I rode Smuggler's Run several times and thought that there would be many assumptions in order to fully enjoy it. For instance, the most important role, pilot, one controls vertical, the other controls horizontal. They need to both do well. Basically it is star tours + the interactive part, and the interactive part is highly dependent on the whole team. So I feel that it might be much fun only if either the whole crew is one party or the whole crew do really well.
However, I think the low crowd has nothing to do with whether or not the land is good. It is caused by strategy (which is probably made based on some predictions that do not turn out to be true). Just think about it, even if the land is not great, with the fans wishing to experience it, it is hard to imagine the low crowd. And to be fair, I think the land is very immersive, though I guess from ride perspective, probably not as great (to the general public) as say, those in the cars land and Pandora.