Losantiville Mining Co.

I don't want to clog up the main Haunt discussion with this, so I'm putting it here under my own thread from last Fall. Here are some things I saw from a recent TheTimTracker video from Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando that I think Kings Island could easily do to improve Halloween Haunt! There's some more things I've thought of in the moment at the end as well. 1. Better event wayfinding signage. This particular stand is not the one I wanted to show off, but I think this would be a way to point guests in the right direction in a way that is themed to the event. They wouldn't need to be entirely redesigned from year to year either if you make them correctly. I'd say to use the new ad signs for them, but I don't know that you can personalize those between each unit like this would require. 2. Bring back lanyards! This one is from the 2025 HHN Premium Scream Night (could be a fun idea for Haunt to do something similar as well), and includes a QR code for the event Food & Beverage info while acting as an easy souvenir. I think Haunt guests could easily benefit from having a lanyard and card throughout the night. Don't want these flying off of rides like a phone might? Install free lockers in the lines for most coasters. 3. I just wanted to show off the new Deathly Afraid necklaces. They look really cool, but I think I like the No-Boo Necklaces look just the tiniest bit better. Maybe making the No-Boo Necklaces look less kid-friendly is what I'd like to see with this one. 4. This was a bigger complaint of mine before I saw all of the new merch today: More year-specific merch, pretty please. It doesn't have to be t-shirts or hoodies or hats, magnets and lanyards would do just fine. They're easy for guests to collect and would sell well if you market them right. I'm really glad that I got my 25th Anniversary magnet for this year. The shirt in the screenshot says "Halloween Horror Nights Premium Scream Night August 28, 2025" on the sleeve. 5. This isn't really a major or necessary change, but I think it would be cool if the park put some of those video board panels up across the top of the Bandstand and make it say "Kings Island Halloween Haunt" when there's not a show happening. The big scaffolding at HHN is iconic and this sign might look good against the sky. Since they're video screens I think they could use it to display showtimes and to advertise the haunted attractions. It'd also look a lot better than how the park set up the video board on the Bandstand for Hot Rhythm Nights where it's just a big rectangle in the middle of the stage. 6. More permanent haunted attraction buildings backstage. I'm not a fan of how KillMart and TC:BF use up prime space along the midways that could be used year-round. Slaughterhouse, Club Blood/Blackout/Order of the Dragon, and the old Red Barn behind Meteor Canteen are great because they can stay up throughout the year without taking up valuable space along the midways. I think they could put one more in Rivertown, behind The Crypt; a second maze that uses the other side of Action Theater, like Canada's Wonderland does; maybe put one back in the Son of Beast station; and find a way to put one up near the front gate. That last one might be part of a larger park admin building rebuild dream of mine, but hey, it'd be something new. 7. Kings Island really needs at least 8 houses for the crowds it draws in. Having at least 8 houses, at least 4 live shows (not including the opening ceremonies), and 1-2 more premium attractions would help the event. I feel like the crowds are normally still the size of the 2015 Haunt that had 11 mazes, 3 shows, and the Skeleton Key. An event with those crowds that only has 5 mazes (+1 separate fee attraction) and 3 shows has something severely wrong with it. 8. Host more paid exclusive experiences. I'm thinking VIP Tours, a Premium Scream Night, the return of the Fright Feast, more Fall food items with a tasting card, and more attractions like The Conjuring: Beyond Fear. If guests don't want that kind of stuff at Kings Island, then the park can at least say they tried it. When priced right with a good guest experience, and when marketed properly, there are little to no reasons why these shouldn't work out. Great America hosts a Cosmetology Day during Fright Fest that acts as a premium experience for that park. The big Legacy Six Flags parks already have a big VIP Tour program, and some of the Legacy Cedar Fair parks have the beginnings of a big VIP Tour program. The new Haunted Attractions Pass might just prove at least one of these points. I wonder if $100 would be just around the right price for KI's version of a Premium Scream Night? Too low maybe? Too high for a new event? I'd assume it would include admission, access to the haunted attractions, and a dinner ticket. Are Kings Island and Cedar Point the wrong parks to be doing such a thing at? I feel like after hours events would do well if they're limited entry and are worth the price. Smaller crowds and having experiences included in your ticket would make it so worth it for me. As someone else here on KIC wrote: "Mismanagement is the only reason why an event like Winterfest would not be profitable." (I'm pretty sure that's what it said).

Please note that this topic should have a MASSIVE "rumor" tag on it. The comment very much read like it was hearsay, but then again this is how some of the rumors of Kingda Ka's demise came out. I don't intend any harm to come from this topic so please treat it as the hearsay rumor that it is. I recently read a comment from a Knott's Berry Farm guest who spoke to a "reputable source" who said that Xcelerator is on its last train. They continued to say that the park has halted the ride's lifetime maintenance planning/budget that would be responsible for ordering new trains/train parts. Once this newest train fully breaks, it will not be repaired and a new train will not be ordered. The source gave Xcelerator 3-5 years and mentioned that the wheels are wearing faster than expected. This could all just be a random commenter with a source that knows nothing, and I fully accept that. If anyone knows more about how that coaster works and its history please let me know if any of this sounds right or wrong! Six Flags is doing awfully with their financials so it is well within the realm of possibility that the future funding for major maintenance needs like this are being halted. I'd bet that this could be what happened with most of the rides lost in the 2024 Ride Purge, and we all know how that turned out for Kingda Ka. If I can find a way to link directly to a YouTube comment then I'll post it here since I am but a tertiary source at this point!

The fact that there is so much merch for it, and no merch at all for any of the other haunted attractions. I can't imagine they'd buy so much merch for one house and then zero for any of the other ones. Haunt is my favorite season at Kings Island, so I'm very intrigued by all of this. Maybe it could've replaced KillMart or been a pre-Conjuring idea, I don't know. I think it would have been really fun if they were going to use this as a new piece of programming either in the Kings Island Theater or in the abandoned side of Action Theater. I'll mention that I think the Slasher Cinema shirt/tote bag do look like they were made by AI, but not so much that would make me not want the tote bag. Much like the PT:ON stuff, it's entirely possibly that this was made by an artist and then either added to or adjusted. Knott's is normally good about using real artists, but I don't know if this concept came from that park or not. My gripe about using generative AI for things in the park isn't entirely about how cheap it is — though it does often look really cheap — it's more about the environmental impact and the fact that there is no meaning behind the choices it makes in its art. (Not that anyone asked, but I felt the need to say it) Something I didn't put in either of my reports from tonight: the non-scare zone/cancelled scare zone from last year now has a massive gilly suit-style covering over it from the Rivertown restrooms up to the Stunt Coaster plaza. Kings Island did a good job with this area last year, and I'm curious as to how they'll change it up this year with the addition of the covering. I didn't go over into Action Zone tonight to see if they had set anything up, but I might go look if I'm able to go again this weekend.

Some posters have gone up on Monster's fence, meaning it probably will not open for the rest of the year. I really hope it does reopen eventually. If the park decided to pull the plug then I'd love to see a Zamperla Octopus replace it. Keep the overall idea, but with improved loading and parts still in production. Whatever is lost in capacity would probably be made up by the better loading/unloading process.

More work has been done! This week's work appears to have included tearing out all of the shrubbery to the left of the initial clearing, removing a section of fence back by Slaughterhouse's entrance gate, putting hay down (in the shape of a path), and lifting one of the mesh panels at the back of the game stand. The hay could just be there because something got dug up, but I like my theory better. To me, it's currently looking more and more like Axe Axe Baby will turn into an entrance for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear. They could set up either a shed or a tent (or two of either) to act as a check in/a sales point in case they need it. It'd give the attraction a more prominent entrance (Diamondback kind of ruined any grandness that the cave entrance had) and might entirely eliminate the need for the indoor queue.

New Haunt merch has appeared in the Emporium over where the Haunt Store normally is. Here are some photos I took tonight of everything I noticed. The Wall A new 25th Anniversary of Halloween Haunt glow in the dark shirt A new Halloween Haunt shirt. This one is interesting for me because it really does look like it was made custom for Kings Island. You can see approximations of Orion and The Racer (with funky color schemes). It reminds me of some of the Fright Fest shirts I've seen from Six Flags. Cinema Slasher at Kings Island?? I wonder if this is from a cancelled house, although this is the only maze that I've ever seen get merchandise like this — the tote bags especially. It's really odd. New mugs, fans, and Elvira merch — oh my! That's it for the new merch I took photos of. I think we could see more come in when/if the Haunt Store is fully installed later this month. The Cinema Slasher merch is weird to see. I originally thought it might've been brought over from Carowinds... until I realized that they have Silver Scream Studios. It's Knott's Scary Farm that (actively) has a Cinema Slasher house. (For those wondering, the Halloween Horror Nights houses were called "Slaughter Sinema"). I have to wonder how much of this merch might have been from a cancelled 25 Years of Fear celebration like SCarowinds is having this Fall. It would explain the prevalence of both the 25th Anniversary merchandise, the Elvira merch, and the loads of merchandise for Cinema Slasher. One can only imagine what this year's Haunt would look like with the addition of The Conjuring, Order of the Dragon, The Gauntlet, Cinema Slasher, and any other new things that would help to celebrate Kings Island's 25 Years of Fear.

Big hopes that we can see the return of the stained glass piano in some form or other! It looks really cool and I think it'd be a good easter egg (is it an easter egg if it's just a reused whole prop?) to the original. Walking through the stores tonight, I noticed that they don't have any of the old Phantom Theater merch stocked anymore it's all just the new merch for Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare. I really hope they bring the old merch back to one of the stores on International Street. I get that they're promoting the new ride, but there looked to be quite a bit of merch left last weekend and I think both would sell really well. Here's the promotion for PT:ON outside of Boo Blasters' entrance, to the left of the birthday sign.

It looks like you can see some of the paint for the footers between the flags. I wonder how far Herschend is going to go with their reimagining of the park beyond bringing it up to their standards. Maybe we'll see more redesigns like Discovery Meadow in 2026 and the coming years!

Frankly, I like these a lot more than the look of the original animatronics for this new ride!

This one was just a recreation of the original layout! The "Maestro III" scene is just where he says "You'll be back..." as guests exit the attraction. I've also got a version with the Boo Blasters scenes. My sense of space and direction are normally really good, even when watching a space in a video, but something about either the original PT POV or the BBoBH POV have me all turned around whenever it gets to scenes 6-8. I'm working on a separate version (hopefully with better linework and more detail) to show what I think would be cool for PT:ON!

There's a lot of stuff left over in the load/unload area from Phantom Theater if you know what you're looking for. You can still see the baseboard, the chair rail, near the bottom of the windows; the picture rail, just below the top of the windows; the pillars; and some of the architectural flourishes on the pillars. The wallpaper also appears to still be above the picture rail, although it looks like someone took a can of dark paint to it. Bringing this look back to the loading/unloading station and to the queue line would do so much to help set the new attraction apart from BBoBH. The wall sconces, chandeliers, and the curtain in particular help convey how grand the theater once was. The theater is preparing to reopen, so why not make some of it look really nice? If there's one really simple thing I'd like to see come back it's the curtains dividing the scenes. The chandeliers (I know of at least one that still exists outside the park) and some good animatronics will help too. I'm still working on it, but please enjoy my take on the diagram for Phantom Theater's layout. Any of the split scene numbers (like 13A / 13B) indicate the change for SCatHC and BBoBH. I think I should split one more scene, but I can't remember which it should be.

I'm super excited for the new Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare and the return of Maestro to Kings Island! This new dark ride looks like it has been designed with love and care by the people who know how to do dark rides. The theme of the theater reopening is also much better than if they had simply remade the original entirely. Changing the directions of the ride vehicles at some points is possible, although I've heard that it has to be done from a crawlspace below the floor. I believe the busts in the hallway are all still there (maybe except the two that were used in the exhibit). The stated 26 "scenes" could either include or exclude things like the entrance, queue line, the bust hallway, loading/unloading area, and the exit hallway. According to the concept art panel from the exhibit, there were about 26-30 "scenes" in the original if you include those areas. I think the odd-looking ghostly sharp with the eye has an eighth note next to it, which is why it looks so weird. Some of the notes have wings while others have horns or use their stems/flags to resemble a scythe. It's relieving that the promo art is not AI. I've looked long and hard at it, and all of the typical warning signs appear to be genuine. I got a little confused because Maestro looks to have four fingers on his right hand, but that could just be how he's positioned. No Legs Larry's usher hat (with the drama masks and bat wings) definitely do not look to be AI. I have to wonder if the use of real artists is because of Sally Dark Rides and their creative team (possibly) not using AI. The cartoonish style might take a little time to get used to, but it looks good! The fact that they kept the shooter aspect and changed it from a "paranormal shooter" to a "note collection" game is awesome. I like the red Opera Box ride vehicles and that they appear to be mostly reverting to the original look without the Mystery Machine tire cover on the front. The blasters/flashlights look like they'll be new, and if they even work as well as the ones at KD or the new ones at Carowinds then I'll be very happy. Arpeggio might become my favorite new character if we get to see him enough! Some fun things I noticed: The piece of paper that's picked up by the girls in the announcement video appears to be a (reprinted) 1992 park map. They're carrying blue stuffed animals. It isn't much, but it's nice because all of the Phantom Theater characters are blue. The logo looks surprisingly nice and kind of expands on the simple clip-art-ish style that the original used. I'm glad they didn't just reuse the original or the one from Phantom Theater Encore and slap the "Opening Nightmare" tagline! Fun fact: the PTE logo was a re-tooling of a logo that Dorney Park used for one of their Fall shows. The background of the main scene in the art appears to be the auditorium. All of the foreground characters are also in different spots depending on which page you're looking at. Give the SDR press release a gander with all of the comments included. There's so much love in the Phantom Fandom! https://www.sallydarkrides.com/post/phantom-theater-opening-nightmare-coming-in-2026 I'll see if any more thoughts come to me or if I have more hopes and dreams for this fantastic new ride!

One thing I find interesting is that there are a lot of effects that can be achieved rather cheaply and with most of the time and work going into the creation/installation of each effect. Scrims, mirrors, lighting, and strings can all be used to make an awesome ride. Attractions like the Haunted Mansion uses tons of practical effects in addition to their high-tech projection mapping, and I think the balance between practical effects and screens may be what makes or breaks this new attraction. My final pitch for what could be announced tomorrow: Nights in White Satin - The Trip, a Sally Dark Rides psychedelic revival of their attraction formerly at Hard Rock Park. It'll have the ride system of Phantom Theater with the screen technology of 2008 and beyond!

I think it's kind of funny that last year's announcement was on 8/8 and now this year's is on 8/28. Maybe next year we'll get an announcement on 9/9 or 9/29

The hype is building as Kings Island posted a reminder that something is coming tomorrow via their Facebook Story. It's not much besides the word "TOMORROW..." in white text against a black screen, but it makes me think tomorrow will be the announcement. There are also four icons (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube) presumably letting us know where we will be seeing the announcement being posted to. I'm excited!