It’s astonishing how over 30 years ago the Imagineers who created Star Tours inherently understood all of this and made an incredibly fun, exciting, and joyful celebration of everything “Star Wars”.
It is almost hard to fathom that the same company with significantly more funding and technology at their disposal created the lifeless, boring, depressing mess of Batuu.
It just shows you either “get it” or you don’t. Sadly, WDI does not.
It's also worth noting that the original Star Tours did all this while largely avoiding known characters and locations from the Star Wars universe. Other than a quick view of the Star Destroyer, some occasional beeps and boops from R2-D2 on the roof, and the Death Star trench run at the end, Star Tours was a new experience to new locations with new characters. Things were reminiscent of what you already knew, but they were new to the attraction. And it worked, not in spite of it, but because of it.
While there is plenty of online chatter that setting the new land in an unfamiliar location was a mistake, I think that was actually one of the few wise high-level decisions that was made during the project. Having a new setting removes the barrier for entry for guests who may not be familiar with the details of the IP, while also reaping the benefits of easy recognition and a built-in fan base.
Where it fails, however is in the execution of that new location. Instead of being an open-ended jumping-off point for a new series of adventures, it's locked into an overly serious and overly specific backstory and timeline that limits its potential for exploration, interpretation, and storylines. It takes something that should be fun and open to interpretation, and turns it into a deathly serious chore to get all of the facts right. Instead of living your own adventure in the Star Wars universe, you're merely an extra in the background of someone else's story.
At the highest level, they made a smart decision to base the land on a new location, so they could pick and choose what experiences and elements to include. At the most detailed level, they did a good job of making everything feel like it belongs in the world. However, all those upper/middle-level decisions in between really dragged the land down. The war-torn aesthetic, the oversized scale for the park, the imposing buildings, the character timeline, the tortured backstories, and more all worked against the land meeting expectations.
I understand; many of them called it a “one-and-done.” They would rather ride POTC or TOT multiple times. Maybe guests are getting tired of rides with heavy storylines versus the cocktail parties Walt preferred.
As much as WDI likes to claim that everything they do is based on "storytelling," themed entertainment has always been its strongest when it simply tries to evoke a mood, atmosphere, or emotion, and avoids trying to tell a linear story. Similar to how it's difficult to show an internal dialogue on film, linear stories just don't really work well for themed entertainment; the message needs to fit the medium.
While Avatar had a pretty flimsy plot, it made up for it in world-building and spectacle; the theme park land is better for it, as it allowed the designers to focus on the moody environment without feeling like they needed to include specific characters. Even the rides themselves manage to avoid linear stories (though FOP's pre-show tries its hardest to force one on you), which gives them the sort of timeless appeal that classic repeatable attractions have.
Clearly modern Imagineers have the talent and resources to make good experiences. However, they too often tie themselves to things that ultimately work against a quality theme park experience. As a result, we get countless attractions with the same tired story lines ("Something goes horribly wrong!", "Come along, recruits!", etc.) that never fully connect with the audience as intended.
