I don't know if they are remembering accurately or not, but my parents went to Disney way way back in the day, and say that it used to be that resort guests were always allowed into the parks early, every day.
My guess is that Disney is not going to make most perks resort-dependent (would they even have the capacity to fill all the parks, with resort guests only?), but they will be ramping up the "Magical Extras". Now they have the room parties, holiday parties, dessert parties, VIP parade lunch seating, fireworks cruises, AK animal experiences, tours, early mornings in Fantasy Land, and so on.
For the most part I like the extras, as they let you save up for something that is particularly important to you (I'd rather skip adding a day to go to HS and have reserved firework / parade seating, for example.) The downside is that:
1. I do feel bad that they make the full experience less available to everyone, and also fear that I am possibly accruing eons of bad karma by dropping that kind of money on a theme park when people are starving in the world. Although maybe it's a good thing overall, as in planning I often go "I am going to donate more to charity this year, I swear, I will eat beans and noodles for one week every month to save the money, I am definitely going to donate more this year so I don't have to feel bad about this, like seriously God, if you're watching this, I promise..." Disney: increasing charitable giving by making you feel really really guilty about how much you just paid them, lol!
2. The availability and scheduling of the 'extras' is often all over the place. Is the FEA party still happening next year? Heck, is Illuminations even still happening next year? When will we know? It adds a bit of a lottery element to vacation planning.
3. I am kinda stymied by who some of these extras are marketed to. $2K a night for a club level room? Over $2K a day for a VIP guide? For a vacation lasting about 5 days, that is easily a five figure trip. I mean, more power to people who are able to pay for that, but a part of me wonders who the target audience for that even is - I'm genuinely surprised that a substantial amount of people must be able to pay that much.
But overall, again, I like the extras, as adding them into the cost of a general ticket probably wouldn't make sense, since not every family would want a chance to reserve a seat along a parade route or swim with dolphins. It seems like a good way to allow people to personalize their trip while also pulling them in different directions so that crowd levels don't get too concentrated in any one place.