If I am remembering the exact ordering, the large trees were removed before the projections, due to Wishes being more castle-centric than Fantasy in the Sky. They were replaced with smaller trees (magnolias, I think? That's when the twinkly lights went away). Then they started the new hub project to manage the hoards in the Hub and the bypass that for some reason, since August, is hardly ever open, even during parades. The hub project finished with small shrubs in the hub, and soon thereafter, even they left (too tall for the 2-year olds watching Wishes at 10 pm just about year-round nowadays?). At least we got all those large trees in the periphery with the twinkly lights back.
To their credit, I think the new turrets they built assist in the forced perspective a bit by growing the castle out a bit. The scale of the castle works pretty well for me once I'm in the hub itself. From Main Street, not so much, but then the forced perspective on the buildings themselves still do their job of making the castle seem further away than it is. All told, I find the overall project to be necessary and I do think the hub project righted some mistakes that had been made in the past. If only the lighting towers weren't so obtrusive, but we probably should avoid that can of worms.
For anyone who has been during MNSSHP or MVMCP, the huge hub provides ample viewing for the fireworks you are paying for and allows maximal enjoyment of the perimeter fireworks. Goodness, those fireworks shows have impressive finales.
