What is the state of the theme park industry these days?

Wow the TEA had no price for Eftelings Dance Macabre but gave the opening mess of the Olympics a price? WTF is going on there?

I'm curious to learn what experts predict about the number of international visitors to US theme parks and whether the parks are considering how current political developments might influence attendance and visitor interest.

Some topics I would be interested in hearing industry leaders address:

1. Are attractions getting too elaborate, too technical, and too expensive? Would more frequent, smaller, lower-cost attraction additions be effective?

2. Successes and failures in IP-focused lands/area developments. In what case has it worked and in what cases has the investment been regrettable, and are there observations about factors for success (and how to evaluate IPs for suitability)

3. Theming, architectural materials, and building/sustainability codes -- I'm seeing compromises in materials such as poorly simulated "shingle" roofing and wood siding, and artificial grass, that do not deliver the level of theming quality as in the past. Are these compromises driven by codes? What solutions can the industry device perhaps by working together (i.e., better simulated wood materials, or more realistic artificial lawn grass?) so historical and fantastical theming can still be "convincing"?

4. Visual intrusions mitigation -- as many theme parks exist within urban environments, are developing their own park-adjacent retail and hotels, and are maximizing their acreage and putting guests ever-closer to property boundaries, the impact of visual intrusions (i.e., buildings, power-lines) are only increasing. In an era of high guest expectations around immersive theming, what are creative techniques, realistic and cost-justifiable methods to block views, and what are examples of excellence to be learned from?

5. A discussion of climate change, heat-mitigation, and guest comfort standards. What are the best heat-mitigation strategies, including site-planning (shadow maximization), tree coverage, shade covers, covered queues, misters, and fans?

6. Environmental graphics: In recent projects, there are incredible executions of environmental graphics -- including thematic as well as functional such as retail and dining signage -- and some surprisingly poor examples where the graphic are anachronistic and distracting to the theming. Discuss examples of excellence in thematic immersion and historical accuracy of logos, signage, and other in-park graphics.

I think DrStarlander brings up some important points including the potential over-reliance on IP, over-complexity of designs and attractions that make them difficult/expensive to maintain and operate, and heat mitigation.

I think these are all important topic for industry leaders to consider, because while some of the recent projects are very impressive, are they going too far in terms of the ability to maintain (see canons on RotR that were just recently restored or Demeantor effects on HPFJ). I think it would be interesting to see what Disney would say about the climate resilience of MK without the Rivers of America.