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Jokes like this that affect regular use of a site used by professionals should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

It could have been opt-in without spoiling the joke.

Have an opt-in notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom... but only inside the box pointing at the button, until the user clicks on the button.

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• The inevitable unexpected bugs (like load time slow down, cookie failure, site-specific CSS problems) would matter much, much less, because they'd only affect people who had opted in to a joke.

If a joke on a site used by professionals is taken so far that it slow down or obstructs ordinary usage of the site, going that far should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

Changing the entire site to a barely-usable 90s-style design could have been opt-in, without spoiling the joke.

Have an opt-in notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom... but only inside the box pointing at the button, until the user clicks on the button.

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• The inevitable unexpected bugs (like load time slow down, cookie failure, site-specific CSS problems) would matter much, much less, because they'd only affect people who had opted in to a joke.

Jokes like this that affect regular use of a site used by professionals should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

It could have been opt-in without spoiling the joke.

Have an opt-in notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom... but only inside the box pointing at the button, until the user clicks on the button.

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• The inevitable unexpected bugs (like load time slow down and cookie failure) would matter much less, because they'd only affect people who opted-in to a joke.

Jokes like this that affect regular use of a site used by professionals should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

It could have been opt-in without spoiling the joke.

Have an opt-in notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom... but only inside the box pointing at the button, until the user clicks on the button.

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• The inevitable unexpected bugs (like load time slow down, cookie failure, site-specific CSS problems) would matter much, much less, because they'd only affect people who had opted in to a joke.

Jokes like this that affect regular use of a site used by professionals should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

It could have been opt-in without spoiling the joke.

Have a notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom...

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• Bugs like load time slow down and cookie failure would matter much less, because they'd only affect people who opted-in to a joke

Jokes like this that affect regular use of a site used by professionals should be opt-in. Regarding this:

I do understand that making it opt-in would ruin the feel

It could have been opt-in without spoiling the joke.

Have an opt-in notice like the opt-out notice pointing at the clock icon, but have the content of that opt-in message in full-on 1990s-style, with comic sans, a red scrolling marquee saying CLICK HERE TO TRY OUR GREAT NEW DESIGN!!!!!!!!, animated flame gifs around a blue underlined "CLICK HERE" at the bottom... but only inside the box pointing at the button, until the user clicks on the button.

If it was done like that:

• People who weren't in a hurry would get the joke, laugh, click into 90s mode and have fun
• People who were in a hurry could just do the task they came to the site to do with no hassle
• The inevitable unexpected bugs (like load time slow down and cookie failure) would matter much less, because they'd only affect people who opted-in to a joke.