I think that sense of exploration and wonder will return to the series with HD zelda and maybe even SS if they handle it right. Everyone knows OoT was amazing because it was a 3d world realized right before us. But personally I felt WW also had that sense of scale, exploration, and wonder for several reasons. One, the ocean was huge, though people complain it was too empty and it did get boring at times. Second, it was a whole new world, not like how TP's hyrule is basically a slightly modified version of OoT's. In WW we had all new locations and races. Third, sailing as a way of transportation gave the game a new feel, from exploring the ocean to digging for treasure and everything else I did get that sense of exploration and wonder.
I think TP was where the series lost that feel for a number of reasons. TP was a last gen game as we were all entering the HD era. The size and scale and plain graphical quality of the game were all lacking when compared to its contemporaries. This made it hard for me to appreciate the game like I did past zeldas. Another issue for me was the familiarity of the world. TP's hyrule was too much like OoT or basically it didn't feel fresh. And lastly related to the HD gaming part, by the time TP came out I had seen other open worlds better realized in other games. So that same sense of exploration and wonder was diminished.
Still I think Nintendo can instill that sense back into the Zelda series. Whether SS pulls it off remains to be seen, we've seen next to nothing of the world itself though I'm not too hopeful. The cafe version though will have no excuse. More capable tech, better able to realize large, populated, stylistically interesting worlds. Let's hope.