In my mind, CP is a bit like a ready meal.
It's a holiday for those who want to pierce the plastic lid, press cook and then eat in 3 minutes.
It's all about ease, not having to think and plan, having lots of choice (from a very set menu)....and you pay for those things.
In my mind it's for the unadventurous. Yes, I know there are lots of activities, but they are all very controlled, laid on and chosen from a menu. It's for people for whom getting up in the morning and thinking 'what shall we do' and being faced with a choice of hundreds and hundreds of choices within 50 miles, planning a route, packing the car and going into the unknown, where you might not know where you will be eating, or how long things might take, is just too much unknown and feels like hard work.
I get that many people have busy lives and like the fact that once they are there, not too much thinking and planning is needed and that you can feel you know there will be kids meals and it will be easy to get back. I get that kids love it too, because it's all so accessible and easy for them too - no long days at the museum or in the car getting to a stately home, or to a town which then turns out to have early closing that day.
It's a holiday which works well for groups who don't want to explore an unknown area, for people who like to feel a bit confined and for people who want to switch off. There will always be a market for that kind of easy, ready meal kind of holiday.
I can say I've enjoyed it too, but I've liked better the type where you also do go off site plenty or better still have a real cottage and explore an area you don't know. For me it's the difference between a ready meal and a gourmet delicious feast you have shopped for, prepped for and cooked yourself.