As for XPass and the NextGen system - it sounds atrocious to me. Making ride reservations 6 months in advance the same way one makes dining reservations? Yuck! What a way to regiment your day. As if their ADR system is not enough where you have to choose which parks or hotel restaurants you will be at months in advance. Having some people who pay more to stay in a nicer hotel receive more front-of-the-line privileges at the parks? Big mistake for Disney IMO and something that would create negative feelings from other guests.
I don't see the issues that you're describing ever coming to fruition. We were at WDW in February (before FP enforcement started) and a lot of the stuff described is already available, it just isn't on a wristband but on the KTTW card or the photopass card. As for having to plan your rides 6 months in advance? I don't see that necessity anywhere. The article mentioned the future possibility of being able to get a FP before you go on vacation, but I don't think they'd let you get an unlimited number of FPs that way, and they still only put out a certain number of FPs per day, does it really matter when they're obtained? I have never seen anyone in a standby line have bad feelings about people in the FP line, we all know that we can get a FP too, if we choose not to, that's our problem.
I also don't see most of this stuff arriving at DLR anytime soon. They're still way behind WDW even on just the biometrics at the turnstile. I have to say I really liked that, because I know that if I lost my ticket someone else would not be able to pick it up and use it before I got my replacement.
I also don't mind folks who pay for on-property hotels getting extra perks. If I paid that much for a room I'd want extra stuff too. At least at WDW the moderate room we stayed in was not nearly as nice as the regular hotel room we stayed in the night before we flew to Orlando, and the rack rate was about double.
I guess the moral is, no matter what changes they make in future, it's still
Disneyland. And we will all still go because of the way being there makes us feel. There's no need to worry about what's coming down the pike, it will happen regardless of our personal feelings about it. And if they try it and it doesn't work, they'll get rid of it.