Wow, I could not agree with you more! As a kid in the late 70's/early 80's, I can remember going to "Lake Buena Vista" to walk around and browse through some unique shops, all pretty much tailored to Disney. Then in the 90's, I still loved going there, only now it was called DTD or Marketplace, but still had that Disney vibe.
Being in the construction industry, DS is incredibly impressive to me, almost overwhelming to a point. The logistics and planning that went into building this place are simply amazing. But that's where any love for it ends for me. I have absolutely zero desire to walk through a super-expensive mall and browse through luxury shops that I can do at home here in South Florida. I go to WDW to escape reality and live in the "bubble" for 3 or 4 days. I want zero contact with the outside world. The only channel that is ever turned on in our room is the Disney Parks channel with Stacy. News or a normal tv show has never, and will never, be watched on our resort tv. Even though we drive to WDW, I will only take the buses around. The car gets parked and does not get looked at again until we are leaving to come home. So back to the shopping, I only want Disney merchandise while I'm there. Walking into a "normal, outside world" store while at WDW would kill me! So for me and my family, we will continue to only visit the Marketplace area, which consists of eating dinner at T-Rex, getting desert at Ghirdelli's, walking through WOD and then hopping on a boat back to the POFQ. I will not be spending any time in the new areas of DS.
