First, system busy message...ARGH!
I'm glad to see this "list" stuff. I was going to suggest that the Car 1's with short Disney park histories make a list of the special touches that are important to them. Write it down, tuck it in a file somewhere and 3 years down the road, 5 years re-examine the list and see if those things are still there, are they no longer important to you, what new "touches" are out there, etc.
My fear for the newbie WDW vacationers is that 5 years from now, you'll go to the park with expectations like "it's a hot day, thank goodness they have those towels on the mini-golf" and when you get there, they won't offer you one and when you ask for one the CM will look at you as if you've made an unreasonable request. Or if your wife will want to go on the free garden tour at the YC/BC she'll find out that the free tour is only for people staying in the suites or it has been discontinued. Of course I imagine, you'll come back to the board and comment on your disappointment and a newbie vacationer will jump on you for your inappropriate response to such a minor thing. Disney is a for-profit company you can't expect something like that for free, never mind that you remember the days when those things were for free. Waxing nostalgia, get over it already.
In the carpool thread 65% of respondees believe the magic has faded. People disagree to the degree and whether it's fixable. But 65% are feeling some type of "back of the neck tingling" that something is different. I don't know what that means, but if I were in Car 1, I think I would at least question that maybe there is something to this decline theory even if I can't see it. After all, how many times have Car 3ers have had their hands slapped with the "Just because *YOU* feel differently, doesn't mean that's the way it is." How come Car 1 people never have to think that, perhaps, they are the ones in the minority?