The Wild Arctic walk-through is fantastic and the animal exhibits are great. I always skipped the simulator.
I think the Antarctica dark ride portion was charming and fun and had two key functions:
1. It slowly acclimated guests to the freezing temperatures in the penguin area.
2. It managed the numbers of guests entering the exhibit.
Both areas have great animals, which I think is the main point of SWO. The rides just need to be well-themed, clever, and fun. They donāt have to be Spiderman, Smugglers Run, or Peter Pan. I think judging them exclusively on their quality as dark rides is unreasonable.