If you hated Wind Waker, you'll really hate Zelda U.

[Asriel]

I think you've read too much into it, but it's been obvious for a while this would be the most 'open' 3D Zelda. This is a game with at least 11 months of development to go, and I think the video was deliberately restrained to display only a couple of key mechanics.

I think given the complaints levelled at Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, there'll be more to do over-world wise in Zelda U than Wind Waker, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is similar to the island system in that there are points of interest (of varying complexity) to discover. I don't think these'll be evenly spaced out, and I think there will be more of them than Wind Waker. I think the key point about Zelda U is that it will be more challenging and fun to discover these areas: you won't see an island as the only point of interest, you'll see a certain feature (like a tower in the quick demo, or that gateway which seemed to indicate a dungeon was near by) in the landscape that you can go and investigate. Hopefully they'll take some cues from Skyward Sword in that these areas won't be easy to get to, even once you've found them. I'd hope parts of the overworld are still a challenge to navigate.

I'd also like to see 'hidden' dungeons, like in the first games. Maybe main quest dungeons will be easier to find, but have some secret ones for players to find and explore. Make these as sophisticated as the main quest dungeons, rather than the simple cave/chamber type areas you get in Wind Waker, for example.

I don't agree that this is Wind Waker on land, but I think there are points of comparison. Ultimately I think more cues are being taken from the original Zelda, but it's obvious the influence of more recent, 3D Zeldas will be quite prevalent in this game.