I'm a fan of the current rumor set, but the lack of a Lagoon Show or any second live show feels like a bad omen for the year-over-year direction of the event.
I feel like I'm always saying it, but the event needs more than just houses and zones. It's the supplemental stuff that really keeps the whole thing enjoyable. More rides, more shows, more character encounters like David S Pumpkins, high effort Tribute Stores, better merch to browse through, more show moments within zones, etc. This stuff is necessary to add some downtime in your event night and to allow for some time to decompress between some truly terrible queue experiences for the houses and HNF. Those also don't seem to be getting much better either.
The event increasingly feels like it's designed for one-two night guests. Slimming the event down to it's barest essentials, raising the price on FF tickets, and incentivizing marathoning the houses in a few nights because...what else is there to do? To an extent, I can understand it from a profit perspective. They might not prefer having the park jam packed with locals and return visitors that might not be paying as much as someone staying at Cabana Bay for a weekend. (Though I personally have certainly put a lot of money into Universal's coffers thru HHN merch, food, tickets, etc) But I think it simply serves to make the event less enjoyable for all guests, even the 1-2 night vacationers.