Kings Island announces Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare dark ride
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From the press release:
The stage is set for guests to be ushered into a new but familiar chapter in Kings Island’s history as Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare will make its debut next spring. Located at the site of the park’s original Phantom Theater dark ride, the quirky characters and chaos from the original return, along with modern technology, enhanced scenic elements and expanded storytelling.
The comedic and fast-paced family adventure begins with a dark and stormy night, setting the tone for the grand (and ghostly) re-opening of the haunted Phantom Theater. Inside, a long-awaited performance by Maestro, the theater’s resident organist, is set to begin. During the storm, a lightning strike unleashes the ghost notes – mischievous musical spirits that wreak havoc across the theater – from Maestro’s mighty pipe organ.
With the help of head usher No Legs Larry, guests will take the role as a member of his team and ride in “enchanted opera boxes,” utilizing special spellbound flashlights to capture and return the ghost notes to the organ so the performance can begin on time.
Along the way, the enchanted opera boxes travel through fully built dimensional scenes, including backstage areas, haunted hallways, dressing rooms and a fiery boiler room as they meet other performers who are ready to take the stage. From animatronic forms of Houdelini and The Great Garbanzo to Hilda Bovine and Lionel Burymore, the Phantom Theater’s beloved crew returns, getting caught in the chaos while guests simultaneously search for the ghost notes. New surprises await guests around every corner, including the introduction of Arpeggio, Maestro’s furry feline friend.
In total, 26 interactive scenes feature added multi-sensory effects like wind and sound, hidden Easter eggs throughout and a grand on-stage musical finale with all cast members. Manufactured by Sally Dark Rides, the leader in indoor family dark ride experiences, Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare is a true nod to the original that made its home at Kings Island from 1992 – 2002.
“Families who have visited Kings Island will remember how special the original Phantom Theater was, and they’ve always wanted it to return,” said Tony Carovillano, park manager of Kings Island. “While paying homage to the original ride, Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare’s modern and advanced features will help create new memories and stories for all who take their seat inside this amazing experience.”
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I'm beyond excited for this. Phantom Theater is such a fun and unique IP and it always felt like Kings Island lost one of their gems when they pivoted to Scooby and Boo Blasters (I understand their initial goal of aligning IPs with Scooby).
I'm excited to ride the new experience, and I hope they keep it indefinitely with future updates as needed.
The Phantom Theater stage show a few years ago was to test the waters, and/or to make park guests familiar with the characters for the ride’s return. I remember the little kids loving that show. I saw a few kids dressed up as their favorite characters.
This new ride looks like it will use the same ride system and layout. The artwork shows the same ride vehicle, and some parts of the description of the ride match up with the current ride’s tricks.
The story line and characters seem a little more cartoony and watered down, which I don't like. That's going to make it more family friendly, for sure, but part of the fun of scary stuff when you're a little kid is showing your bravery and not being scared of fake monsters. I finally conquered Camden Park's Haunted House when I was was 6 or 7, for example, and it was a good feeling.
Related... Sometime within the last few years, the scariest scene in Boo Blasters was changed to be less scary, and it was a real let down for me. It used to be a completely dark room with slow-moving moving skeletons with glowing red eyes. They changed the lighting to florescent blacklight, and applied a little dayglow paint to the skeletons. Disappointing.
Disney's Haunted mansion is the perfect intensity for a family dark ride, in my opinion. This new ride might not be that scary. We'll see. Good for the toddlers getting a new darkride, I guess.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
^ Agreed completely about the new look of the characters. I understand that things from the 90's need to be updated, but the new Maestro looks a tad, well, odd.
I absolutely loved the original Phantom Theater though and am very excited to try this new version out. Based on the mostly positive responses online, it looks like many others feel the same way!
I have to wonder. Would this be transferable to say, Kings Dominion? I know the layout is significantly different and the ride vehicles are different as well.
First good Cedar Fair news in a long time.
2025 Trips: Universal Orlando, Disneyland Resort, Knotts, Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Sea World Orlando, Discovery Cove, Magic Kingdom
Walt, I'd love to see the Phantom Theater theme expand out into other parks. Rethemeing a park's dark ride with a new IP that they own is a cheap way to bring in a new attraction.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
Touchdown:
First good Cedar Fair news in a long time.
Well, Zimmerman getting the boot and Bassoul finding another company to ruin qualify as good news in my book. But as far as the parks, yes.
(Also, whether we like it or not, it's now New Six Flags Worldwide.)
I don't know. I'm pretty sure the original Phantom Theater was meant to be a "kid thing".
Promoter of fog.
It certainly was kid friendly. Imagine the Haunted mansion graveyard scene but with more humor and no jump scares.
This is the kind of attractions that these parks need. Attractions that everyone can ride. Although this is a net 0 for this park since they are replacing the same type of attraction.
The original Phantom Theater was high quality It was all animatronics and full 3d sets It’s replacement was one of the cheapest poorest, dark rides ever conceived so good riddance
I think this version will be a step up from what it’s replacing, but probably will not match the quality of the original. I think the PR says it’s going to have about six or seven animatronics and it will probably have screens
Reports say the Sally dark ride in Maine it’s good quality so they are capable of producing that
Not to be that guy, but if this is your jam, get there next year.
Adventure Express was well themed when it opened too........
I remember when Boo Blasters got a small refurbishment a few years ago. There was this awesome special effect in which Boocifer was projected onto a sheet of fog, and the ride vehicle passed right through it. It only lasted a few weeks.
The AI picture of the ride vehicle looks just like the current ride vehicle. The Flashligh placement is the same three across configuration as the current Boo Blasters. It could be that the AI picture (probably) is the best they can do now because they don't have a finalized design yet. It was just slapped together as fast as possible to get an announcement out. If that's the case, the cartoony-looking characters might not be the final version either.
With all my griping, I'm still excited for it. Kings Island is really good at adding interesting original stories to their rides. Legless Larry looks like Boo Berry. This will sell more plushies. Collect them all. Crap, it still sounds like I'm griping.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
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