I wish they'd go the cheap route and just have a "Indiana Jones vs Dinosaurs" ride that actually fills in the dark spaces with foliage.
They still do too. There's multiple Texas science museums with big oil sponsored Energy exhibits that have little time machine simulator rides shoehorning dinosaurs into the mix.
The comic was more of a "Creative learns to become more self confident in himself with the help of the physical embodiment of his childhood optimism" story.