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Blog: Bringing Phantom Theater to life


BoddaH1994
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There seems to be a TON of nostalgic interest in this ride.  I hope there's a chance that a 2.0 version can come back someday.

At CS Mike Koontz mentioned an awareness of the need to re-hab Boo Blasters.  He specifically cited Toy Story Mania at Disney as something he liked (he asked CS attendees how many had ridden it.)

So it seems to me they are likely exploring options.

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27 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

There seems to be a TON of nostalgic interest in this ride.  I hope there's a chance that a 2.0 version can come back someday.

At CS Mike Koontz mentioned an awareness of the need to re-hab Boo Blasters.  He specifically cited Toy Story Mania at Disney as something he liked (he asked CS attendees how many had ridden it.)

So it seems to me they are likely exploring options.

On that same topic, that sounds very similar to what Greg Scheid said at Coasterstock 2015 (according to someone I know who went that year.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I heard that Greg Scheid asked attendees in 2015 if they liked Gold Striker or Thunderbird and the crowd cheered more for Gold Striker and then we got Mystic 2 years later. So maybe you're onto something. 

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**DOUBLE POST**

If KI were to do a new Phantom Theater, what I would like to see happen is them gut out the entire building including the peanuts showplace and the park services warehouse. The PS warehouse could get relocated somewhere else. The whole ride layout, entrance, queue...everything gets redone/rerouted. The entrance/exit is moved to the other side of the building across from Chick Fil A next to the Fisher Homes building. Phantom Theater then becomes part of International Street. I made a mock up photo for how a new entrance/exit could look. Imagine walking down this path and seeing an opera house/theater like building with those lights on the building.

image.png

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9 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

**DOUBLE POST**

If KI were to do a new Phantom Theater, what I would like to see happen is them gut out the entire building including the peanuts showplace and the park services warehouse. The PS warehouse could get relocated somewhere else. The whole ride layout, entrance, queue...everything gets redone/rerouted. The entrance/exit is moved to the other side of the building across from Chick Fil A next to the Fisher Homes building. Phantom Theater then becomes part of International Street. I made a mock up photo for how a new entrance/exit could look. Imagine walking down this path and seeing an opera house/theater like building with those lights on the building.

image.png

Not to rain on your parade…

Any redo if the ride will like 98% certainly follow the same layout (I’m rooting for your plans as much as you are!) but the cost of doing that vs using the current track is incredible. 
 

My fear is that if they brought it back it might employ too many cardboard cutouts and screens and be way too much like Boo and not enough like the original PT. Let’s hope that it’s a true fitting sequel to PT and not just another shoot ‘em up that would tarnish that’s great ride’s legacy. 
 

Of course, we are speculating way too much on this!

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I would rather Phantom Theater not come back at all as a ride if the alternative is a video screen shooting ride. I rode Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair in March, and while it’s nice to have those characters and music back at Knott’s, lavish dark rides like Bear-y Tales and Phantom Theater are just not suited for turning into an arcade game. 

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43 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

I would rather Phantom Theater not come back at all as a ride if the alternative is a video screen shooting ride. I rode Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair in March, and while it’s nice to have those characters and music back at Knott’s, lavish dark rides like Bear-y Tales and Phantom Theater are just not suited for turning into an arcade game. 

I feel like if Phantom Theater were brought back, it would be in the style of Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I think Cedar Fair would use a similar screen-based system. Also, Mike Koontz mentioned Toy Story Midway Mania which is a shooting dark ride very similar to Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I personally have not ridden Knott’s new dark ride, so I personally cannot express my opinion on it. However, I am inclined to think that a new Phantom Theater would be very similar to it.

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12 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I feel like if Phantom Theater were brought back, it would be in the style of Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I think Cedar Fair would use a similar screen-based system. Also, Mike Koontz mentioned Toy Story Midway Mania which is a shooting dark ride very similar to Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I personally have not ridden Knott’s new dark ride, so I personally cannot express my opinion on it. However, I am inclined to think that a new Phantom Theater would be very similar to it.

Unfortunately that’s what I’m expecting to if it did return. Ideally I’d like to see Boo Blasters get upgraded to a shooting ride themed to the Peanuts. Hopefully keeping some actual scenery though and not all screens but a mix would be alright. Then we would have an interactive and they could do a classic style dark ride of Phantom Theatre in Coney Mall where the old Action Theatre is. It would fit in with that theme and they could give it a rundown look without affecting the rest of the lands scenery since it would be blocked by The Racer.

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IF they brought back Phantom Theatre it would probably be a mediocre video based ride and not the works class animatronic ride that we once had.   That’s what the did at Knotts with Knotts Bear-y Tales. 
 

Unfortunately advances in video technology have lead to decreased quality of theme park attractions.   I find Universal the most over rated them parks in the world because so many of their rides are just videos.  
 

However a video based ride would be better than what is there now. 

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35 minutes ago, DoomPlague said:

I'm not a fan of shooting dark rides in general, though I understand the appeal for kids. I just want good scenery and atmosphere. Any time I'm on an "interactive" ride, there's nothing memorable about it.

I completely agree.   Video games belong in an arcade.  I prefer dark rides with fantastic scenery where you can look around and discover something new every time.   I’m interactive dark rides one just focuses on targets. I would love to see this trend disappear 

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8 hours ago, gforce1994 said:

If anything, they should be doing a sequel to Phantom Theater. An urban exploring film crew enters the abandoned theater and begin trying to film the Maestro, etc.

What if we compound that and make us (the guests) ghost hunters!  We already have a haunted shed people are trespassing and exploring. 

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12 hours ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I feel like if Phantom Theater were brought back, it would be in the style of Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I think Cedar Fair would use a similar screen-based system. Also, Mike Koontz mentioned Toy Story Midway Mania which is a shooting dark ride very similar to Knott’s Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. I personally have not ridden Knott’s new dark ride, so I personally cannot express my opinion on it. However, I am inclined to think that a new Phantom Theater would be very similar to it.

100% agree. I think bringing PT back would only disappoint many. There's no way they would (or even could) just remake the same ride as was, with all the animatronics and visual effects. It would probably either be a just a re-skin of Boo Blasters or some sort of screen-based thing. I'd rather they update BB to something new; after all, the PT demand is based on nostalgia. I'd rather give today's kids something new that, in 20 years, they'll be telling their kids about. 

I'm not a big fan of shooting rides. But I will say, we visited Universal Orlando earlier this year and did the MiB Alien Encounter -- and that's how you do a ride like that (not that KI can redo the BB track or have the elaborate effects/spinning that MiB has). 

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Knotts has a lot of experience sister park to Ki. Kings Island needs a great cooling relaxing dark ride. Good story line Love the thought of returning to the theatre not  no shootem up no screen  and put in a 2nd ride like Even Snoopy and the Gang collect pumpkins or something with a Pumpkin blaster..With Ki open 4 seasons it be great. 

 

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