wtg2000,
It's definately a tough call. I can see both sides of the coin on this one. There was a definate increase in the number of AP's sold when they got rid of the Magic Kingdom Club (to that point, I believe the passes were only available to MKC members). AP's used to be something really special. I think most passholders respected that and understood their true value. I hate to say it, but alot of passholder I have ran into fall into that "anal passholder" (an affectionate CM term) persona, which really gives us all a bad name. I remember reading a quote "I pay your salary..." well, technically, everyone who purchases any form of admission to the parks pays the CM salary. Passholders are NOT entitled to special treatment in my mind, no more so than someone who purchases a multi-day parhopper pass. The added discounts are a nice perk, especially with the demise of other discount options (MKC, Disney Club, etc). To me, if anyone deserves any kind of possible preferencial treatment, it would be stockholders -- not the casual "I have 5 shares" token invester, but those with a decent investment in the company. Catering to locals with discounted admissions are also a good thing, though there have been past promotions that really blew up in their face (ask any long-time CM).
Back to the subject at hand (sorry). Although the increased passholder population has made its mark on park attendance, I think alot of the problems really boil-down to poor planning on Disney's behalf. Line clogging -- well, most passholder take advantage of hitting the park at times where lines are shorter, because no one truly enjoys wainting in line. Most travelers seem to hit the parks at peak times, thus somewhat lessing that argument. If Disney wants to recoup money for a new attraction, all they have to do is relase some well planned pins and merchandise and passholders will cough it up (just look at the popularity of the HMH pins!).
As for DL being an internationally drawing park -- I have met many people from all around the world in my years of visits to the park. Alot of it I think has to do with the conventions and local (it is in CA afterall). I have been to WDW only 5 times in my short life, and ran into mostly people from the US, especially from the south and atlantic coast. EPCOT is one of the few places I met people from other countries, nearly all of them were working at the parks. DL seems to me to get a lot more local traffic than WDW, but I really don't know about the international numbers.