I would prefer not to sit next to a stranger for something competitive (TSMM) and wouldn't like to sit ONLY next to a stranger for something I consider genuinely terrifying (California Screamin', though I don't know if I'll ever ride that again). Obviously on Soarin' and Indy, you'll also be sitting next to someone you DO know unless you rode by yourself in the first place, so I don't consider that to be an equal comparison. At any rate, I wasn't trying to argue the merits of SR in general--just on TSMM.
Regardless of my preferences (which I consider to be as valid as yours), I don't think the reason Disney removed SR on TSMM was that it was annoying a few people who were seated with single riders, because that could be remedied by asking riders' permission to be seated with a single rider.
I personally think it's more likely that it wasn't saving guest wait time overall in this case. (I thought filling in those seats took time too; it seems to me the logistics would be trickier with TSMM--with 4 or 8 separate stations that may or may not need a SR--versus the one or two compact vehicles in the other rides that offer it.)
Or maybe it was taking too much CM labor (why should they staff an extra CM to make just minor improvements to the overall guest wait time?).
Or as I mentioned, POSSIBLY, even the single riders were on average waiting too long (I know others have said it wasn't much of a time-saver at TSMM) and/or maybe even complaining about how long they had to wait.
My dad is in a wheelchair and when we went to
Disneyland circa 1989 as a party of 4, they made us split up (at least one person waiting in the standby line) so we didn't get to skip any lines at all there. It would have been nice to be allowed to stay together as a family, however long we had to wait, but that wasn't how they did things back then--at least, on the Jungle Cruise and per the official Park policy. (Besides that and the train, I don't think Dad bothered riding anything.) We didn't get any special (positive) treatment, but on the other hand, that led to getting somewhat less time together as a family than a group that didn't have a member in a wheelchair, so it wasn't perfectly equal treatment either.
I am just THRILLED that there is a "roll-in" boat in Small World now. My dad can't transfer now so this is one more ride he could actually do! Well, he could if he didn't hate Disneyland and crowds.
