The Jurassic series and the land based on it have always been a satirization of theme parks and the corporate culture that surrounds them; simply taken to their fantastical extemes.
John Hammond is a clear riff on Walt Disney. Raptors hunt down children not in a prehistoric jungle, but the 5-Star kitchen for the luxury themed restaurant they built in the so-called "Discovery Center". Jurassic Park severely overpays on the park and animals, and severely underpays its' lower-level employees to the absurd point that one tech worker inadvertently releases a T-Rex on the park owner and his guests.
In IoA, River Adventure follows that format. The preshow video is the exact kind of promotional slop* that Disney produced for a lot of their attractions throughout the 80s and 90s, and the ride itself is "Jungle Cruise, but the park is incompetent enough to where the Tiger actually almost eats you". The whole gag is that the park accidentally turns one of the most serene attractions into a terrifying thrill ride through the pure greed and incompetence of the corporation that operates it.
*Slop is used affectionately I live for that junk
I believe the first Jurassic World movie understands this thematic foundation that the franchise has built itself around. The park is operational, the mistakes of the past have been swept away by upper-class dollars and incredible marketing, and things are going great; until that corporate arms race hits a tipping point. The spectacle creep; the need to own the biggest, fastest, most fear-inducing attraction for the sake of marketing alone. Ultimately, in the rush to please investors, the park makes a monster so big and terrible that it ends up destroying the operating park from the inside out. It's all corporate greed and avarice. It's all about the horrors brought about by that.
Velocicoaster differs from River Adventure only that it takes place in the "before" timeframe of the "Before / During / After the incident" framing. It fits into the Jurassic Park thematic ecosystem really cleanly. It's certainly on the nose - "They built a roller coaster in the Raptor paddock?" - but this has never been an especially opaque series when it comes to its' thematics haha.
I believe the later films lose the thread and end up as nothing more than monster movies with big lizards, but the first movie and VC keep that satire and "anti-theme" going strong. I think it's the core of the franchise, and without it, you just get the same art that the original JP and JW films themselves were satirizing. Big spectacle, more teeth, no purpose; until the audience loses interest and those extra teeth turn back in towards the creators. Maybe not in the way of lawyers getting chomped, but more likely, investments not seeing their returns and the tailspin a company sees after that loss of consumer interest and profits.
On a much different note, I simply just like the warmer color tones of the original Park series than the cooler blues and greys of World's aesthetic. I think the balance they have right now is great between old-school JPRA and World-era VC within the land. JPRA obviously needs the extra love to bring it back up to par, especially as one of the headlining attractions for one of the largest media brands in the world. I just hope they keep that through-line intact and don't just settle for spectacle alone. Luckily, that line is actually pretty easy to maintain within the medium of theme parks. There is a reason why most Universal rides involve "Something went wrong on the tour!", which is
very Jurassic.