Yeah, when we opened something new that no one could relate to, we were all left scratching our heads as to why it wasn't even an amalgamation of things we already liked and instead a result of several 'maybe' concepts scrambled together based off the parts of the franchise people didn't even really like in comparison to what made the franchise popular in the first place. The product didn't measure up to the hype because they -just like the sequel film series- largely misunderstood what people even wanted out of that universe or what its stories were capable of doing. Which is ironic because when we look at the movies we wanted something NEW and got retreads, and when we look at the park we wanted to revisit and got something NEW. In a franchise like Star Wars people wanted to go to places they've SEEN to interact with characters they KNOW; With such a rich history of things and characters to draw from, you'd think it would be a surefire success. I really think there were just expectations to be met that were moreso undelivered.
In a franchise like CARS... you're... well... you're expecting... cars...? So... Yeah...