I fit into both of those camps. It's a great family coaster. Yes, the outside section is trimmed to buggery (although, if you sit in the back row, it's still pretty good), but the drop is great, as is the rest of the indoor section.
However, they royally ****ed up on the theme/advertising for it. There's young kids who I know would love it, that are running away from the entrance practically in tears because they've been led to believe its really scary. Conversely, there's regularly bunches of chavs hanging around slagging it off for being so lame when they were told it was going to be the world's most thrilling ride experience or whatever.
In short, everyone loses.
That article refers to how they've experienced growth over a period of 2 1/2 years. A lot of that is to do with the state of the economy and the fact that more people are staying in the UK for holidays rather than going abroad. Or not going on holiday at all, and just doing a few day trips instead. The weakening of the £ has also led to an increase in the number of foreign visitors to the UK. Therefore, I'd be very dubious as to how much of that growth is directly related to thOMGONEELEVENteen.