Disney theme parks are holistic experiences. They represent the sum of their parts, and are not judged only for a handful of aspects. Everything that engages your senses over the course of your visit contributes to your enjoyment. Not just rides, shows or food, but everything in between that you come into contact with or glance from a distance. Even the things you don't see or are unaware of impact your visit, because they occupy someone else's time and energy.
Disney has spent decades whittling down their theme parks into a set number of activities, based on metrics and averages. They then took that data and built entire theme parks based on it, only to find out they were unsuccessful. Disney has spent billions trying to correct their own mistakes because it turns out theme parks can't be measured merely by the numerical sum of what can be seen. 7.4 attractions in a day is meaningless if the environments they're placed in, the burdens and expenses guests must endure to see them, or operations are all lackluster. Worse still if you're a customer who cannot visit all those 7.4 attractions because of physical limitations or a lack of interest.
Walt Disney Studios Park was a park with nothing but IP. Had more than 7.4 attractions, some of which were good, but it was still the least visited Disney theme park that now Disney is sinking enormous sums of money in to make it more appealing. Some of that money is going into a massive lake, new pavement and landscaping because it turns out, people like when theme parks look like parks. It's what Universal is boasting about when discussing Celestial Park.
Disney fans love the dopamine effect that comes with new attraction announcements, but they often don't realize what goes away until it's too late. This isn't a concern with losing Tom Sawyer Island and the Riverboat specifically, it's about a disregard for operations, attraction variety and placemaking entirely in and effort to maximize marketing. It's the Paul Pressler mindset that wanted to replace attractions with gift shops and killed unique stores in favor of generic Pooh plush and t-shirts, taken to a new extreme. Now whole buildings and lands are being overhauled to be "more Disney", while forgetting what made those spaces "Disney" in the first place.
A low capacity kiddie ride and a noisy thrill attraction are not what this specific acreage of the park needed. Tom Sawyer Island was a place for kids to run around, while still holding appeal to adults much more than subsequent play areas built in Disney's theme parks. The Riverboat was a relaxing ride that did not require reservations to see and was popular with older guests who cannot do more intense rides. Both attractions could also be seen by those not experiencing them which added to the overall ambience of the park. It's possible the new Cars ride will do the same, but again, it's something that's being worked into an area that was built from scratch to have this specific river as a focal point and backdrop. Replacing that and a half century of natural tree growth instead of just building the ride somewhere else is incredibly short sighted, and probably not the best use of resources either.
But maybe the new metric for Disney theme park success isn't a guest seeing 7.4 attractions in a day, it's a goal for 7.4 lightning lane sales per guest. Driven by a management team risk adverse and focused on consumer product sales and streaming data who still don't understand their product, assets or customers. The Magic Kingdom has been the world's most popular theme park for decades because of things like the RoA and everything else created for and around it. It was put there for a reason, and appreciated as a result.
