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I don't know if the popcorn scent wasn't working yesterday when I was there, but I did not smell any sort of popcorn scent in that section of the queue. I agree with your point about the animatronics and the risk of unruly kids potentially destroying them. When I first saw photos of Larry in there while the ride was under construction, my first thought was I was afraid that unruly kids may throw objects at him and/or go behind the barrier and try and touch him. I really hope they enforce zero tolerance of any sort of interfering with the animatronics in the queue and I really hope in 5-10 years they're still on top of the animatronics and it doesn't become one of those rides where some stuff is working and some isn't like Boo Blasters was.

it’s great that there’s such a high interest in this ride Practically every person in the world can ride this ride. A smaller % of the population can ride coasters. So it would be logical that this ride may attract more people. Maybe these parks will start figuring out that if they put in more attractions that everybody can ride, their attendance will quit being stagnant

I had one ride yesterday and I loved it!! I would have loved to have done it more but the line was long. We waited about 2.5 hrs. It was so surreal seeing these characters that have lived in my mind since I was 7 years old get a second life. The queue was awesome and I am so happy to see Maestro back where he belongs, even though I'd love to have seen him back at a piano up there. As noted, the audio for Larry was too low. I was ecstatic when they gave out the Inaugural Performance keychain before boarding. The ride itself was awesome. I really like that energy that is around every corner, there are few parts that are still walls. My biggest dislike was the show. While cool to see all the characters performing, that scene is way too crammed. Getting rid of the turntable and opening that area up to the size of the original stage would have really helped that part out. I am very happy to see the reception this ride is receiving and I am glad kids today will experience something with so much soul at KI.

Rode it Friday twice and then on Saturday with 2 of my grandkids. This ride is absolutely fantastic for what is is meant to be. In my opinion this is NOT for the original Phantom Theatre fans. It is "inspired" by the original ride NOT meant to be a reproduction of it. Keep in mind FAMILY RIDE. The original was much darker and scared small children. This one still does a little (especially the lightning/thunder effects in the queue). The biggest surprise and what made me smile was where the "peppers ghost" effect used to be. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT in my opinion. I'm sure I'm in a minority but I think the peppers ghost effect in today's day and age may be more trouble than it would be worth. Face it people today are a little more "brave" to deface things (spitting on mirrors, gum, etc.) I'm sure that would require daily cleaning. I truely fear for Larry in the queue. They have signs about cameras but by then it may be to late. Plexi glass around the section would help (but spitting may still be there). Doing this would have to have left the exit doors still accessible and would may have affected the popcorn scent (loveley touch). Another observation was the neither the Maestro nor Larry do the narration for the information videos on how to use the flashlights. This may be a signal that in case Maestro or Larry stop working the instructions would still be viable. I used Fast Lane my first ride (20 min) the second i waited in line (almost 3 hours). The line seemed to go in spurts. I can understand this because with the new cars, new tech and I'm assuming some work on the track system since it was exposed I think it will take some time to fine tune it. After all with 28 or so boxes and 400-500 in each box that's alot of weight compared to cycling with half of the boxes empty. Saturday when i took the grandkids it was about 2 hours and even though we were there around 3-4 we did get the keychains they were given out. Finally, I noticed a LARGE amount of people entering through the exit. The line was all the way outdoors every time I passes the ride all day. I'm sure the long waits were becuase of stopping for loading special needs which is fine but it does bring up how many people were taking advantage of the situation to avoid the line. Honestly I've never seen that before with Boo or Scooby. It will be interesting to see how long that line is next weekend or in the middle of the season. I understand the need for those who need it but I have heard that KI is rather lax on the reasons they accept for these exceptions. All in all a FANTASTIC addition which I will be riding over and over. Great job to Sally and the KI team (and Rick)!!

I think Maestro still sounds like himself, the difference is that Richard Doyle used a less antagonistic tone of voice in the new recordings. That's literally the most authentic voice acting you can get without reusing the original recordings. While I agree that I miss the heavily antagonistic and scary tone I've seen in videos of the original, I think the new version is what the park needed. The music does need to be turned back on and the audio levels fixed throughout the whole ride. I think the park and Sally Dark Rides will be making some adjustments in the upcoming weeks while the park is closed. The ride speed also felt slow, but I'm not entirely sure about that being the case. I have a theory that some things like the speed were set a certain way for the first rides (such as the decreased speed to help everyone get used to the new loading arrangements) and will be fixed.

Im in line right now and so far I'm impressed! The exterior is growing on me. My one complaint so far is Larry's voice is too quiet while Maestro and Archie you can hear clearly anywhere in line. I also feel the "meow" from archie is overused and gets annoying after awhile especially that one section where it's just a line of meows lol. EDIT: After riding, I was really impressed! Great addition to the park and will be well recieved! I honestly expect full queues for it every day this year regardless! Also it was great to meet @BoddaH1994 and Noah in the line!

Your comment about the voice acting is interesting—Richard Doyle does reprise his role as Maestro in this ride. So I would say that’s as authentic as you can get. I think the music definitely needs more fine-tuning. They turned it off on Thursday so they could film on-rides for media day, but while they turned it back on in the queue, I don’t think they turned it on the ride as of yesterday.

Adventure Port rides are two associate ops. Eiffel Tower took a page out of KD with no attendant at the elevator door and was replaced with a gate and sign to "Please Wait for Elevator Operator" and to no surprise, people walk past the gate to push the elevator button...

Long read and... I know that I tend to be very critical of things I care about.. so to partially counter that, I made myself go back n forth for negative and positve thoughts. From videos before riding: 👎 We use flashlights.. but lack a 'lights out' scene. 👍 A nice shooting system that works, and has sounds and haptics to confirm points 👎 The Opera lady doesn't sing operatically.. doesnt sound serious, originally it was a powerful vocal that, when paired with the cracking mirror felt intense. I wish they had a lady that sang "properly". This voice is kind of.. annoying, i hesitate to say. 👍 The queue has lightning in the windows 👎 The Facade wasn't truly redone 👍 Many animitronics 👎 Too many reused assets from boo blasters.. Scooby to Boo was understandable as it was a required redo while the entire park redone.. but at least phantom to Scooby did, albeit less dazzling, mostly new effects. 👍 the boiler scene returns! 👎 There's no pepper's ghost effect & in its old location is all the characters, admittedly moving, but in one place.. on an empty stage.. peppers ghost wouldve been cooler as a static display if they had the whole audience area depicted like the OG 👍 There are some callbacks/ redos of the OG on even small-detail scales. The Gargoyl, the guy caught in the ropes, the mummy. 👎 The ride aint spooky at all.. I understand making it more family friendly for younger ages too but, I was 4 when I started riding & remembering Phantom Theatre and I still really liked it.. I feel we couldve gone more ghoulish than this.. afterall they went and put "Nightmare" on the ride title. 👍 The ride vehicles are paired with one other vehicle now allowing for a fresher riding configuration and, in theory, allowing for longer audio sequences without hearing the other groups' scene. 👎 connected to previous positive-- No Legs Larry repeats his first line loudly twice for some reason at the beginning 👍 They attempt a decent story for why you're shooting these ghost notes 👎 no legs larry, should be sassy and making puns that are slightly spooky themed like in the show's opening meet n greet.. thats why ppl loved him 👍 maestro says "youll be back" 👎 the audio repeats way too frequently for the showboxes being more spread out than before.. tocatta in d minor & "back on the stage once again". 👍 projection mapping After riding 👍 The shooting system was much more responsive and satisfying than expected 👎 There are several moments where there's nothing happening 👍 The windows in queue have thematic lighting 👎 The 2nd buggy in the "train" doesnt get the best views because the cars don't rotate to look at the same time.. wouldve liked the cars to stay separately spaced since none of the scenes needed to last super long anyways.. the reused ride can only rotate at certain moments on the track.. car 1 and car 2 can never be triangulated on the same moment, because they will experience the exact same physical movements.. wouldve liked the system to program in different rotation points also. OG phantom had different rotations compared to scooby... but ever since scooby, its been the same. This was a good chance to change it up. 👍 The indoor queue can fit more people and yet still does not feel cramped so the line will be out in the hot sun less often. 👎 The castle has gashes in the concrete already 👍nice easter eggs throughout including invered bust, The Beastie vulture etc 👎REALLY shouldve brought the peppers ghost effect back 👍Boo Blasters is gone! 👎 Volume on No Legs Larry incomprehensible in most places in the queue yet the cats meowing hurts my ears its so loud. 👍 The bats on the metal railing are nicee 👎 The boiler scene had nothing happening with the 2 guys, no notes going in.. then the secondary portion.. you dont get blasted with heat. (Many complained of it being hot.. but its still a better effect with the heat) 👍 The new tangled in the ropes scene is superior 👎 The 2-carriage showbox configuration ultimately led to my experience having 1 or 2 times where the dialogue/ action finishes early because it was designed for the 1st car to see. I remember the notes changing a little early once. Since the cars cant be made to rotate to triangulate on the same scene.. I think they should've kept the cars equally spaced out. Nothing lasted so long to need the extra spacing from my quick impression *shrug* 👍 the haptics when you capture a ghost note is great 👎 Larry's intro dialogue need to go through the carriage speakers instead of loudy screaming it twice within 3 seconds.. the riders hear both iterations. 👍 despite wishing for a "lights out"moment.. i actually like the choice of that same character now turning up the lights to try to help get rid of the notes.. though, I wouldve opted for a flood light moment then haha.. maybe a quick strobe disguising a photo op -- Overall, Im so very glad to finally get rid of Scooby/ Boo Blasters. I remember the debut of Scooby as a 7 year old and being severely disappointed lol I have always joked "I was the target demographic.. and scooby doo was a lame addition as a 7 year old that actually DOES like scooby doo" Outside of my whining, this ride is very acceptable. Bringing a (for now) well operating shooting system that doesnt feel clunky & gives you great visual and physical feedback. I think kids as old as 13 will very much enjoy this ride as it is.. but, I think it leaned a bit too much into family friendly that it doesnt excite for older guests as much (except YOU who's reading this disagreeing). I mean the ride has "Nightmare" in the name.. probably a difficult balance. Ive heard people say kids used to get really scared of the old one but, Im coming from being maybe 3 or 4 and I dont remember ever being scared; my parents have never reported me crying from OG phantom *shrug* Im glad to see most people posting are fans of it (assuming mostly adults have been posting) I wish I was amongst the crew with mostly positive things to say. Tis my nature. But, Im glad the park put it the effort to give us a ride inspired by something that arguably was one of the best attractions to ever grace Kings Island. Let's all agree to keep it Phantom Theater forever now haha Ill be sure to ride this every time... the line is not crazy.

I enjoyed the pork and the new beef at Grain and Grill. Both were very good. I prefer the Alfredo pasta over the parks mac n cheese. So I am very happy to have that at Grain and Grill. I might be eating a lot of my meals there this season.

I have updated our Monster page. The top photo was taken Friday and the one at the bottom of the page is from a few years ago. You can see the difference in lighting. https://kicentral.com/rides/monster/

He meant Tony C 🤣

There are two Tony's now. The Tony Carovillan the Park Manager and Communications director Tony Clark. I assume you are talking about the park manager since Tony C. went back to CP on Friday.

Spotted Tony helping out earlier in Enrique's helping work through the long line

I rode it yesterday and I was thoroughly surprised at how immersive the queue was as well as the ride itself. I do feel like the ghost note element was not distracting and you can honestly somewhat ignore them and just take in the ride itself if you wanted. A few critiques and some that I hope they fix as a season progresses: My two cents in the new ride vs the old ride: I would honestly give it a B+. There are a lot of technical things I still think they need to work out, but overall the ride isn’t bad – I think there are a few things that I mentioned in the spoilers that kept it from being an A+ ride. I went in knowing that it wasn’t going to be a carbon copy of the original, and I have to give credit to the park and Sally for reintegrating the original IP into a layout/concept that had been altered well over 20 years ago.

The boxes are two at a time (two boxes, two blanks) this creates much more space between sets of boxes. My first ride the first box had no one in it and I was alone in the 2nd box. I had 999,999 by the 1/2 way point of the ride (Hilda). The second time I rode it i was in the first box with a fellow rider and not sure how many but there were people in the 2nd box. My score was around 390,000. So the more people competing to hit notes the lower the score (from what I could gather 1 person has to hit the note for points, if more than 1 hit it at the same time the note survives. ie. no ties). Hope that helps.

Got two rides in today and absolutely exceeded my expectations, I want to thank Six Flags, Sally, and Kings Island for making this all happen, briefly wanted to share my pros and cons of the new ride and Share a few photos from the ride, I plan on many many more rides this summer. Also got a super smooth ride on The Beast so shoutout to the retracking crew for doing a superb job. Phantom Theater Pros: Soundtrack and Toccata is back Facade and Queue is outstanding with the spooky theme All the animatronics are amazing simply put New life has been breathed into the building especially when entering the loading area with the lighting windows Cons: The wait time was ridiculous for a ride that has a tried and true loading process Some effects are cheap and carried over from Boo Blasters like Larry on the turntable and the Bosco door Not sold on the interactive aspect 100 percent, I like it but think it could be better, maybe it’ll grow on me Some of the animatronics have a goofy look that fights with their scary original Overall a phenomenal addition to Kings Island for families and friends to ride for years to come and a worthy successor and tribute to original Phantom Theater and so, so much better than Boo Blasters, could not be happier to have Phantom Theater back at the park.

Aaaand KI plays the National Anthem at close.

I never rode the original but I thought this one was a lot of fun and a vast improvement over what Boo Blasters had become by the time it closed last year. I waited about 2½ hours, getting to the park just after opening and getting in line about 10:15.

Is it actually him??? It sounds so very different, but then again he's aged quite a bit since then, so maybe he just doesn't have access to the same range. I'm glad they actually did the due diligence of hiring the same voice actor. That's awesome. Thanks for the correction

I will say, the use of the term ghost notes is a clever pun. Yes, ghost notes are a thing in music, particularly in jazz.

IAAPA News goes behind the curtain at Kings Island--and Sally Dark Rides--to discover how the newest incarnation came to be. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRflPyJjp50

They watched me in the sun for at least an hour on Friday.

My wife and I rode it today. I rode the original one as well. With that said. I love both of them. I try not to compare one to another, because it was a different time and different technology. I loved the theatrical show of Phantom from a couple of years ago. I still watch it to this day on you tube. I am very happy with this ride and will be looking forward to riding it a lot in the future as well. There is only one criticism I have, there needs to be hot air blowing on you when you go by the boiler. That would be a great effect. Overall, a 10 for me. I hope everyone enjoys it as well.

Thoughts on Beast Re-Track ? I rode it once on Friday running great. As I thought the re track really didn’t make much of a difference but no biggy it’s still running great I did notice the 1 time I rode it that it still had the pot hole affect on the second part of the double helix finale which again doesn’t bother me still running great but did notice it was still there.

All Wheel Sports has been posting casting calls for a production in Ohio, so it seems likely the new show will be from them: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWjcB2OiRk8/?igsh=MXd0cDcxbzM3OXpvbg==

Just a random question, why are so many people maxing out the score with like 999999? Targets worth too many points? Ride breaking down/stopping for loading resulting in these crazy maxed out scores? Been seeing a lot of them posted on Facebook

One could surmise that any park not given the President treatment is open for being sold off or closed. Rumor was the ideal plan was to get to under 15 parks and this aligns with that rumor. Along with this change, it resulted in slashing of personnel as well....

You are talking about the Muffuletta sandwich and pasta salad that has been available at French Corner for the past 2 seasons or so.

I've been hearing that the seatbelts were also shortened for FOF. I'd love to see the ride get a good refurbishment with new (more comfortable) trains and other upgrades instead of being torn out entirely. It seems to be the hardest coaster for adults to fit into so anything that makes the train less restrictive would help so much. I haven't seen anything about that, but I did see a photo of Banshee's train shed that had a crate marked "Diamondback" under it. There looked to be a whole pile of stuff under there, including what might've been a tightly wrapped lift chain for something. Could you tell if the one by Beast's second drop was a larger (40 ft) or smaller (20 ft) shipping container? I'm wondering if it was used to store some materials for the rebuild of that drop or if it's housing something else. Now that I've had a little more time to process yesterday I will admit that I was in a bad headspace when I was writing some of my posts. I feel like I was overly critical, though to be fair I still stand by most of what I said. Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare is still super amazing! Some of the little changes throughout the park looked really good. Those little quality upgrades do a ton of good overall.

It was a mistake - it was the whole spiel used at park open and then stopped it about halfway thru and then played the correct closing spiel.

I got the roasted pork at Grain and Grill for lunch today. They were out of alfredo so I got the potatos as my side. I'm surprised the alfredo is a side. Fettuchine Alfredo has always been a meal to me. For dinner, I got the smoked chicken with mac and cheese at Coney BBQ. I was very impressed with the chicken. It was pretty moist which is how I like it and it is a pretty good size piece of chicken. They ran out of the chicken right before me, but luckily they had more coming out right away so I was able to get it. I definitely would have a backup plan as it does look like the chicken will be very popular so it may be one that runs out a lot.

Used my second meal at Grain & Grill. I wanted to get the roasted pork there, but they were out of it when I went, so I ended up just getting the chicken tenders with alfredo instead. I will advocate for Grain and Grill having the best chicken tenders in the park, though it's still chicken tenders at the end of the day. I do really appreciate the switch to alfredo, as it is one of my favorite pasta options and I'm glad it's now available at the park. I've seen some people upset that the alfredo replaced the macaroni and cheese that used to be served at Grain & Grill, but that's still being served at Coney BBQ so I can just get it there if I wanted it that much. I prefer it when the different restaurants have separate options from one another so you're not just getting the same thing. I'm going back to the park tomorrow and I'll use my first meal at Grain & Grill to try and get that roasted pork.

A few noticeable staffing cuts on some rides. The Eiffel Tower cut the base person Franklin's Flyers is a single op ride now Wasn't able to confirm it, but heard through the grapevine that the 2 Adventure Port rides are single op (correct me if wrong) Not a good look for capacity and throughput as that is apparently a vision for new CEO John Reilly

Beast does have a rattle as it goes off the 2nd chain into the new track, but no such thing as it gets towards the helix. EDIT- I heard fricken Stairway to Heaven today in Coney Mall. Thank you KI staff. Also, Racer's rock play list is a bit more modern now, not just 70s.

This will happen during e-stops.

Speaking of songs and playlists, surprised nobody has mentioned an iconic CP ride song being played in the park....

Given how iconic the original music is to fans, the lack of a unifying soundtrack is odd, so hopefully it is a matter of fine-tuning that still needs to happen.

Ok I just got off of it and I have to say, I'm surprised at all the praise here! Despite my profile name, I'm not just an old man clamoring that things aren't like they used to be, but this felt just familiar enough to really remind me how much better the original was. And I wasn't even a huge fan of it (I was a Smurf diehard) but the story was clear and the theming then was very high-quality, especially for a regional park. This feels strangely cartoony and cheap and not at all spooky, which is a shame, and there were just so many things that seem like obvious omissions: Maybe there just aren't the same kinds of attention-to-detail story people like there used to be, or maybe they are all just too expensive, but the original story was "you wanted to see the theater, did ya?" you see all the backstage ephemera and then see them all in their dressing rooms or warming up before the show, then the very eventful and large-scale pepper's ghost room for the "show," then the Maestro says "you thought I would let you leave after you heard my music? I don't think so" and you get shot down into the basement where it turns a little wonderland-y and bizarro, until the boiler room finale when you finally get out, followed by "you'll be baaaaack." So simple and clear and just spooky enough. I know they were reallyyyy reaching to try and jam a shooter game in here, but the ghost note story is so strange and silly and cheap-feeling and I know they don't care about this stuff and it's just a silly ride for kids, but that's what set the original apart. Those creatives did care about this stuff. I am also more confused about the ghost notes story after riding: There are a lot of great things to celebrate here. 1 is that they're bringing this IP back and doing an animatronics-based dark ride at all. I was delighted to hear that they were going in this direction, and I'm sure the next generation will find things they love about this one too, but one of the reasons the original made such an impact on people in its short tenure at the park was it's attention to detail and the kinds of high-quality decisions that this one just fundamentally lacks. I really wanted to be pleasantly surprised, but I think deep down I knew when I heard they were keeping the shooter aspect and saw the AI slop key art that this was what we would get. And while I'm not sure this will be the sort of lasting and iconic (and SPOOKY) ride it could have been, it is so cartoony and neutered that kids will absolutely love it.

This is great! I actually came here specifically to post this video. Congrats on some great coverage, my friend!!

Skyline was the same as ever but they gave my sibling so little cheese while on mine, I got a little extra. Instead of often giving guests 2 packs of crackers a whole bunch as they did last year, they only gave one. Thats not a big deal but worth mentioning. Other than that, O tried the neopolitan ice cream sandwich at Sweet Spot. They prepare it fresh for you, having the ice cream stored in their big walk in freezer and everything. It was really good, cookies were warm and everything. The staff at Sweet Spot were awesome and caring and attentive yesterday.

Only did Diamondback and WindSeeker. Lines were pretty bad even with at least a quarter to a third of people there consistently being in line for Phantom Theater. I almost completely doubt anyone who came didnt come to at least try to ride it but I know better. Seeing a wide range of possibilities and all that. But yeah, it was still a good time overall. Line for Skyline moved fast despite only one register being open. Disappointed I didnt get to do PT last night but theres a reason my friends know me as being patient. I can wait. Ive been building my patience for well over half my life. Though I still dont like waiting 30 minutes or more for rides. Waiting on long lines when I was a teenager was not exactly enjoyable despite me being such a persistent thinker.

Ask and you shall receive! Phantom Theater Archives uploaded their Passholder Preview POV. (Also thank you @BryanJay for the archives channel!! I'm pretty sure you said it's yours . It's helped a ton with some of my research!)

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).

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

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 was thinking the same thing. I discussed it a little in the new Phantom thread, but I think it's possible that the 2026 attraction go pushed back to 2027. The Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare (not a fan of the long name. Although BBOBH was pretty long too) in my opinion is not a "family thrill attraction". I don't think a 2027 attraction is out of the picture...yet