Well, I do understand that screen-based vs. immersive loads is a rather divided issue. Some prefer the load screens, others prefer to stay in the game world. I prefer the latter, but can live with the former.
Make no mistake, the ONLY reason the cities were closed off was because of the consoles, namely that they simply don't have enough memory to handle them. If this new engine is as powerful as Bethesda claims, it should be able to breeze through loading up the cities without any substantial slowdown, especially given how modern PC hardware is light-years ahead of the consoles now (4Gb RAM compared to the measly 512Mb in your standard Xbox 360 being the norm, for example). Considering the game will be constantly and smoothly loading and unloading the game as you go.
Believe me, I do get pretty sick of PC gaming being sidelined by the consoles in this day and age, as it stagnates the tech and causes games to be constructed based on extremely dated hardware specifications, and as a result they fall far short of what they can do technically. However, several firms, like DICE, have found (or rather re-discovered) a solution to this problem: develop for the PC first, then port to the consoles, rather than the other way round.
That way, you can account for all of the advantages PC users have invested to be able to use, and the consoles don't get left out. I really do wish Bethesda took this approach with Skyrim considering all they wanted to do, but sadly they didn't.
Oh well, reality isn't always what we want it to be.