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Color me (not at all) shocked- nothing new and no additions. That game show thing is a fine pre-show for a real show at the bandstand. As it is, why even bother with building a set? This is pathetic.

Holiday World is giving visitors another reason to squeeze in a late-summer trip to Santa Claus, Indiana, with more than 40 new festival bites — including a Thanksgiving dinner served inside a bread cone and a “burger and fries” that’s actually dessert. FULL STORY: https://themeparksbydon.com/holiday-world-summer-wined-down-culinary-festival-2026/

Cool. I didn't see who was in the armor but Sir Pretzel was a cool addition to the cast of phantoms

Could have been. I don't really remember talking to anyone in particular so it was probably someone else but I do tend to ramble on about amusement park history haha. Also I emailed with Debbie Stricker yesterday and she said they are adding a new Tubs of Fun kiddy flat ride for the 2027 season. It's currently being refurbished. I think that will make for a nice addition and is hopefully less problematic from the maintenance standpoint.

Yo, post it under a spoiler tag. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease

I believe that is Sir Pretzel, the newest addition to the cast of phantoms.

You’re right about that centurion. I totally forgot about that guy. I’m not even sure which character is in the armor. Sometimes that first scene doesn’t want to trigger properly, especially if you’re in the car number one, which is separated from the rest of the cars.

Stricker's Grove is such a great park. I was also there on Sunday for the open to the public day and I have never seen it so crowded! I think more people are discovering the park and know that it's a great place for some family fun! As mentioned Tip Top is such a great ride the the two coasters are decent. Also I love the fact they still have some of the old flats from Lesourdsville/Americana. Side note, it appears they poured a new concrete pad where the kiddy Drop Tower was removed so perhaps they are adding a new flat ride for next year?

I'm just happy that all the effects were working during my visit. On the first ride Larry #1 (Are you ready to be an usher) didn't work and that dialogue was missing but on the second ride about 45 minutes later he was working perfectly so idk what was up the first time.

I mean someone is hiding in the old boo Blasters armor suit in the prop room. Far cry from the Centurion but I figured that was what they were trying to reference there

The boiler room scene feels the most fully-realized of the new ride. It's a glimpse of what the revived Phantom Theater might have been like if given a complete Monster Mansion-style recreation instead of the "inspired by" attraction we have now.

Is there even a centurion character on our new phantom, I don’t recall seeing him

Tip Top is possibly my favorite ride in the park, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! The world needs more of that ride type and I wish a manufacturer would start producing them again.

The current stage scene is smaller than the original, and is also smaller than the library scene that existed in SDatHC and BBoBH. I wish they could've scaled down the animatronics and made the room feel bigger.

Oh tough question - I really liked the last scene with the rose smell effect but I also think the dressing room with Lionel, Pretzel, and Warble was cool. It's hard to pick just one favorite. I also loved how the original queue bust incorporated but the rest of that scene is pretty boring so can't really pick that one. The "caught in the ropes" and boiler room were very well done. I'd say the least impressive scenes to me were the stage scene just because in footage of the original the set looks much bigger and the prop room honestly is a little dull in the new version - Gargoyle and Centurion characters don't talk. Just more of Hilda's screaming haha. So I know I've rambled but I think the new ride is very good and there's some great scenes but a few of them could probably have been better.

Ok this is the moment I've been waiting for - My review of Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare! So most of you probably know I relocated to Seattle last year and I was traveling through the area this past weekend and stopped by the park last Saturday and got two rides on Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare. The first ride I just rode through taking in the details and the second ride I used the flashlight to play the game with the ghost notes. First of all the entrance - I don't love the repurposed castle. I feel like they could have done better with that and made it more unique and different however I appreciate that most of the budget clearly went into the ride interior vs a fancy exterior. The que was fantastic. The darkness and the lightning effects were great and really set the tone of an abandoned theater. I was worried the purple wallpaper would be almost Dr Seuss like but the dark lighting makes it look really really good. The audio in the que was loud enough to hear it over all the talking so I was able to hear all the preshow dialogue. The hallway portraits were a nice touch considering that they were a stable of the older version of the ride and are absent from the current version. They actually look much more like paintings in person vs in photos you can obviously tell they are screens. Enjoyed the dialogue loop here as well and it was also loud enough that I could understand what each character was saying The shooting element of the ride I personally found to be distracting. I played the game the second ride through but in a way every target looks the same and I actually found it distracting and hard to take in the actual rooms and characters while chasing ghost notes. I think it's a nice feature for kids who don't appreciate the artistry of a classic dark ride but I personally would probably not play the shooting game on future rides. The sets and scenes were all great and some of the little details are fun - for example I got stopped in front of Hilda's dressing room and noticed all the little fan cards on her mirror (details you miss when just riding past the scene). The did think the stage scene seemed a bit small but loved they payed homage to Phantom Theater Encore. Also, the boiler room was working full force and I love the roses scent at the end of the ride. Hopefully the park will continue to keep all these effects working. Also the original bust on the left after Sir Pretzel was really cool. Glad they were able to incorporate that into the new version of the ride. All in all I really enjoyed the ride and I'd definitely ride it every visit if I still lived in the area. Sounds like I'll have another opportunity to ride it May 2 as my sister is getting married on May 1 this year so I'll be traveling back to Cincinnati then.

I meant to post it here right after I saw it, but sometime last week the Fast Lane line was chained off with a sign directing guests to go through the exit for FL. Once I got inside I was able to see that there were multiple ceiling tiles missing in the corner closest to the entrance. There were a few buckets and some water barriers around the area directly under that in front of the queue's western emergency exit door. It was back open both times I went this week. From what I can remember all of the animatronics and effects were working well. The music was missing, but I'd rather the rest of the ride stay in working order before they worry about that. I'll be interested to see whether or not the ride ends up operating or not during Haunt as well. I think it could go either way.

A lot of good people were let go in the merger, including talented people who brought a lot to the company. Unfortunately tends to happen all the time in cases like these. Was it a mistake? In hindsight yes, the timing and execution wasn’t very good. Nothing can be done about that now the past is in the past. Now I look to the direction they are going. To be honest I see a very (VERY) small trajectory upwards but with caveats. Six Flags and Cedar Fair made these mistakes before, because of it parks suffered for a while and some parks were closed/sold as we’re seeing currently. These decisions did help the company get back onto their feet financially but took time to build back trust in their customers. Six Flags was still trying to earn that trust back when this merger happened.

I didn't see any visible issues with the roof during my ride, but all of the animatronics were working. The only thing that wasn't working was the ghost note projections in a few scenes. The second boiler also had a strange line near the bottom third of the screen, but I believe that is an easy fix. All of the lightbulbs were working and the heat was as well. I didn't remember to check on the newest hole in the wall of the queue, but I'm sure it was also fixed.

Did they fix the issues with the roof and broken animatronics toward the end of the ride?

Yes it is open.

Just checked the queue times site and it says it’s open with a 70 minute wait…. Link

Was just thinking this quote sums up the last few days "The theater is closed... it has been for a long time!" - The Maestro

Yeah it's gonna suck so bad if it's closed when I'm there. Hoping whatever the issue is can be resolved this week and it's good to go next week

Day two of it not being open I feel bad for those who made special trips to ride, I’ve been on it already a bunch but am still curious what the deal is

In times like this I wish the park would say something to else to let us know what the deal is, makes it hard on the outside looking in

I'm coming in from Seattle and plan to be at the park Saturday August 8 and it would be an absolute travesty if this ride was closed the one time in 2026 I'll actually be at the park. Praying they fix whatever happened before my visit.

I was there Monday and it went down for a few minutes, but when back up the first half of the ride till the main theatre stage was silent. Then Friday night the queue area went fully dark except for the chandeliers for a few moments, the “lightning strike” returned it to full bright so I wasn’t sure if it was just a new cycle I’d never seen.

It was closed today as well. I believe the reasoning was indeed that there was an issue with the roof, though I'd much rather the ride be closed for a few days than let it be open and delay the roof work. There was also another portion of drywall that had been kicked in under Maestro's balcony. This is a good opportunity to hopefully fix that and anything else throughout the ride that has either broken or not worked as intended since April. It'd also be the time to either fix or replace the TV in the first boiler.

Yeah, things seemed normal Friday night as well. Looking like it might be closed now? Could be storm related.

Really part of the ceiling collapsed? I didn’t noticed that last Thursday

It’s been closed since yesterday (much to my torture, now I’ll have to ride other rides ugh) because it had to be evacuated. Not sure if it’s the causation, but Tuesday’s storms might’ve caused some damage to the ride, as a portion of the queue ceiling had collapsed and a lot of the ride’s triggers were delayed.

I’ve heard rumours that PT is having lots of operational issues this last week, I know it was closed one day for a couple of hours in the evening, anyone know if this is anything out of the ordinary or not?

I believe the ghost points are actually just the cast of phantoms playing the game for you 🤣 In all reality it's probably just something to do with the tracking system working a little too well. If the flashlights are always on (the buttons on these and the triggers on the blasters probably both had the same issues) then it might just be that they are always tracking even if you don't see the beam on the wall.

Somehow, I never touched a flashlight on 2 rides through on Monday, yet scored on all 3 colors. Different amounts!? Wonder if you don’t shoot at all your flashlights just syncs with the ones in the paired car?

I have a suspicion they're rewiring them or something when the buttons break. Maybe they already ran out of replacements. The flashlights, especially the buttons, seem extremely flimsy for something used by hundreds of guests per day, so it doesn't seem like a surprise that they're not lasting even a year.

Of all the screens the furnace seems to be the one that usually is not working. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. As far as the flashlights, I have never had one "auto shine". That being said, this encarnation of PT seems to be more inviting to younger riders and maybe their hands are not big or strong enough to reach the button let alone hold it. I think having the flashlights on constantly would be a good move for the ride.

Furnace heat was working which is nice although tv screen was not, not sure if this is new or not but the first time I rode, I didn’t even have to hold any of the flashlight button down as they lit up by themselves without me needing to do anything the second time I rode even when you don’t hit the flashlight if you shine it, it will still get your points so it’s almost as if hitting the button it’s just for show. I also noticed a lot of new music throughout the ride, which is cool.

Wonder if it's KI, SALLY or a combo of both still making these tweaks. It seems like theres more dialogue now as well, or at least yo can hear it better. I rode it this week 2x and feel like the ending w Maestro and Larry had different lines each time - both ending with a variation of "You'll be back:"

Gotta say, they‘re putting the work into getting it right. Appreciate the dedication. Kudos.

Music definitely seems better. The entrance area seems to have a track ive not heard previous to this week. The overall sound system seems to be running an underscore based on the original theme, and the in-car audio seems to be carrying Larry's voice over with individual characters having their own dedicated speakers. Sound levels in the queue seem much better as well with both characters being heard in all areas of the queue.

The furnace heat blaster and the flower smells were working on Saturday.

We had a nice ride through the theater tonight with some surprising ups and downs. I'll try to limit my extra wording tonight by giving you all a list. Downs: Some of the flickering lamps in the station and the Audience Seating scene are very dim/off. Maestro's head appeared to be permanently turned instead of moving like it normally does. Garbonzo's cannon didn't fire at all and the crates were resetting as we rode past (the timing was off for the scene). Houdelini's entire scene was muted. Ups: We heard lots of music throughout the entire ride! The ghost notes at Larry's turntable have finally returned to their normal size. The gargoyle's eyes were on, the first boiler screen was on, and the constant radiant heat for the first boiler was on! They definitely need some fans in the queue for the hotter/more humid days to keep the air moving. The A/C works well, but it needs help just like in the Festhaus.

I think if they designed the ride the way it is, we’re really just nitpicking and they’ll probably never make any changes to the ride since a majority of people don’t really notice. I think the ride vehicles need to be paired with how the effects of the ride and layed out. It certainly doesn’t make for the better ride, but I actually enjoy how blatantly some of the lines repeat. I quote “Are you ready to be an usher? It’s 10 minutes til showtime!” daily. It’s also interesting to me that for that first Maestro/Larry scene, they had seemingly recorded different audio that went unused (as heard in that b-roll footage all the news stations were given).

It makes me wonder if it would be easier to unpair the vehicles or to just add new voicelines into each scene. I'd personally vote to add new voicelines.

Cool. Let it go and move on. K thx.