I think we're somewhat in agreement. To be clear, I don't think Iger has made any point to be intimately involved with the development process on this attraction. He is typically very hands-off as things come together (as well he *generally* should be, he has much bigger fish to fry and Disney pays other people to be creative) and I'm sure that has continued here.
However, I don't believe for a second that he would have given approval to the pre-vis of this attraction those creatives would have presented UNLESS he really felt it was strong. That, or then he would have offered the sort of "it's boring" comment being bandied about and sent them back to work. It is definitely true that Iger recognizes this project as significant and is not interested in risking that it fall short. Disney has enough bad press these days, and screwing this up would not go over quietly.
It is also true that Iger has seen enough attractions in progress to know that it ain't finished until it's finished, so unless something is, like, SHOCKINGLY different from what he gave approval to, this would be an odd stage to offer direction-altering criticism. At the current juncture, "riding" the thing in The DISH would give a more accurate sense of the finished ride than walking through the empty flume with worklights on, sets in various states of completion, and no Animatronics.
