I agree that DCA & DHS are in need of more attractions, however I feel Mickey is most associated with the castle parks. That's why Toontown's removal from the MK was such a loss. We lost his and Minnie's home. A lot of ppl come to the MK wanting to see them & where they live. The average guest won't care that on the ride it's a different interpretation of him. In their eyes it's still Mickey and they got to visit his home and his attraction. Plus there was no way Disney would create a ride based on their most popular character and not place it in Walt's original park. Just a few of my thoughts.
I always thought the houses were an abomination because the style of the houses didn't fit with everything else. On top of that, they lacked interactive elements. If they were going to add the houses, then they should have been more like the Pooh queue, or Universal's Seuss playground/splash area.
I also find the MMRR version of the characters ugly and jarring. To me, they aren't styled so much as needlessly crude and ugly. They remind me of Nickelodeon's Ren and Stimpy. Mind, the way Ren and Stimpy were drawn was a fit, because the it fit the characters' crude/rude personalities/stories.
Mickey should not look crude, because that is not his personality. In cartooning, angles and ugly have meaning. Villains have angles and are ugly.