Article: Designing Phantom Theater (Theme Park University)

[TombRaiderFTW]

Screamscape's latest update has a link to a Theme Park University article about the creation and design of Phantom Theater. It's a very interesting read, and it includes several pictures of Phantom Theater's various stages of design and fabrication, as well as an interview with Rick Bastrup of R&R Creative Amusement Designs. I think I've seen some of the pictures around here before, but there are a few (like one of a miniature painted model of the ride) that I haven't. Here's a link.

According to the article, there will soon be a follow-up with a scene-by-scene analysis of the ride. That should be an interesting read, as any YouTube videos I've seen (or even the DAFE article about Phantom Theater) don't seem to get into much detail.

EDIT: Actually, the follow-up has already been posted. Here's a link. There are actual pictures of the ride, and they're really great.

Enjoy!

[Delirium13]

Wow, thank you for posting this. What a nice look back at one of my favorite attractions ever at Kings Island. Great pictures and a great read.

I really miss that ride, it probably wouldn't hurt as bad if it had been replaced with something... better or at least of the same caliber. I really hope that one day we'll see dark ride of that detail at the park again, or better yet, bring back Phantom Theater! I can dream, right?

But seriously, compare this loading area:

(Photo courtesy of the article, Copyright R&R Creative Amusement Design)

To this one (to be fair, the lighting isn't right):

(Photo Courtesy of Theme Park Review)

Pretty much sums it up right there. I guess I should be happy we still have a dark ride though.

[calakapepe]

Dang, the one room I wanted to see pictures of, the person didn't have!

Still, great article to have a nice trip down memory lane.

[upstop]

Wow fun! Thanks for posting!

[PhantomTheater]

You have made my night, and mayhaps week. Thanks for sharing. Now I shall be a teary eyed phantomtheater as I reminisce my favorite past KI ride.

[BoddaH1994]

One thing that I really wish I could beat into some of the youngins' heads is that Phantom Theatre was a ride, but it was also a work of art.

[The Interpreter]

As Phantom Theater is to Scooby and the Haunted Castle or, even more so, to Boo Blasters on Boo Hill is what:

Taft's Kings Island's theming and attention to detail is to Paramount Parks' or, even more so, to Mr. Kinzel's Cedar Fair's.

Taft's Kings Island's incredible food and entertainment offerings compared to Paramount Parks' or, even more so, to Mr. Kinzel's Cedar Fair's.

Note that on the last two fronts, Mr. Ouimet's Cedar Fair is making amazing progress.

Perhaps there is hope for a high level, themed dark ride again at Kings Island, if only the riders would behave themselves and not get out, carry on inappropriately, &c.

[TheBEASTunchained]

if only the riders would behave themselves and not get out, carry on inappropriately, &c.

We'll just tighten the restraints a bit.....

[bkroz]

Can we briefly recall how Kings Island had the audacity to sell disposable 3D glasses for $1 a pop in the line for Boo Blasters for a time? That's to say nothing how long they sold the things in line for Disaster Transport... for years after the queue's 3D rooms had been sealed and the ride took place in pitch black darkness. That, to me, is symptomatic of the Kinzel Cedar Fair style.

But I digress... Awesome article. The ride was an unexpected anomaly that bested expectations for a seasonal park in the Midwest. Kings Island has a rich history of those, doesn't it?

[Goki32]

One of the quotes in that article is completely wrong. Can you find it?

[BoddaH1994]

One of the quotes in that article is completely wrong. Can you find it?

:::

“Kings Island wanted something to replace the Smurfs Enchanted Voyage at the end of the 2001 season,” recalls Bastrup.

[silver2005]

Maybe that person mistook the characters for Smurfs because they were blue?

[Outdoor Man]

looks a bit more intricate and complex than, say...

The 1-dimensional characters that fill the space now.

(ps- none of the images are mine. credit to ThemeParkReview and ThemePark University).

[kingsislandfan1972]

I should of appreciated the Phantom Theater when it was still operating, if I knew it was getting removed, I would have at least ridden it 50 times in a row, I dont ever remember a line so I would get in line, ride, exit, repeat. The reason why I liked Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle so much was because it was themed and fit along great with Hanna Barbera Land. When Scooby Doo got replaced by Boo Blasters, I was totally unsatisfied, because at least with Scooby Doo, it told a story unlike Boo Blasters. By looking at the pictures above, you can really tell that the theming for the Phantom Theater was more creative than Boo Blasters. As with everybody else, I would love to see a return of the Phantom Theater.

[JubJester]

Wow. Like many people mentioned above, thanks for sharing this. I went on this when I was little and I barely remember it. Once again, thanks for sharing that article.

I agree that it would be nice to see a different cooler ride. I know this is a wild idea but it would be cool to see a new ride.

[bkroz]

While the complexity of the figures inside Phantom Theater were part of its downfall, I think that the thing that would prevent it from being built today is the lack of "interactivity" (read: laser guns). It's simply more marketable to make a "blasting" dark ride than a classic one. It also takes pressure off the designers (and budget) when you can count on a guest's focus being in a particular place for only a fraction of a second before it's pulled elsewhere. A real shame, because it's difficult to tell a story when explosions surround you. And if you ask modern park goers, maybe they don't want a story. Maybe if guests could ride Boo Blasters and Phantom Theater back to back, they'd prefer the former in overwhelming numbers.

Worth noting: technology is minimizing the big parks' reliance on Audio Animatronics, too. This year's two big ticket additions were both dark rides, and neither contains a single Audio Animatronic. That's a major shift from the past, where a ride's robotic figure count or robotic figure quality was proportional to its budget (and often to its esteem). Digital does it these days. Heck, Canada's Wonderland debuted a nifty "interactive" "dark ride" that required no Animatronics... or sets... or lights.

A couple shameless plugs to share my opinions:

• TRULY Interactive Attractions That Don't Require Laser Guns (link)
• 12 Dark Rides You CAN'T Ride at Disney or Universal Parks (link)
• 20 Most Incredible Animatronics Countdown (link)
  

[MDMC01]

I never got to ride Phantom Theater (it looked too scary when I'd walk by when I was little), but if it was around today, I'd probably give it a try. I enjoyed reading the articles, especially the scene-by-scene article that described the ride.

[Vortex]

I hope sometime down the road we get a Charlie Brown Holiday dark ride. Would be great to see the Great Pumpkin and the Easter Beagle.

[JubJester]

I hope sometime down the road we get a Charlie Brown Holiday dark ride. Would be great to see the Great Pumpkin and the Easter Beagle.

Very interesting idea. I could see that happening, kind of.

[purdude86]

It's true to an extent about the intereactive rides being the bigger, more popular additions now but there have been rides that have shown that is not necessarily what people like best. Some fo the most popular dark rides are non-interactive ones. Transformers, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion are probably some of the most popular and well loved dark rides out there and non of them are interactive. The only really popular and loved interactive one I can think of is Toy Story midway mania.

I will grant that many of them don't include animatronics anymore but they are done with a high quality still that they don't really feel lacking either.

[KI Guy]

It was pretty scary to this little boy at one point. To those who were adults at the time it existed, how was it really? It closed when when I was 12. I know we can all get a little nostalgic.

[marth555]

A ride that kicks you out early if you dont get a high enough score is an intresting idea

[shark6495]

I was 16 when it closed. It was a very fun ride with nothing horribly scary.

Park guests want great rides. Just because it's interactive doesn't mean it's fun.

[Screaming_Chicken]

Yeah, I remember when Phantom Theater Opened in 1992 My friend ''Kristin' told me all about it and told me to ride it. Most of you don't know Scooby-Doo and The Haunted Castle was MAJORLY cut when it came to PKI a lot of cool features were left out due to budget. I want something I can ride with the kiddos something theme around Peanuts and Snoopy it's not that hard to theme dark ride to peanuts. But totally I read that article it was a great to see how PT came to be.

[bkroz]

Yeah, I remember when Phantom Theater Opened in 1992 My friend ''Kristin' told me all about it and told me to ride it. Most of you don't know Scooby-Doo and The Haunted Castle was MAJORLY cut when it came to PKI a lot of cool features were left out due to budget. I want something I can ride with the kiddos something theme around Peanuts and Snoopy it's not that hard to theme dark ride to peanuts. But totally I read that article it was a great to see how PT came to be.

Part of Scooby's problem (which carried on to Boo Blasters) was having re-used the Phantom Theater Omnimover. Omnimover ride systems were revolutionary and - from an unnecessarily philosophical / storytelling way - allow guests to be immersed in a story where they can observe something unfolding around them. Haunted Mansion, Phantom Theater, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Spaceship Earth, etc. The Animatronics or animation can cycle continuously through their program as guests glide through scenes.

The other kind of classic dark ride is cart-driven. Think Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Alice in Wonderland, even Indiana Jones Adventure. That also includes every Boo Blasters except ours. On those kinds of dark rides, a cart enters a room or scene and the environment reacts to that cart specifically. Once the cart passes through, the animatronics reset and wait for their sensor to be tripped again.

One big complaint fans have about the new Little Mermaid ride at Disney Parks is that, in all other cases, dark rides that retell Disney's fairytales or stories are cart-based, and the characters appear to interact with you specifically. Little Mermaid uses an Omnimover, and you glide through scenes and see familiar sights and sounds, but it's not happening to you. You're just an observer. Again, maybe overly philosophical, but it matters.

The two big selling point moments of Boo Blasters are invalidated by our Omnimover system. The first is the fog screen. On every other Boo Blasters, the screen remains unlit until the cart trips a sensor, which begins the projection. The Phantom's entire message is delivered and his eyes turn to flames just as you pass through the screen, then he's gone until that cart leaves the room and the next enters. The effect was lost by the constant stream of Omnimovers with no one getting the whole message and the darn thing repeating over and over and over as you approach it.

The other big moment is the end, where your cart pulls into a garden with gnarled vines and skulls in the sky and thorns and prickers. The Phantom is under a stone arch covered in briars. "You'll never escape Bleakstone Manor, never!" If you shoot the targets around him, red fog blasts up from in front of him, he screams, the animatronic sinks into the ground, and then the blacklights hidden around the room go off and white lights turn on. When that happens, the briars become flowering vines, the sky turns blue and happy, and the curse is lifted. Ours doesn't have that capability since it's a continuous stream of Omnimovers, so he just continually screams and then laughs and then screams and then laughs. Which is fine, but the blacklight trick is a clever one.

While it's not confirmed, I can only imagine that the Omnimover system has something to do with the invisible lasers (as opposed to the other ride's red targeting laser) and the inconsistent operation of the guns. That's just a guess though.

[KI Guy]

Did PT utilize the space now occupied by the clown and circus themed haunt? I'm assuming that Enchanted Voyage once utilized that space as the loading area where Top Cat/Little Bill/ Something Peanuts is now. Was PT a shorter ride than Enchanted Voyage and Smurf's Enchanted Voyage?

[shark6495]

Wow the version of BB you just described sounds so much better than ours....

[Delirium13]

Did PT utilize the space now occupied by the clown ads circus themed haunt? I'm assuming that Enchanted Voyage once utilized that space as the loading area where Top Cat/Little Bill/ Something Peanuts is now. Was PT a shorter ride than Enchanted Voyage and Smurf's Enchanted Voyage?

I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, that Boo Blasters actually follows the same exact track that Phantom Theater did, only difference is when the omnimovers turn to face different scenes. The area where CarnEvil resides is the former Enchanted Theater.

I'm not positive but I think Enchanted Voyage (Original and Smurfs) occupied the whole building, including the CarnEvil/Enchanted Theatre area.

[The Interpreter]

You would be correct.

Also, half the capacity was lost, with half the Omnimovers being removed (every other one--alternating).

[BoddaH1994]

And, help me Terpy, for this is before my time, the doors you used to enter CarnEvil/Enchanted Theatre were the entrance portals for Enchanted Voyage.