I just spent a week at Disney... As someone who was excited for the changes to Epcot:
I like what they did with East - Connections is, IMO, a *vast* improvement over Electric Umbrella, and Creations is bright and pleasant in a way MouseGear wasn't. The only thing I'd say is these need their own BGM. They had it before the new score debuted, but now that score (which in general I like) is virtually *everywhere*. Give them their own themes.
Tearing down West is still a travesty, although I enjoy JoW more than I thought I would - it does fit the park.
Communicore Hall is...meh. I don't see why it was needed, it doesn't feel like a festival center. Still, what the have now is better than the pictures that were there on opening... The stage is just weird.
The gardens.... Oh the gardens. I wanted to like this. But it just seems so disjointed and thrown together. I was expecting beautifully manicured flowers, much like the rest of Epcot has right now (April to June) for F&G. But it's just random greenery with no color and does not at all seem well planned or taken care of.
The greenery as a whole is a step up from the concrete slab that was the post-94 iteration of the spine, but it loses that bump by the lack of kinetics and especially the removal of the FoN, which is almost as much of a travesty as losing Communicore East. Add the shoddy lightning and it's a definite downgrade from the 94 version, and a significant downgrade from the original. Bring back a fountain and throw in some other kinetics (like the spinning fixtures that were there previously), fix the lighting, give the area it's own BGM, and make the planters a showpiece rather than just random greenery and it could be a very nice area.
Oh how I miss that BGM... I think I'll go listen to it now. Seriously, bring back that music, have the new score be the park entrance music, give connections, creations, World Discovery and World Nature their own themes... The BGM needs more variety.