Last year they had IPs that had been dormant in the Theme Park / Experiences space for decades. Star Trek hadn't seen anything big since Star Trek Experience in Vegas closed, we all know Back to the Future's story, One Piece hadn't had a stateside theme park presence AFAIK, same with Dungeons and Dragons. It all felt very fresh, and for BTTF especially there was a lot of hype; it's a well loved franchise with a dedicated franchise that had a lot of pent up demand, married with a pitch perfect experience on the actual Courthouse Square. I think that drove a ton of pre-season hype on its own.
This year, outside of anime, they're going with IPs that you've seen recently. Dungeons and Dragons is a literal repeat. Universal Monsters have been at Horror Nights almost every year since 2018, are year round in Vegas now, and have a whole majorly themed land dedicated to them at Epic Universe. Scooby has meet and greets in the park every day. Harry Potter, likewise, has a whole land dedicated to it not only in Orlando, but right in Hollywood as well. Nintendo's doing different colors of the same meet and greet character from last year. Jurassic Park/World is getting some new characters, but again, you can ride the Jurassic World ride any day of regular operation. I'll give an exception to this rule for One Piece, which is getting a major upgrade and again bringing something that I think fans of the franchise haven't seen in this half of the world before and will love; same with Sailor Moon, which also feels like an upgrade from Jujutsu Kaisan last year. But anime aside, even if the specific experience or universe is going to be unique, the IPs themselves don't feel as fresh as they did last year.