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Happy to report that the music on I Street has been changed.

I take back almost everything I said about current park management the last few weeks! Thank you Tony and team for bringing back the orchestral music!

I just got off a little bit ago and I must say the attention to detail was a very good . The interactive flashlights (which I was unsure how that would work) turned out very fun and kids are going to absolutely love it. All in all, I think they now have a new hit at Kings Island that will create family memories for generations to come.

I don't think we've seen an opening day line this long since Orion or even Mystic. Bravo to the park for hyping everyone up for this! I can only imagine the opening day line for whenever The Vortex replacement happens if they hype it up right....

I just heard Hoedown by Aaron Copland, an old track that played during the KECO era.

I definitely heard the Gone With The Wind theme.

I might be wrong but I noticed this in the ride and Isn’t that the original bust from the queue? Picture and video courtesy of melanin coaster network

Yes, red lights on the arms and then under the seats the traditional green and yellow lights. It is very bright.

A couple more tracks we identified with Shazam:

La Vie En Rose is on right now.

It's looking good. It is not certified yet though. It might be later today.

Unreal. Totally in shock. Loved the whole thing.

They funneled the line through the peanuts meet and greet area.

Here’s my initial thoughts after my first ride (spoilered just in case): I’ll probably have an essay to put here later tonight, but I wanted to get my first thoughts out there. The ride also took 18 minutes to complete lmao.

Another easter egg? 🤔

I watched the POV because I'm not sure when/if we're making it down to KI this year (think we're trying Dollywood instead). I won't spoil anything. But I'm beyond impressed. When this was announced, I really thought it was going to be a cheap Boo Blasters overlay or very screen-based. But the use of animatronics is great, and they've really put a lot of work into using projections, physical effects and new sets to make the ride look new and fresh. And I love that they've found ways to incorporate things from the old ride alongside new surprises. I think this is going to be a huge hit. Kudos to KI on this one; it looks like they pulled off something special.

Yes.

Orion had a line that stretched to the path between the Junkyard Coaster and DB's splashdown. That was with social distancing though. Im sure the line would've been even longer if covid didn't happen and the ride opened on time. I think they would've used the Chaos building as overflow.

Not sure how long Orion lines were when opening during the pandemic but I'd say this is the biggest turn out for a new ride opening since mystic if I had to guess

I didn't mind the jazz, but I found it to be very repetitive due to the lack of variety of songs. That one jingle is still stuck in my head, if you know you know. I really wish Kings Island would bring back the orchestral music one day.

Really?! About time! What is it now?

I was wondering if that would be an issue just with the amount of people in the lobby que area. Hopefully they can fine tune it as they go

I was thinking the same thing, I think its from the original ride que. I'm surprised the other ones weren't there with it, well as I can see. Nonetheless I'm glad the Maestro bust is back! 🙂

I have but one thing I wish from this ride- A reprisal of the original's music. That music went hard for the early 90s. Plus the inspiration it took from Bach and ALW's music was nice, too. I'll take a clever nod to Phantom of the Opera as well for aesthetics.

The good news is no matter where you are in the park, you don’t have to walk far to get chicken tenders.

You'll be back, you'll be back, mwahahaha!

Well since this thread is about to come to an end I want to thank everyone for another fun offseason of watching this come to life! Onto the next project whatever that might be!

Episode 6 of Phantom Theater Curtain is here! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17zaAxDvFw/

I had the shrimp po boy and pasta salad and chicken shack tenders today shrimp po boy and pasta same as last year very good hope this location is open more this year during the week it was mostly open weekends only last year. I kept going back and forth what I wanted for my second meal I wanted too try the new footlong hot dog with Mac and grippos at brewhouse but it was a pretty long line at dinner time so I decided too try too get that another day

Last year the portion sizes were very generous and I’ve heard rumors from other parks this year that portion sizes have shrunk dramatically so when I got that from chicken shack it worries me but we shall see. My other meal was the shrimp po boy so you can’t really adjust that portion size it’s always the same and it was delicious as always. food lines were very reasonable from what I saw around dinner time they got a little long but they seemed too be moving and not much slow downs. For first day open they probably did very well

Preview night observations- - Red Racer feels like its running a bit faster and harder than blue, in a good way - The new I-Street music, while nice that it's different, could be turned a bit louder (throughout the rest of the park, too) - Crews are very much still learning (that's obviously okay, but felt more prominent tonight compared to other years IMO) - I'm still not used to the Six Flags logos (I'll probably feel that even more so when I go up to CP in June) - It was WAY slower crowd-wise than I though considering the good weather today and the not-so-good weather for Saturday. I came in the evening so I didn't chance PT, but I will be getting to it early for opening day.

Glad I got to see it for myself today! Looks fantastic and they had people in all arms not long before closing!

Was able to come up today due to calling off work to attend a coworker’s funeral. My deceased coworker loved roller coasters, loved Kings Island so I get to go in his place whenever I go up now. Ive come to terms with his death, Im happy I got to know him and then learn a lot about him today. Unfortunately, I was unable to get on Phantom Theater but I saw the exterior at last and Im impressed. It looks awesome! The merch cart is pretty great. Im excited to be able to ride it eventually and when I do, judging from what Ive seen here, its likely to become my new favorite dark ride, maybe even beating out like The Haunted Mansion, Pirates Of The Carribean, and Great Movie Ride(RIP).

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1bg2JaSt9C/ Appears to me that the ride is running a little faster than it did in 2024 when they noticably slowed it down to try and keep it going through the end of the season. Also, are my eyes deceiving me or are the new lights under the arms red? Also looks like they removed the green tube lights from the arms?

Rivertown also has some new music! We heard some Dolly Parton playing as we walked past LaRosa's, though I didn't notice much of the other music. Our day was kind of centered around Phantom Theater (which was really good btw) so that was most of what I was listening for.

I heard a couple of Billy Joel songs in Coney Mall including Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) which is a nice inside Tony Easter Egg whether intentional or not.

Looks like I already got my wish!

Looks like it's shined up a bit. Maybe fresh paint? Did they take the tube lightbulbs off the arms entirely? The round bulbs under the arms also look slightly different to me

I heard the line was 3 hours...where did they put all those people?.the indoor ques for boo Blasters usually only held maybe 45 minutes of people max

A ice cream shop in Cleveland (Sweet Moses) used kettle corn as a topping in a baseball-themed sundae and it was great!

Just in case anyone here has forgotten the Passholder Preview Day times tomorrow, here you go . . I forgot and went looking for it. Kings Island's 2026 Season Passholder Preview Day is Friday, April 17, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., offering 2026 Silver, Gold, and Prestige passholders exclusive early access before the public opening on April 18. The event features previews of the new "Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare" attraction, early access to rides, and operating dining/merch. From PR Newswire

Now what the park needs now is their own gormet popcorn shop like WDW Magic Kingdom has. People would pay good money to make their own mixed popcorn bowl

The monster has cars installed!

I am speechless in seeing the new ride... it looks amazing! Also I think I spotted an Easter egg in this picture in case anybody else didn't catch it! 😄

I don’t know what I, whom is trying to avoid any new spoilers in the last ~38 hours before I’ll get to experience it, expected when I clicked on this. As such I’ll probably be offline until Friday (not that anyone asked), but like it’s still so surreal that this attraction I’ve been so obsessed with for 15+ years is finally returning which such a loving tribute. I’m so excited to finally be able to experience this world, as I never got to ride the original. I think from what I’ve seen so far, this is possibly the best dark ride KI or any six flags park has ever had. Hopefully by Friday I’m not proven wrong.

I’m getting hungry….

It's almost time to raise the curtain....

Here just to post about my excitement!! I still struggle to grasp the idea that they brought Phantom Theater back. It is something I never thought would happen! I can't think of any theme park ride given a second life like this. I always thought it was dead and gone. I fly up there from Orlando on Friday, at the park on Saturday. Just, wow. I will be buying a lot of the merch!! My mind just wont give it a rest haha

Merch Drop… A few pics with some out of focus views of the facade. Looks like the “teeth” are gone from the entrance. Looking good. Get a quick glimpse of the new outdoor queue and merch cart as well. 2 1/2 days… Not that I’m counting. @kingsislandfan1972 looks like your hat wishes are coming true.

I think the park wouldn’t publicly release a POV until at least the end of the summer, since I feel like there’s a sense of mystery with a dark ride (especially one that you can record on yourself… I hope. I hope they didn’t change that rule from Boo Blasters) versus a coaster that shouldn’t have that many legal recordings of it. When they do I suspect it’ll be like the most recent Boo Blasters POV they did where it’s mostly for archival purposes, but it would be REALLY awesome if they implemented the source audio into a ride through (I also hope the source audio releases asap because I know I’ll want to listen to the theme song. Whether it’s a Sally Dark Rides post or something they share within any press kit during media day (if so lmk wink wink)