I don't really see the Neal Cassidy/Bae bit falling into predictability. There's still a question mark. Cora as Queen of Hearts...was sort of predictable. Also, you can have surprises that aren't associated with the main characters - such as Jack being Jaqulaine, and James being her partner - in killing all the Giants. Or Hook being the one who took off with Rumple's wife, and Rumplestilskin being the Crocodile who took off Hook's hand. Now that I didn't see coming.

Or a better example? Spike's arc in S6. While we did see him attacking Buffy eventually (or at least I did), we didn't see him going off and getting his soul (although I should have, dang-it - they certainly foreshadowed it enough). As opposed to Cordelia being the Big Bad in S4 Angel - which sort of came out of nowhere. That wasn't built well.
But Wes being the one who stole Connor and gave him to Holtz and betraying Angel - was built beautifully. And while I still saw it coming, I loved it.

I hope Bae=Neal (which seems more likely now that we know they're headed for New York), 'cause that's right up my story-kinks alley, but I'm betting I'll be surprised before the road trip is through.

Oh I think it's quite possible to have some twists and still have Bae=Neal. Lots of twists. After all, we don't know what Neal or Bae have been up to all these years. And if Neal is Bae, there's all those years in between. Also, we have lots of other characters in the mix.
Plus, who helped Rumple find Henry and why Henry for Regina to adopt?
(I'm betting it was Pinnochio...what better way to manipulate Emma into going to Storybrook?)