Well, all of those little compromises to the seamlessness of the experience weaken it overall and eventually break the spell. It all becomes a caricature of what it is trying to represent. I think these compromised "lands" have been homogenized into a cliche that defines a "theme park". Why? Because the same elements and program are repeated in all of the lands, only arranged differently. The "theme" is reduced to being nothing more than an exercise in styling overlaid on this formulaic set of rules that come from retail and food department guidelines, codes and the pandering of over-merchandising the public spaces. We have evolved from a "movie set" that suspends disbelief, into places that can only be described as "theme parks".
I was at DL yesterday and noticed that one of the Frontierland facades was so evenly shaded and aged that it was no longer really aging, it seemed like technique for it's own sake. You could never use this type of weathering in a movie as it looked more like Toontown than the Frontier. My friend asked why it was like that. I was not really sure. All I could say is that like muscle reflex, there is such a scenic process in place that the technique took the place of thinking "How" it would logically age, or the story of why it aged at all as the color had a high sheen level to it (aged things have low or no sheen). It was perfectly shadowed on all sides the same everywhere, contrary to nature or anything else. It just rang "hollow" as there was no motive for it other than it was "Disney style" and executed very well. Just a thought. Sometimes theme is used like wallpaper without regard for its holistic reason to exist or play well with other elements.
As to forethought to putting DVC booths into the lands, you are usually told that they will be there and that you need to integrate them. Too bad they won't let you theme them as "Snake Oil Salesman" in Frontierland!
