The idea of an impressive show has only died for those who look at the money. The problem with both Ardent and Village is you have bean counters calling the shots, and there is no one creative directing the show. Just because HSD is 10 times cheaper to run than a proper stunt show like PASS doesn't mean that should be the reasoning that they go the cheap route.
At Dreamworld, yes running a Steam Train is more expensive than running the diesel that replaced it (and no we won't go into that one finance wise), but someone who was thinking about the park and guest experience wouldn't have let it happen, not just because of the history behind the trains, but the guest experience and value they added to said experience.
This is the problem with the Australian industry at the moment, TRR is just a scape goat that Ardent and Village are using.