Caterkiller: I checked that, and at least in the photos the Big Shine is clean. I am guessing this map will be AFTER the events of Sunshine. However, I hope I am wrong, because it would be nice to see the Gloopy paint invade the Plaza and even have Pirahana Plants pop out of them.
Though, stuff like that could be saved for the Adventure mode.
Personally, I really love revisiting all the places in the Nintendo universe...and I am specially pleased that Nintendo is taking the events that occur in the individual Mario games and characters and mixing them together, creating a more consistant world.