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ACE Eastern Great Lakes had planned on an event called KingsCon at KI in late May. This is now canceled due to high cost. I know enthusiasts are a small part of the population of park goers, but for this region of ACE to be this blunt does not bode well: With registration opening on Day of the Dragon and Bonus Round, we unfortunately have to announce the cancellation of KingsCon, our 2026 event at Kings Island. As we've stated before, costs and pricing are rising everywhere, but the cost for ERT quoted by Kings Island was significantly higher than ACE can afford as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. While we hope that we can continue working with the park and maintain a relationship that dates back 47 years, an annual event is not possible with the prices and minimums the park has in place. We're sorry for those of you who were excited for another Kings Island event like we were, but we hope to still see you at one of our many regional events this summer. Kings Island: don't bite the hand that feeds you. You may save nickles on the front end, but you will loose dollars on the flippity flip. BTW: It is now the end of March and nothing has been said of Coasterstock '26 that i know of.

Continuing to work out some ideas for Action Theater: In its current state (with the seats removed and some doorways punched through the center wall) the building could house a small dark ride similar to Boo Blasters on Boo Hill at Kings Dominion. Sally Dark Rides already has a number of options that fit into a 4,500-8,000 sq ft facility. Each theater measures to about 6,000 sq ft on Google Earth for a combined total of 12,000 sq ft. These smaller dark rides have about 14 scenes that are traversed by 10 four-passenger cars, depending on the size of the facility. The ride itself should be something that the whole family can do together, meaning no indoor coaster here. If Kings Island wanted something a little bigger and different than Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare, there is space behind Action Theater for an addition that would increase its footprint to 30,000+ sq ft. The entire Enchanted Voyage building is approximately 30,000 sq ft and had an additional 2,500-ish sq ft for the outdoor section of the trough. I think an indoor boat ride would be the best option for this building addition scenario. If needed, the service road cut off by the addition could be re-routed to connect to the service road <100ft south of it. Unfortunately this project would probably require the removal of WindSeeker to give it a better entrance — similar to how the plaza existed before WindSeeker — but it could also work if further changes were made to the area. It could also be distinguished by not including interactive elements since those will be available in PT:ON. As for the ride's theme, I've been going between a few ideas. They could go for a Coney Island/history of Cincinnati concept (though I worry about how Six Flags would handle the Coney name) where you board a small riverboat and proceed through scenes celebrating either Coney Island or Cincinnati. Another option would be to use a theme found in classic amusement parks, such as a Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, a ride with a catchy tune, or a pirate ride. The pirate theme would 100% work better at Cedar Point with their history. Kings Island will have the haunted house ride covered with PT:ON. I'd prefer to stay away from using an IP in Coney Mall (renamed Old Coney in my head-canon) so no Justice League, Looney Tunes, or Peanuts themes. A carnival or circus theme also feels inappropriate (I also don't like the circus theme for Coney Maul during Haunt). The theme I've kept in the back of my head is a trolley-based theme tying back to the old trolley parks that were the precursors to modern amusement parks. Ohio has had a few of these throughout its history like Idora Park and Euclid Beach Park. Coney Island was more serviced by the riverboats than a trolley line, but the concept could work either way.

SIX no longer exists.

Inside, in a big, high ceiling, dark building with lighting and minimal set dressing, a spinning “out of control nine cart” could be pretty cool though. I know a place that already has a tunnel- like entrance.

I attended ERScream. I thought ACE put together a nice event and made the best of the way things turned out with the weather.

New episode of “Behind The Curtain has been dropped. And on Opening Day. Go Reds. Nice interview with Rick Bastrup. Can’t wait to see more.

Sometimes you have to have a loss leader. But then again, Six Flags is happy, evidently, with KI's numbers. It's weighted heavily towards pass holders, so they don't have to worry too much about making big and bold, just keep the pass holders happy. They'll continue this way until pass sales fall significantly. So in the eyes of KI leadership and or Six Flags leadership, there is no need to Kings Con. ACE was very transparent with their words, at least ACE leadership in that region seems to be not pleased.

I think it will be the first look at PT:ON animatronics at IAAPA. I'd love for it to also be a reveal of one of the Opera Boxes, but I don't know how realistic it would be to get one mostly done and shipped by the time the convention starts.

What do we think this "special surprise is"? Maybe an IAAPA-related surprise?

BBoBH cars spotted in Lebanon, per the Season Passholders Group on Facebook.

Thank you! I was trying to figure out the same thing, about if the eyes were drilled or not. That gives me more hope for those to return, unless they decide to block off those openings.

The red eyes were quite literally just two red lights taped onto the busts head, somewhere I have a good picture of them I’ll look for, I also wish they would’ve been left for SDATHC because the spookiness of that show and the busts would’ve merged fine

Did the Phantom Theater line stop at the stairs so you wouldn't spend so much time in the hallway? The effect tends to do better when you're not right next to it for 3 minutes. I hope the park does something to cover the unsightly parts of the building better than they did for Boo Blasters. They don't need to entirely Disney-ify and make it so you never see an exit sign from the buggy, but there were a few spots in BBoBH where you could see orange cones, wet floor signs, and dark mystery door alcoves. The busts also might not have fit in very well with the new art style. As with the loading station, anything that was left over from PT got covered with paint or props. I'd be curious to know if the red eye lights that were installed in some of the busts were drilled through or mounted within. The station turntable room being absolutely coated in black paint will forever haunt my dreams. I really hope they can revive it to look like the original. I can't tell if it is covered in spray paint or wall paint either. You can kind of see the pattern still showing through. One of the largest hurdles might be adding the curtains back into the room, but I would hope the team understands that guests will be looking for a lot of old mixed in with the new. The chandeliers may be harder to bring back since they were sold to local schools and organizations (I know of at least one that's been used in two separate productions of Phantom of the Opera), but their construction is relatively simple if more need to be made. Photo: "Original Phantom Theater Concept Model" by BoddaH1994 Photo: Rick Bastrup https://roberthorsin.blogspot.com/2017/01/phantom-theater.html Photo: Rick Davis https://www.dafe.org/articles/darkrides/phantomTheater.html Photo: Kings Island

I never understood why they were ever covered up to begin with- they fit the haunted castle theme just as good as they did for Phantom Theater.

To my knowledge, two of them were still intact as of a month ago when boo blasters was still open, and two of them were removed and never reinstalled after they were displayed at the Phantom Theatre play, somebody can correct me if I’m wrong about that, but I believe that is the case

I'd hope so too. I used to shine my phone to see the remnants.

If they’re all still intact, I’d assume (hope) they’d use them.

Permit:

The north end of the Emporium would be a great place to do this. It already serves at the Haunt Store during the Fall season and only receives partial direct sunlight through the doors that face International Street. I could see The Shakespearean statue (in the case above) and Houdelini head be placed in there: probably in the corner where the lantern activation point has been. If the park still has the rest of the artifacts from the exhibit, this would be an opportunity to turn this area into a mini-museum with items replacing a few shelves. The model could also be displayed if there is room to do it. I hope the back wall from the KIT lobby display survived as well since it could serve as a backdrop again. The inverse busts will probably go back into the ride building and some of the description boards might not fit in the new space either. There will also need to be space in this store/mini museum for things about the new ride. I don't know how much Sally Dark Rides can provide, but photos of new concept art and a filmed interview with some of the creative team would be an awesome start. I really hope this new Phantom Theater does really well. Six Flags is currently looking through their portfolio as they "optimize" to figure out their priorities, and if they don't see a good ROI with this major addition for Kings Island I might be worried about how "major" future additions will be. It's bad to fear monger, but this is a situation that is actively developing with the other parks as well.

I would love it if they had a gift shop with a PT area, along with artifacts of the original ride, also an extended que in the Peanuts showcase is a good idea.

I do wonder if the centurion or the other statue character would count as the static figure, since they were only technically classified as animated statues in the original ride. Depending on what the classify as one of the 33 animatronic, I’m personally predicting that if the turntable is used, the static figure will be on that since it gives it the illusion of motion and would probably depict a character, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Centurion would also count for this. Also, with the conditions of the building and such, I wonder if the original paper mache statue that survived could be placed in the new attraction as an Easter Egg. Another random aside, next season I would love for some of the artifacts that they don’t use for the new ride to be placed somewhere in the park. One of the gift shops could be cool if they have a PT area, but I would be worried about sun damage. If the attraction is like REALLY popular consistently throughout the season, maybe making an extended queue into the peanuts showplace and displaying these there could be neat.

Do you think he could be projection mapped like Victoria Frankenstein in the queue of Monsters Unchained? I can't tell if static means fully static or if it's face could move/it could move on a platform.

If the face busts return in the hallway... do you think they will be the same busts from before or will they be all new ones?

As long as his face and audio works. Hate seeing the later POVs of PT where he's completely lifeless and faceless

I'm kind of hoping the static figure is the Centurion! He was such a small part of the original, but I think he added to the vibes as much as the Gargoyle and the other living props.

33 animatronics is significantly more than I expected. Granted, they’ll surely be limited in their movements when compared to Universal/Disney, but 33. Wow. Unreal. Sounds like they’re really going for it. Any bets on the static figure? Return of the centurion?

Another set of interesting notes from today's video: Most of the black ceiling tiles in the queue room have been removed. The FunTV screen(s) are still up in the queue room alongside the hurricane-style lamps on the right hand balcony wall. The fake windows, queue railings, and center part of the linoleum tile floor have been removed. Some of these elements are leaned up against the front wall. The door nearest the photo room is painted white on the inside. Both the extended cover and the underside access panel for Maestro's queue room balcony have been removed. (This could be an awesome sign for what's to come!) Maestro's curved stage right after the loading station is still in place and looks like it is merely dirty and only received a little bit of paint. The door to the left of the photo room ("Not An Exit") leads to a backstage hallway that appears to either be painted to resemble a cave or to have a tarp over the wall. The wall to the left of this door is labeled as the "YARD" scene with "A-17 [up arrow]" (presumably denoting the scene and prop element that goes there. Scene #8 | Kitchen I think walls have been removed from the back of the BBoBH bedroom scene. A new pallet-looking item is leaned up against the wall where No Legs Larry once beckoned guests into the theater. The turntable and platform still exist, but there is a big cutout in the wall that leads to the former theater stage. The newer interior walls use metal framing, if anyone was curious. The only remnant of the large parlor scene appears to be the painted checkerboard floor. Everything else looks to have been replaced by new walls. Scene #13 | Pipe Organ Scene #15 | Dungeon Lab The ride operator's telephone and black curtain remain in the loading station for now. You can still see the old Phantom Theater wallpaper and paneling that has been painted over, especially now that the house lights have been turned on. The upper wallpaper will need to be replaced or removed if they hope to emulate the original station. (Which I very much hope they do!) The only look into the bust hallway shows that the floor and queue dividers have been removed. This final interior shot also shows that the wall formerly used for the camera has been replaced. Boocifer lives on in the spot where Boo Blasters defeated him, now removed from behind his stone arch. The green "grass" paint remains under his unmoving figure in another room that appears to have been given new drywall. Metal wire chasing boxes sit beside Boocifer. Some of those will presumably be used to send the scoring system data to new screens at the end of the ride, similar to the Justice League attractions at other Six Flags parks. No work has begun on the exterior facades. Even the Boo Blasters Safety Guides are still posted. Areas of the building that we didn't see include the bust hallway, the graveyard, the portrait hallway(s), the former PT electrical room, half of the now-former dungeon, both skeleton scenes, and Boocifer's last stand. Some parts of the track also look to have been pulled up, possibly to change which direction the opera boxes will face. The completion of the demolition phase and the beginning of "intricate" electrical work give some insights into the transformation process. The article (posted above) in Amusement Today states that there will be 26 interactive scenes with 1 static figure and 33 animatronics inside. The new character of Sir Pretzel joins the now-named Arpeggio (or Archie for short) and Rick the Electrician. The ride will end with "...a grand on-stage musical finale with all cast members" — I believe this might go in either the larger skeleton room or the leaderboard room. Lauren Wood Weaver, VP of marketing at SDR, also stated that the company was approached several years ago and that this project was approved in November 2024. This just goes to show how much time and planning goes into these attractions before they are even announced. Tuesday, November 18th can't seem to come soon enough! I think they might show off the first functional animatronics and maybe another little glimpse into the new attraction or two.

I did told Tony about bringing the red rope queue back. I hope it comes back, cause thats how close we get for theme cattle pen railing.

I think the chandeliers will stay, but I hope they add more in the loading station like there were in the original. I know they sold some of the load station chandeliers to schools in the area. The glow in the dark cobweb fabric was added for Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle. You can see how much they've faded in your photo comparing the balcony setups. The Amusement Today article mentioned that there will be 26 scenes as well. I'll have to go through my layout to see how they can have them organized. It's super interesting that you can still see where the Maestro sign was on the balcony. 100% not happening IMO. I don't know how well it did in the 90s, but so many people already sit on the metal rails and break them that I don't think they would risk something like the nice stanchion ropes. Carpet would be really nice to have but they'd need to clean it often and well. It gets way too wet and slippery with the linoleum floor, so I hope they get the carpet.

I honestly wonder if they're going to put old theater style carpet in the queue. I believe Haunted Hotel (a recent Sally creation) has themed carpet in the queue.

The green cobwebs were added after PT. I wonder if the queue will have the red rope queue lines like the original? Also I’d put an almost 0% chance of them doing this, but I wonder if any of the scrap wood/floor tiles could be like chopped up and sold in like the front gift shop like The Beast track or those Vortex slices. That would be cool, but I don’t know if a dark ride carries the same appeal to manufacture that, and I also doubt anyone cares enough about Boo Blasters to have an unrecognizable item like that lol. (I did perhaps take a crumbling piece of flooring from when I worked Boo Blasters and it was going to be thrown away, so maybe I have a rare, one of a kind artifact)

Prediction... the chandeliers stay but we get new wallpaper for the que. Also were the green cobwebs on the Chandeliers originally for PT?

A quick watch: Always cool to see footage of such a beloved attraction!