For me, the issue isn’t age so much as experience in multiple disciplines. I realize these typically go together. The best of the classic Imagineers were also animators, engineers, movie set designers, costumers, and fine artists. They didn’t simply major in a related field and do a WDI internship.
I hope we are watching young Imagineers chosen to look accessible on-camera, not the actual leads. Experience and training make a huge difference. Otherwise, that would definitely explain the lousy forced perspective outside and inside Beast’s castle; the incorrect proportions throughout Belle’s village and Gaston’s tavern; the devil-may-care attitude infiltrating Epcot with the gondolas, Riviera, and GOTG sightlines; and the return to a retro TL.*
It feels like WDI is split into teams who have massive experience and teams who began as interns and moved up, but don't have experience in anything except that single internship. There’s a noticeable quality gap between the A-teams (Pandora, Star Wars) and the B-teams (everything else).
Also, somebody needs to tell WDI that beautiful contracted rockwork doesn’t automatically save a project.
Anyway, TSL looks well done for what it is, and although I don’t like these single-IP lands, at least Disney is thoughtfully using movies with proven staying power.
*WHY go back to the ‘70s? Complete the Buck Rogers styling all the way to the Speedway or do something completely new! “Disneyland is not a museum” means you push forward with innovation, not make poorly considered changes for the heck of them.
