I do believe giving at least a small twinge/tingle of excitement & fear is necessary in great rides. Those EPCOT originals mostly had segments that gave that little kicker (e.g., Horizons' simulator ending; World of Motion's speed rooms, Energy's dinosaurs, Spaceship Earth's height and when it turns backwards for the descent). Even the Peoplemover gives a bit of a chill when your enter Space Mountain and hear the screams. To me, the least-affecting rides are the ones that are absent of that "what might happen next" uncertainty (Small World, Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story Mania).
I agree with some that B&B's shortcomings are the drawn-out pacing and somewhat bare set/art direction. If a ride is slow and lingering, sets need to overwhelm the senses with layers of detail and things to spot. In these B&B vids, this new Castle Queue looks far too brightly-lit, clean and modern (lighting) for my tastes, but I can understand that a dark, dilapidated, cobweb-filled queue might freak out the young and timid that are part of the targeted demo. Still, MK's mermaid has an outstanding queue that can intimidate and it aims at an even younger demo than this.
I think the overall grade/impact of this attraction is on par with Mermaid (B/B+), which is fine, but not when considering B&B's budget could have bought 2 or 3 Mermaid level rides. Mermaid has better pacing (shockingly). B&B has more impressive FX. Lesson to be learned: If you're spending $250+million on a attraction based on a well-known movie, it has to be more than just physically recreating a smattering of scenes in random order (e.g., Splash Mountain is the exemplar of what to do for an animated movie E-ticket).
