Tied in with Merlin, blame families. They're the only ones spending money now, so parks have pursued child-friendly licences such as Thomas, Peppa Pig, CBBC, Nickelodeon, Lego, Peter Pan, etc rather than invest in more 'grown-up' attractions. Even Thorpe Park suddenly went for that market with Angry Birds. I'd like to think it's changing but Wicker-Man and Icon are still "family friendly" rides, despite what some of the hype might say.
Interesting point, but it raises a further question: Was it ever different? Did families use to spend less money at amusement parks than thrill seekers? Or did the parks just cater to the wrong demographic during the coaster boom?
I wonder if it's less about "Families Vs Thrill Seekers" and more about perceived value for money.
If you're paying a lot of money for a day out (family or not), you want to get something back. Tussauds used to offer both a high quality park experience and regular new high quality rides.
There's no denying that the quality of both park and ride experience at all ex-Tussaud's parks has suffered since Merlin took over. However, they still have a veneer of quality and regular changes to line ups (let's ignore closed rides mind
). So people are still fooled into thinking they're getting a high quality park experience. You only need to visit mainland Europe to realise how badly you're being done to by Merlin (as a top tier operator).
So you have the smaller parks who were unable to compete with the massive investments Tussauds made. DMP and Paultons both went for sensible "high quality targeted" options. Both have done very well out of producing really high quality areas based on popular IPs. The fact that they're family oriented is simply economics. It's easier and more profitable to take somebody else's work and ride their tailcoat than to develop original branding and high quality rides.
Flamingoland and Fantasy Island both tried to go down the "ride churn" route. New ride experiences regularly to keep the crowds coming. Neither really had it right. It's also (I don't think) a coincidence that both chose Vekoma to champion their new ride installs.
The problem is simply that of ride experience quality. None of their installs during that early/mid 2000's are actually any good. JO suffered massively and needed to be redesigned - ride quality varies hugely along the train and it only runs 4 times a year. Kumali was never great, but now it's pretty awful.
The rides never really excelled and aged badly. Both parks also split their focus. FI was all about the market(which made it an awful place to visit) and FL also looks after the zoo (which is actually really good). So investment and concentration isn't where it should be. Then again, why should they if the investment never turns a real profit. Both parks are a little out of the way and not serviced by any major travel infrastructure. So I think their markets are always limited.
Oakwood was heading for the big time. They were really spurred off the back of the success of Megaphobia. It was always such a lovely little old-school park with a great coaster. Then somebody died, then people stopped going and the investment dried up. Bad sale to a group with no interest in theme parks and you have the mess they are now.
LWV is an interesting one. They have loads of room for expansion, but just never seemed to really try an monopolise on the success of The Ultimate. I don't know if maybe it was a one shot investment for them. They had the one chance to put all their money into one project and it would make of break them. It never quite broke them, but I don't think it made them.
Blackpool always struggled from the death of Amanda's father. The park was kept afloat by investment in him, not the park. It led to the destruction of Southport (which is still - 12 years later - on a temporary contract as Southport council think somebody is going to build a hotel there) and a forced period of paying back loans. Fair play to Amanda, she has brought Blackpool back into profit and proved that the park is a business worth investing in. Their problem now is as it has always been - space.
Long and short of it? It's all about the right investment and who has the money to invest. If LWV had followed up The Ultimate with a B&M Hyper or an Intamin Rocket, or a GCI wood? I reckon they could have kept on making inroads into the high quality visitor experience - to a degree. They also needed to invest in "theme infrastructure". Part of what makes the Merlin parks and Paultons so "visitable" is the immersion you get being at them. They're nice places to visit - with some good rides to keep you entertained.
If Flamingoland had bought a B&M floorless and a Gravity Group woody, they could have had people returning for those - getting the repeat footfall.
So it's really all about quality AND quantity. You need good stuff to make people want to revisit and new stuff to make them feel like they are getting a good return on their ticket investment WHEN they return in the new season. Those who have done this have flourished, the rest - it's led to a poor state of UK theme parks where Merlin can run rampant.
