Soo Black box is cancelled right?

[MrPromey]

Like anything, there are good examples and bad examples. But it would be ridiculous to say story is unimportant to a good movie because the Transformers movies have lousy stories.

I agree although I'd hardly compare a free-roaming day in a park to a movie experience. That's kind of the mistake Disney made when Esiner made some remark about Disney being "all about story" and then suddenly every single thing they did with the resorts needed not only an elaborate backstory but also a literal, obvious, linear story which brought us so many of the "then something goes wrong" moments that became cliche in the parks vs the previous less in-your face stories for things like HM, Pirates, JC, and others and even things like SE, LWTL, and other slightly more modern "classic" attractions from before that point.

it just feels like there is this sort of arms race currently on "immersion" that to me, bright suns™(!), takes things a little over the top, sometimes in a similar kind of way.

When used with the right balance, I absolutely believe immersion, just like story (on some level), is a crucial element to the Disney parks experience, though.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Again I will say... you can only be immersed if you want to be or if you put any importance on it. Otherwise everything is just a series of branded items or things that you either enjoy and let yourself be part of or you don't. But it is hard to have a Peter Pan attraction/Ride without references to Peter Pan. A good example of that might be the Big Thunder Mountain. There is a back story with that and a definite theme but it is also a coaster. YOU can choose to imagine it is a train through a mining area or you can just think of it as a coaster. The choice is yours. Either way it is physically the same ride with or without the theming, but a rather drab, boring one without it.