Disney resort parks all come down to one common factor: Their Magic Kingdom. It's what everyone expects from a Disney park and rightfully so. MK parks are usually pretty safe bets to succeed because there's a mix of everything for people to love in one park instead of each 'land' having their own parks. So can a brand new Disney Parks resort survive or do as well without a Magic Kingdom-style park? If so, what would you do to make sure the park is as successful as a MK park without being one?
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Shanghai demonstrated that Disney could change the MK formula substantially and still do well. After Shanghai, the MK model is basically now just "there's a castle in the middle of the park." Put enough great attractions around it, and I think that Disney even could change that weenie and do fine.
I think Disney uses the castle concept because it works. It is a tried and true bet. When you think of a Disney park, you think of a castle.
The castle still works, but the American parts are not translating well. Main Street and Frontierland are both weak. I felt Main Street didn't work at all in Hong Kong. A Victorian British version would work better. Thus Shanghai went with Mickey Street and completely skipped Frontierland. Tomorrowland is a mixed bag of concepts. Nothing concrete in any park. Thus, the only distinguishing parts is the basic hub and spoke layout with a entry street and castle in the middle. Many cloned rides. Tomorrowland whatever it is, Adventureland possibly or Pirates. Then any filler.
The second park is likely a Hollywood Studios park although it is a weak park. DisneySeas is a strong park and California Adventure is strong park after getting Carsland. DCA seems to combine the strong parts of DisneySea while adopting the weak studios park model. Another mixed bag from the Eisner era. The Iger era fixes everything. Good for him!!!
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I think it could.
To be honest, I'm surprised reproducing the same park over and over again has worked this much. I suppose it could be said with Tokyo and WDW that these were in an era where long distance travel was beyond the reach of the common person, but DLP and HK are in the era of cheap airfares. I discount Shanghai due to the difficulty of getting an exit visa from China (and that international travel for many Chinese isn't financial viable).