It's funny, but I feel like a lot of how I end up feeling about this might be in large part impacted by whatever they end up doing with the "festival center" or whatever we're calling it.
I know some bemoan the constant festival rotation in EPCOT, but I admit I'm kind of partial to at least the idea of them; if EPCOT works like a permanent World's Fair (a dated concept by now, I realize, but the structure is still there), it kind of makes sense to have rotating events and displays of art, cuisine, stuff like that. Thing is, I want to see them take things another step further, and to use the new building to do it: for example, I'd love to see the new space being used to do things like holding forums for academics on interesting issues pertaining to pavilion concepts (e.g. ecology, transportation, culture, etc.), technology, social sciences, etc., or hosting things like music and theater performances, events of that nature, kind of having "mini-festivals" scheduled there throughout the year to engage with the world outside Disney property. It'd really bring the original EPCOT concept to life in many ways, and be a sign of good faith and a gesture that shows that it can be more than "just a theme park"; the concept art showing people standing at what looked like a news desk labeled "EPCOT" gave me a sliver of hope of an idea akin to this, but obviously I'm not going to assume anything at the moment.
As for rides, I think people are talking past one another to a degree. Rides definitely help, but the word we all might be looking for is "experiences". We don't need to plop down a barebones Six Flags-style roller coaster in EPCOT or AK, we don't need to shoehorn in carnival rides just to put more options on the map, but it'd be nice to get back to an EPCOT where you could enter a pavilion and find yourself spending literally hours there. The Universe of Energy show was over a half hour long; riding through Spaceship Earth, Horizons, and Imagination's ride portion would take up 12-15 minutes all on their own; the Image Works was a wonderful experience, and it leading directly to the Magic Eye theater only made it an even richer experience; the Living Seas was a whole experience before you ever set foot inside Sea Base Alpha. Heck, while I never thought the Transcenter at World of Motion was as good as it could be (gonna blame GM's "automobiles > anything" mandate), it was at least an attempt at keeping you immersed for more than a short ride through.
That's a big thing that's missing now, and well-constructed, large capacity and frequently loading rides can help so much on that front, especially if you integrate it with a strong post-show. Ironically World Showcase still has that spirit to it despite having far fewer rides thanks to how detailed the nation pavilions are, but the now former Future World needs to go work hard to recapture that old feeling, and bringing in more ride options and integrated pavilions would be just the ticket.
