BryanJay

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’m actually really upset that Hotel was the next to go since I have emotional attachment to this one, but I’m super hyped for whatever’s coming next. As far as I’m aware, Plague Productions is working on this house as well. Judging from the facade construction I’ve seen so far, it seems to have a post-apocalyptic or sci-fi theme. My thoughts are that it would be an underground bunker or mining area setting, but that’s just based off of what I can see from WindSeeker. The last I’ve seen from it, they built a billboard onto the facade that probably gives context to the theme if anyone can read it from up there. They enclosed the exit portion, but the permit lists it as a retheme so I’m assuming the basic layout will remain intact. I could not personally see this being an individual upcharge like Conjuring. With how these permits work, I also don’t know if “Project 13” is a codename or the actual name for the maze. If it was a codename, that would actually really fit a Jason maze though.

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).

I’m not sure if it’s still like this, but the audio quality of the ride was perfect this weekend. Hopefully a fix to the furnace scene (especially the heat aspect) can be found soon. I really appreciate the commitment to fixing other issues with the ride (such as the on-and-off functionality of the second Maestro).

Larry says “thank you” in the middle of a few of the slideshow segments in response to “keep your legs in the opera box” as a part of the script. Is this what it’s referring to or does it randomly glitch in during other dialog?

The second boiler has a blast of cold air that’s synced to the audio. The first boiler is meant to have ambient heating throughout the whole room, but I haven’t noticed it since the second week. Since the opening weekend, the 2nd Maestro had a weird compression/distortion to the audio, so I imagine the speakers are being replaced.

All the props in the window displays are from Encore.

I am very concerned for the longevity of smooth operations on Phantom, but I’m hoping SDR manufactured most of the major effects (Animatronics) for longevity and easy maintenance. I think projections, even if some are already down and they may not be perfectly synced, will be easier to repair compared to physical targets. I’m hoping merch sales prove to be successful so this becomes a flagship ride that they’d want to continue to upkeep (plushies would make so much money. Just saying.) I’d love to see a Phantom Meet and Greet, I think that can be really successful for social media cross-promotion. I’d love to see area music from the ride that you can hear before you enter the lobby. I think a speaker could go under the bridge or on the merchandise stand, or even playing some audio inside the actual exit if that wouldn’t interfere with the queue door.

My new theory for the feet behind the curtain is that it’s meant to open to reveal a pair of disembodied legs that allude to the sawing in half trick (either being implied to be Larry’s or just another random characters). On the call board there’s a note from Houdelini asking for a new assistant for his trick, so maybe this calls forward to this? I lean towards this being a broken effect since the air blast seems out of place, and I think the legs peeking out is too subtile of a detail compared to where they hide small gags in the rest of the ride.

I think the Larry on the turntable is the static figure and the gargoyle counts as a prop.

This is probably the best explanation but I still have a gut feeling something’s supposed to be there. From what I’ve noticed from my rides is that the air blast is aimed directly at the cars coming from a tube to the left of the curtain. Maybe there’s supposed to be audio in that section that would’ve given context that was turned off. I know the quality is 2 pixels tall, but the curtain seems to be open in the (admittedly very early) concept sketch so maybe it’s an effect? The most hot or miss effects have been the two screens that have been broken since opening weekend, and the two heat effects have been on and off. There’s been noticeable changes within the audio, so hopefully they’re focusing on the major areas and are working to maintain the ride throughout the season.

I would say that the flashlight aspects of the ride help with its rerideability, but compared to some other parks all the KI dark rides have stuck around for a comparatively short time. I think if they changed up the audio for a holiday overlay that could extend the variety for the passholders who’d be riding this attraction frequently. Hopefully these characters become mainstays in the park, and in 10-15 years they choose to update the ride rather than making a 7th dark ride in that space. I haven’t seen this talked about much so I imagine most people won’t notice, but the onboard audio is different for every other car which I appreciate. And they are seemingly adjusting the audio so each car only hears it once. Hopefully by June the ride can be operating and it’s full potential (I still have no idea what’s going on with that character behind the curtain)

They will be announcing Phantom Theater clones coming to the other Six Flags parks to replace the Boo Blasters/Justice Leagues trust me.

I think it wouldn’t really work since it’s Maestro’s line that’s meant to be menacing, and “Are you ready to be an usher? It’s 10 minutes until showtime!” is already iconic due to the excessive amount of times it’s repeated. I would give it at least a month before saying that the music or any effects are absent (even though my quote omissions feel like something that wasn’t built into the ride.) They’ve been adjusting the audio to address guest feedback, and hopefully they’ve taken notice of the lower volume of the music since multiple people have commented on that. I think the original theme should be playing during the “dressing rooms” and storage area sections of the ride, and the audio is too low for most guests to hear.

I think I’ve said this somewhere else, but the ride would be 20/10 for me if they had kept “So you wanted to see the theater did ya?”, which could’ve easily gone where Larry’s first onboard audio message currently is since that isn’t necessary to the storyline. I say the same for the boiler men and gargoyle having their quotes. I doubt the ride is something that changes too much from where it is now, but I’d love for them to add a bit more audio if they ever wanted to return to it. But personally I love most of the changes they’ve made: I know people are upset Maestro isn’t as antagonistic, but I think the queue audio actually handles that well. I might make a thread about it in the future if I have a strong enough concept, but I’d love a haunt/winterfest overlay that actually changes some of the audio and story to the ride instead of just putting Santa hats on all the characters. I don’t think there’s any financial incentives for it though, I think people are showing up to these events and will ride the indoor ride if it’s open regardless.