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I appreciate this is your POV but this just seems like typical Merlin delusion to me. Merlin have proven many times how out of touch they are with the public, I really don't think it enters their minds what people respond to other than what their statistically skewed KPIs and surveys tell them. Of course we don't hear about everything that goes on, which is a shame because there are plenty of stories. For years they held that mantra about a wooden coaster in a UK park, when finally they built one it was very popular. Replacing its last big all-round family ride (in a park that desperately needs a major family ride) with a ticketed Dungeon attraction is not knowing how the public respond. They have no clue what they're doing with Thorpe Park. Wasting their most expensive project ever on a ride that doesn't know what it wants to be and was largely rejected by the public is not "getting the most out of the UK audience". Labouring a declining park with a ride that costs so much to operate and a bunch of fad IPs is not knowing what entertains the public. Until recently they squandered Chessington's development with their weird ideology that it's not allowed a new coaster because it's a family park, and not allowed new rides unless they have animals shoved in somehow, so denied practically everything for years. It's long been obvious to everyone Chessington needs a new coaster to absorb the queues, restoring old rides and fresh new ideas. If British people went to Phantasialand, Efteling and Europa Park would they not enjoy it as much as a Merlin attraction? Many non enthusiasts I know who've visited those places told how amazing it was, they havnt been to nearby Thorpe for years. All that Merlin care about the British public is to monopolise them and hype them up so that they can fleece them of more money. Hence IPs, just broker a deal with something that's already successful. IPs have been around for years, even at the time these parks were being built and that didn't stop them becoming popular. I believe the British public can be a cynical bunch and Merlin certainly know how to mislead them, but sooner or later they wake up to the overpricing, the poor value for money and commercialised parks. I think they're more ready to enjoy whatever's thrown at them than Merlin give them credit for, so long as it gets the fundamentals right and is entertaining, then word of mouth spreads. Merlin have proven time and again they have no idea how to do this other than roller coasters or IPs. Merlin monopolised the market, "hey ho that's business". No, you can make great business out of entertainment without monopoly. If anything monopoly is a way to get away with shoddy business because you own the whole market. I hardly call that business, just domination and shouldn't be shrugged off as 'just the way things have to be'. Merlin is also an extremely inefficient business underneath the hood.

I realise reading back now I didn't quite word it how I wanted to. So, just to change it up a bit: My point more was they know what the public want. Or, possibly more accurately, they know how to tell the public what they want. They've monopolised the market, which means they can go 'look, all your options do this, so that means this is what you want'. That's why some things which work abroad don't work in the UK - the public don't want them. But I'm sure if Merlin wanted them to want it, they would eventually want. Wicker Man / a wooden roller coaster is a good example I think. Merlin didn't want to invest in one, so they found a way to show that (of course, there were people who did want one, and there were plenty of plans for wooden coasters in Merlin parks before Wicker Man). More importantly, I don't think the masses were clambering for a wooden coaster. People wanted pure thrill more for Towers, hence why Smiler came about. But when whatever level of Merlin thinking wooden coasters were a bad changed their mind, the public loved it. I think that's in part down to Merlin being clever enough to know how to get the most of the UK audience and get them to want what they're giving. I'm not sure I've explained that very well either, mind. But, speaking purely from a business sense, I think Merlin have got it pretty well nailed down. They can herd the masses like sheep, telling them to like what they're doing. It means they can get the most money out of them in the cheapest way possible. That doesn't mean what Merlin is doing is good - they don't always make the best decisions, and you could say they rarely do. I don't like how it affects the parks, but I can still see it as something that they've done really well, even if I don't like it. I do genuinely think that a large proportion of the public enjoy Merlin's offerings. Merlin can, of course, significantly improve, and I think if they weren't trying to herd the masses like sheep and instead genuinely listen to them, they would be more in touch with the public more organically.