One crux of a good attraction is how it uses a combination of things to create something better than the sum of its parts, and your argument probably explains why I love TSMM. The competition, interactivity, and movement together are absolutely delightful IMO and make it the favorite attraction at the resort among many in my family including this young lad.
I feel like it's a solid c-ticket ride (not an insult) that gets treated like an e-ticket. That's my major beef.
We got what we got (screens in a large weakly themed room) due to a budget and limited space.
I'll give them credit that the two-sided design of the cars with flat panels having screens on both sides was an effective way to maximize the use of space but it was designed with a very limited attention to detail to the space you're in beyond the screens and that's very apparent when you're being whisked to the next set of screens around a corner.
Some of that could be improved today with a modest budget if they wanted to do it and I kind of hoped with the TS land addition, they might do a little to plus this one but funny enough, as a ten year old attraction designed for a cramped existing space, it somehow still managed to be the crown jewel of a brand new land.
Continuing to pull in the numbers it does, from a business perspective, I guess there's really no reason to do more with it.
Anyway, no pitchforks for me on this one. I'm not sorry it replaced Who Wants to be a Millionaire and I'm not calling for it to be torn down or anything but I think it's a fun little ride that would not be nearly as popular today as it is if Disney had been keeping up with needed growth and improvement in Hollywood Studios along with the other three parks all along.
Anyway, why are we all talking about TSMM here? Isn't this the space we should be arguing about the redhead scene from Pirates?