That is just fundamentally not true.
Disneyland in particular has had a steady, growing problem over the past 15-20 years, accelerated recently with the rise of photo-sharing-sites like Instagram, where they are fighting a balance between keeping the parks accessible and affordable, while also trying to limit overall attendance.
A family who books a vacation for a couple of days at Disneyland will struggle to see and experience everything that they want, for the simple reason that there are 50,000+ people (on quiet days!) all trying to do the same things. This isn't manufactured or made up. It is a real inconvenience, and one that existed before smartphones and mass data tracking. The real solution is in eliminating the annual pass program (and raising the ire of the millions of Southern California locals who go to the park on the regular) but that's for another conversation.
"A few minutes shaved" is absolutely a tangible benefit, 100%, especially for a family who has paid thousands of dollars to travel, stay, and visit the park. "the app was a necessity, a non-negotiable" - that "non-negotiable" is because compared to the experience even four years ago, pre-app, your day does allow for more experiences, and I suspect you felt that while breezing through the Space Mountain line.
Look, I do not work for Disney. Disney does not need me to "shill" for them. But "personal data autonomy" is not enough of a real, tangible benefit to the average person, especially compared to the real conveniences of even the slightest opt-in. It does not take a massive data surveillance program to know that our family are Star Wars fans. We literally do not care if the app is more likely to recommend we go on Star Tours more often. We do care that we're able to go on Star Tours without an hourlong wait.