Anyway, now I have to hold my breath for the next explanations.

So I mentioned before this:  >>/5728/
> the excessive normalization could make the new things more boring than the established material 

and I have a peculiar case to expose and...Again with Rainbow Roadtrip? Am I here to bash it again eternally? Look I did that before and I am not here to display that I am absolutely correct here (those can enjoy it, it´s perfect, no problem for me). This topic is meant to serve a purpose and prove how lore is used here and how this thesis applies to this example. 

So possible controversies aside, why Rainbow Roadtrip and Hope Hollow? 

Well,everything has a limit even in this show and probably the huge expansion of the map was so big that more additions could feel average when if this had been added in the first seasons, it would have received more hype.

This happens to Hope Hollow and you know, it follows more or less the formula of Mt. Aris or Seaquestria but as you said  >>/5729/
here, they only spent 10 minutes and went from point A to point B, so the slice of life part was really short and the plot moved on. 

The problem with hope Hollow is based on the fact that the transformation that it follow in the interest towards it:

In the first few minutes, you get the same impression as Mount Aris did in the movie and you start to ask yourself: "Uh, I wonder what has happened here", you have your mind prepared for what´s about to come and get explained, ready for the lore behind this place and...

it happens in the same way that Skystar did, just that it was more dragged and their entire mystery was entirely explained after the Mayor narrated the problem with a song. So the lore has been put aside for it, Hope Hollow has nothing else to offer and we face a slice of life problem in a new location that was getting its debut in the franchise. 

From there, the special had to rely on the interactions between the characters, its message and the moral because all its lore was boiled down that the town was grey because the mayor used the device to an excessive level. For an episode of 22 minutes, this would have worked nicely but for an entire hour, you need more than that. More lore behind and twist (or subtle foreshadowing like The Cutie Map for example) towards the last third of the special could have made it more entertaining and create a greater impact.