"The customer is always right!" - The famous quote coined by Mr. Gordon Selfridge, but what can the founder of a fashion chain teach us about most normal businesses? Not a lot. But what does a fashion store have to do with theme parks, you ask? Everything. You see, every second of every minute of every hour of every day somewhere out there in the deep and wondrous place that is the internet, some random fan is complaining on a message board dedicated to the thing they love the most. And what are they whining about? The thing they love the most. I'm as guilty as anyone else when it comes to kicking up a fuss over something the theme park industry does that I consider a bad idea. After all, I am an enthusiast! I know everything!

Cerberus' hilarious comic strip 'Over-enthusiast-ic' mocks this common attitude amongst roller coaster enthusiasts with uncanny realism, but it's about time we all grew up a little. Theme parks are a business, there are there to make money and we are not their target audience. Tussauds, Six Flags, whatever, isn't Selfridges & Co. The theme park industry, for one, is reaching out to the most varied audience it can. But how much does the average enthusiast really know what’s right for the well being of a park? We like to think that we know the ins and outs of the industry as well as those working behind the scenes do, but do we? Well, what exactly goes through someone’s mind when they decide that because of legal issues involving a fast-food chain, they’ll stick to an irrelevant project name? Could Tussauds really not think of a more logical and relevant naming for Thorpe’s rocket coaster? Admittedly, I quite like the name ‘Stealth’ and I’m almost inclined to say that ‘Rita: Queen of Speed’ has a ring to it – but what exactly are Tussauds trying to advertise here?  And yet, Rita, after traumatising the old lady that is Ug-Land, emerges as the general public’s favourite ride at the Towers!? - How!? I’d say that’s enough proof that we really do know nothing.

Tussauds once stunned enthusiasts with it’s own enthusiasm for creating fantastic rides with stunning themes. This is a talent the company now lacks. Spinball Whizzer was the start of a bad future for the park as far as I was concerned. In 2004 the park was filthy and Spinball looked like it belonged elsewhere. The magic, as I remembered it, had vanished – as if by magic. But perhaps the audience’s perception simply changed? Alien monsters fail to thrill us in movies anymore, so why should they at a theme park? Is Rita merely a mimic of the outrageous and quirky media the general public enjoys today? Maybe. Whatever the case, audiences change – but I didn’t think the general public cared enough about ‘themeing’ anyway, so why bother at all? That’s where my theory is flawed. Most of the guests visiting Thorpe Park won’t know or remember Stealth’s name, nor take note of it’s theme. As far as I’m concerned, a park should take it all the way, or just plonk a funfair ride on concrete, give it the same it came with such as ‘wild mouse’ and leave it be. Who, other than us, really cares?

It would be interesting to find out what the real intentions behind a lot of the 'stupid' decisions we see parks make are. But we are never going to find out the truth. The point is, there must be a reason and the visitor levels aren’t dropping as a result, they appear to in fact be rising. We, as enthusiasts, are not the targeted market here. We don't know what's best, unfortunately.