Totally unscientific take here, but it's something that's been on my mind:
I recently saw an article entitled "Why No One Watches Baseball Anymore"; as a huge fan of the game it was pretty heartbreaking stuff, but a lot came down to the league constantly chasing after the highest dollar totals and profits at the expense of planting the seeds for a future fanbase. So the games run longer mostly due to commercial breaks being longer and/or more frequent, many teams bilk the cities they're based in to the tune of hundreds of millions for publicly financed stadiums, the biggest games air at times that are awful for young kids (seriously, 8:40pm EST for the World Series, on school nights), etc. All of this is happening while TV platforms throw tons of money at the league despite its falling popularity, because currently TV networks and cable platforms are desperate for any and all live programming they can get, as that's about the only thing keeping even more people from cutting the cord. Ergo, the league doesn't really worry about fixing its issues: after all, they're making tons of money today, so who cares about tomorrow? Just ignore that the cable TV bubble is likely going to burst in a hideous way within the coming decade and focus on your current earnings, instead, right?
Put succinctly, Major League Baseball is just doing all it can to wring more money from its existing, aging fanbase, and its existing media platforms, despite most of them moving toward obsolescence or not being fully equipped for the current media landscape (e.g. MLB.tv online games having ridiculous blackout rules). The league is making money hand over fist today, so many will tell those with concerns to sit down and shut up, but anyone with even half an eye toward the future can see the light from the oncoming train.
I'm not about to fully equate Disney theme parks with Major League Baseball; that's obviously two very different entertainment mediums and two very different business models, so this certainly isn't an apples to apples comparison. But I do question the overall philosophical shift of Disney parks toward "throw in whatever people recognize" instead of aiming for more ambitious material, and how it reflects a short term, "MBA-style" focus on immediate profit over the cultivation of lifelong fans and a sterling reputation.
I don't remember the exact line, but Walt once said something during Disneyland's first decade along the lines of "don't worry about how much <something esoteric or seemingly unneeded> costs; put it in as part of a great show, and people will line up to come back again and again." When it opened, Journey Into Imagination was a concept like that: huge, ambitious, showy, effects-laden, beautifully crafted...and it was a massive success. Move away from EPCOT, and look at the effect Pirates, Mansion, and other rides have had across all Disney parks: people feel a connection with those attractions despite them not being based on any individual IP, and to this day people make the journey back to their park of choice to experience them.
Again, I have no evidence to back up anything I'm about to say, but I fear a future where the answer is always "just use a movie they'll recognize", "just add another meet n' greet", or "let 'em drink more"; I'm not opposed to any of those things in isolation (hell, I've done "Drinking Around the World" with no shame), but what so many people are asking for isn't 1982 EPCOT Center remade verbatim, but some kind of sign that Disney still has that level of ambition in them, particularly when other places without such big IP demands in recent history proves they can still pull it off, ala Tokyo DisneySea.
. They don’t feel it is something that needs to be nourished/cherished.
