I’m not quite sure that’s true. I think that there’s a decent amount of young fans who know a lot of obscure characters, especially because their millennial and gen x parents are introducing them to the now obscure content they grew up with. I might never have gotten into classic EPCOT if my dad had never introduced me to Horizons. And the internet got me hooked on that stuff. This is all very off topic, but I don’t think that Big Al is that obscure. He’s very meme-able.
I digress, but if you name a Disney character I bet I could give you their entire backstory and place of origin.