Pro: Disney Parks can adapt and grow with the franchises they develop, allowing them to create an ever-changing variety of new attractions and entertainment for guests to enjoy.

Image: HarshLight, Flickr (license)

This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting opportunities to come out of Disney's new themed lands. Remember, if you can, how Star Tours - The Adventures Continue broke new ground for the Disney Parks. While overhauling an entire 3D simulation system would have been an expensive and time-consuming project, Imagineers found a more cost-effective way to keep the attraction fresh and exciting for returning guests: They created randomized virtual “missions” that transported riders to various spots in the Star Wars universe. Now, anytime a new Star Wars film premiered, they could develop a new set of videos for the ride without having to make any fundamental changes to its structure or theming.

Now imagine that idea applied over the course of an entire land within the Disney Parks. Instead of upgrading one attraction every few years, Disney would be able to explore and expand their character and entertainment options as the franchise progressed. Instead of guests flocking to the newest iteration of Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, they can travel to Batuu and meet new droids or take on new interactive challenges at the local cantina. This could very well be the future of Disney Parks—not a fixed tourist destination and walk-through museum of Walt Disney’s favorite stories and memories, but an ever-changing world of adventure and true innovation.

Con: Heavily-themed lands can make the parks feel less cohesive and potentially dissuade guests from experiencing it as a whole.

Perhaps these glasses are rose-colored (or, knowing Disney rose gold-colored), but there’s something wonderful about getting to walk through Disneyland or Epcot and feel like the park was designed under a unified vision. It’s certainly possible that Imagineers will find a way to seamlessly transition from the ice-capped castle grounds of Arendelle to the rocky crags of Batuu—or, at the very least, install large enough partitions or natural-looking berms to keep the areas separate—but the overall effect may make the Disney Parks more disjointed. Instead of walking through a set of lands that complement each other (or, at the very least, are bound by common themes of innovation, exploration and fantasy), guests will flock to their favorite part of the park while ignoring the rest.

So, which is better: The nostalgic trappings of Walt's original Disneyland or the shiny new possibilities of a heavily-branded Disney Park? It may be impossible to give a definite answer, though it certainly seems like the company has started moving in the latter direction. Only time will tell if they made the right choice.