I actually don't want the Ratatouille ride myself, it's kind of a letdown as far as i'm concerned. Mystic Manor and Tokyo's Pooh are IMO far better examples of trackless dark rides. Rat relies far too heavily on screens for my tastes. I know i've said this many times, but I value a healthy dose of animatronics in my Disney rides (one of the reasons i dislike TSMM, though far from the only one in its case).
Yes he did, and yes that is the logic (facts actually). Lasseter is a very powerful figure in the company, and it has been stated by more than one insider on these forums that he used political leverage to threaten the executives into building Cars Land properly when they wanted to mutilate its budget. Lee or Martin can probably elaborate more on this (may have been one of them that said this originally), but i'd imagine he has a lot of dirt on certain people in the company to be capable of the power he displayed on the Cars Land project. Had Lasseter been hands off on the project and let Iger and the other bean counters have their own way, DCA would probably have been stuck with something more akin to the quality seen of Cars Quatre Roues Rallye at Walt Disney Studios Park Paris. And likely still in the same dire state of poor attendance it was in prior to its renovation.
New Fantasyland again is another perfect example of what happens when bean counters like Iger and TDO get their dirty hands on a project to slash the living hell out of it without a powerful creative head to firmly put their foot down and tell them "NO". You end up with a disappointing mess that feels thoroughly half assed. One hopes that James Cameron is fulfilling that role in regards to Avatar, it remains to be seen about the DHS overhaul though.
