Anyone else feel that storytelling can be a little overrated at times regarding parks? I hear common complaints about Forbidden Journey and Orlando’s Mummy in that their stories suck, but both are fast-paced thrill rides while the former is meant to be a celebration of the movies and the latter accurately reflects the hokey silliness of the Mummy movies.
I believe pacing, spectacle, and cohesion are far more important than storytelling for most rides.
The story of IoA Spider-Man is probably the most generic story you could possibly tell with the character, with no interesting twists or quirks. If the narrative were to be adapted into a comic or a film, it would be laughably basic and one-note. But the visual and tactile spectacle, incredible pacing, and thematic cohesion from scene to scene make it one of the best attractions ever built.
Attractions like Battle at the Ministry, Zootopia: Better Zoogether, or even haunts like Orlando's UCM: Eternal Bloodlines sag under the weight of their own narratives. Themed attractions have a limited amount of time to get across a story, and the primary audience does not hold deep storytelling as a priority compared to familiar iconography and plain fun factor. Simple narratives often give room for rides to stretch and show off really cool setpieces, as opposed to long stretches of characters giving exposition that most of the audience isn't interested in.
Rides like FJ falter a bit with cohesion. Spider-Man leaps between setpieces in similar ways, going from underground wastewater systems to rising above the NYC skyline in a matter of seconds, but the subtle invisible line connecting each location from scene to scene is done so perfectly you don't even notice the transitions.
FJ will go from daytime to nighttime in a flash, have Harry and Ron hanging out between classes less than a minute before being involved in a massive Quidditch match, and ending with the entire extended cast cheering on a few non-Wizards who didn't do anything. Narratively, it's nonsense - written down, it's almost dreamlike in its' inconsistencies - but it also wonderfully captures the spectacle and iconography of the series in a well-paced tactile manner, so it's largely okay.
It could be improved, but in worrying too much about cohesion, you might write yourself into a corner; like Ministry, where you spend the first third of the ride stiffly explaining away why Umbridge is here. You don't need to do that. Hagrid lost a dragon, here they are. Look, it's Quidditch! It's Dementor time now. You can actually just commit to whatever, and most people will go along, so long as it's suitably cool and fun.
The fun thing is that all three of those above components
are storytelling. It's just that theme park attractions require a different pen than a show, game, or comic would.