I think this is a pretty spot-on description of what has been happening at the Disney parks.
What I find myself contemplating is whether Disney is actually just being smart in catering to the audiences where they are even though it is making the parks less appealing for me personally. In other words, is this just where the culture is whether people like myself like it or not?
It never occurred to me as a child why Disney World had things like Big Thunder Mountain, despite not being based on a movie or having any recognizable characters. It was just another adventure in Disney World...a World where you could do and see so many different things all in one vacation. My older relatives loved WDW because it was a clean, attractive place in a warm climate to walk around, see some shows and have a nice meal. They especially loved EPCOT's World Showcase and the neighbouring hotels. IP was never the main reason to go.
But we've been in this kind of limbo for some time now where Disney's marketing and social media cache does not really reflect much of the actual park and resort infrastructure. I personally have appreciated how much of WED and Eisner era-WDI is still in the parks. Nothing wrong with Yacht and Beach Club, Tower of Terror, Jungle Cruise, Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, American Adventure, Dinosaur, Tiki Room, Small World, etc as is, even if show quality is a concern.
But Disney has been on a tear of late, sinking billions into reshaping the parks for questionable gains given how popular they were pre-2020 and how much built in nostalgia and demand there already was. I get that new rides drive attendance new lighting lane sales, but there's no real way to know how much the IP factor actually makes a difference if IP is the only choice the consumer has.
Some newer Disney fans are discovering Living with the Land, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Jungle Cruise and more for the first time and finding something new to love they never knew existed. Others are dumbfounded by the existence of stuff like the Country Bear Jamboree (pre-update) and making it loud and clear why it needs to go and be replaced with something IP related that appeals to their personal identification with the Disney name. We're seeing this on display with the removal of RoA and some fans struggling to understand why there ever was a Riverboat in MK to begin with.
Disney World is big enough for the old and new to coexist. This is a company that made re-releases and remakes a key part of their business strategy. They have a limited grasp of the enduring, timeless appeal of rides like Haunted Mansion but can't fully comprehend why anyone liked it to begin with. Disney's narrow focus makes it easier for customers and stakeholders to follow along, but it's a short sighted limitation of the parks creative and audience potential and that's frustrating to those of us who knew or are aware of how they used to be.
Side note; as much as Tron is fun as a coaster that I personally can do, it's a ride that really deviates from the kind of multi-generational attraction that made Disney so popular to begin with. To tie this back to Epic Universe, I know people who don't care about going because they physically cannot do most of the rides. MK's original line up skewed heavily towards shows because Disney thought the park would see a high number of senior visitors. I'm not saying Disney can't build rides like DLP's Space Mountain, but that's another aspect of the age/appeal balance of the parks that's being overlooked. It's to Universal's detriment too that they lack rides that don't have a height requirement or risk causing physical discomfort.
