Eh, I think TP is much better than SS. The best parts of SS are the dungeons, but the TP ones are, collectively, a tier above. The world is much better, both in terms of atmosphere and cohesiveness. SS does start and end better. Midna brings so much more than Fi it's hard to believe. There are silly irritancies in both games, but more in SS.
I'd concede that TP isn't the most creative game in the world - it's not known pejoratively as OoT 2.0 for nothing. But, motion controls apart (which are decidely varying in quality, and not always better than what was shoehorned into TP), SS doesn't do much that's new either. Segmenting the world into three areas is, I'd argue, a step back. The sky is an ingenious idea, but they never went anywhere with it - it feels as barren as Hyrule Field in OoT. SS brings the beetle, which is a great idea and implemented extremely well, but it aside, none of the items fundamentally change their games.
Mind you, I'm a much bigger fan of TP than most and not really a Zelda fanatic, so I'm a bit of an outlier.
Edit: I will make no effort to defend The Wind Waker.
--
Who knew the Rivalry Rumble would be so predictable? SuperNiceDog, that's who.