BryanJay

Here’s every animatronic (except one I guess, I’m not sure if they’re counting the gargoyle as one). I’m assuming some of the head sculpts will be reused for the main characters. I wonder if them being yellow within their model means they have facial movements (Which would align with Maestro and Larry well. The two oddballs with this theory are Hilda and the Boiler Men which I assume would talk but I after this new episode I also need to remember that it’s a homage to the original versus a remake. Also if Houdelini gets a voice that will be cool.) They all look fine here, and when judging the models with the physical figures we’ve seen I’m sure they’ll look fantastic!

Love the new precedent of announcing Curtain Call episodes in advance so I don’t have to stress about a random drop on Thursdays. Starting the new year off right.

So like… they’re fitting them in holiday outfits already.. Winterfest overlay?

Important to note that I still don’t think this is 100% what is in the ride vs early ideations: Bottom row,5th: Final scene where the Boiler Room was in the original. 4th row, 2nd: Larry turntable (with also the same flower setup as boo blasters) 4th row, 3rd: Peppers Ghost (??) stage scene. The 5th scene also looks to be Maestro at the organ again, so I wonder if this is before they got the budget and maybe used more elements from Boo Blasters retrofitted to Phantom (which they still could do but I think it’s a complete rebuild unless they use any props as easter eggs) 3rd row, 3-5: Houdelini, Hilda, and ?? Houdelini again??? Also after much reflection… I actually kind of feel bad at calling the documentary thing underwhelming I apologize. I think I expected more new footage of the animatronics, but this is also a good intro for someone who may not be extremely familiar with the phantom theater lore like me and probably everyone else who was refreshing for this all day. The next episode will be the best one yet.

Potential spoilers from new documentary episode

Simultaneously underwhelmed personally because I knew about this stuff before and not much new footage was shown (I get very high expectations so I expected a full ride pov in my mind ig lol), but very excited that this is a continuing series! What’s interesting to note is that there’s at least 3 private videos in that series, so either it’s a monthly thing leading up to March, or it’s on some other schedule. I also love the opening to the video so much. It’s very well done and honestly should be in like the commercial they’ll inevitably make for advertisements.

… guess I called off work for nothing today

I know Sally Dark Rides have done this with the past with other projects (Treasure Hunt the Ride) and I don't think it would involve much besides changing out the models they used in-game and adding decorations to the ride. Personally, I hope they wouldn't do anything until like 2028 for a Winterfest thing, but also people love the Haunted Mansion holiday overlay so who knows.

I actually really love this, animatronic theater shows are my favorite type of attraction and I’m sad that Kings Island never really had one (I don’t really count any of the action theater shows since they’re mostly movies). Absolutely with a phantom theater stage show, they’d have the bit where Garbonzo is shot out of the canon and shoots out to the back of the theater like Donald in Philarmagic. Semi related, but I always wondered what Phantom Theater would be like if they chose to build it in with Enchanted Voyage boat ride system (Flooded Theater?)

Thank you so much for sharing!! I’ve probably spent hours looking for this over the weekend so I really appreciate seeing this. Here’s what a noticed from it. First looks at Hilda and Houdelini. They both hook great digitally, and with all the others I’m sure they’ll look even better in person (Garbonzo looks sooooo good sculpted out). I’m assuming the character at the bottom is Sir Pretzel, they don’t look like they’d be Lionel to me. Based on how this figure is being constructed compared to the others (with pupils) I think this might be the static figure? Unless they count something like the culture of gargoyle which were also shown. Also the gum chewing comment on the poster is really weird to me, I wonder if that’s a reference to something in the new attraction. The no flash photography rule does make me feel better about this ride allowing photos on it, which I figured since Boo Blasters allowed phones out, but I’d be ****ed if I couldn’t take thousands of photos in this one.

Currently on the live cams, what I assume is some sort of ventilation or electrical work is going on. (Also for my last post I used ibispaint)

These are some very quick sketches I made, but this is sorta how I’m predicting the entrance will look like. At this point, I’m not expecting them to massively demolish the whole facade and more so do a paint job and overlay to make it look different enough to recognize it’s a different attraction, but not anything major since I think a majority of the budget is going into the animatronics and theming. I didn’t want to draw it, but especially since they’re canonically ghosts at this point, I think a small detail to add that would go a long way is putting tombstones in the grassy section of land to the right on the entrance.

So IAAPA is officially over. I have scoured literally every social media platform possible to find more/better footage of the BTS videos and concept art shown in the presentation, but if anyone took any they haven’t shown it yet (If anyone on this forum took it please share) but here’s all the new info/my predictions I have after the event. -Rather than being an abandoned theater that the guests just happen to stumble into, I interpret the vibe now as more as a theater for phantoms and wandering spirits (think the original retirement home idea for the haunted mansion at Disneyland) -The original soundtrack is rescored and will be present in this version. I interpret this as being Maestro’s new composition he discusses “Terror Toccata in D Minor” (unless of course he’s taking credit for bach’s work) -The animatronics on display went through 3 different spiels, and I believe this is the setup we’ll see in the queue. However, I think the particular Maestro animatronic they used will be located at the finale to the ride as opposed to the queue, as this figure has full legs and a “bowing” movement. The Larry animatronic could be in the queue to show off how to use the flashlight, or at the very beginning if they changed from the concept art for the opening scene they showed off. At this point, I think Maestro on the organ is a scene they’ll save for the physical ride (I think in the first room where the graveyard is now), but I really love the dynamic between Larry, Maestro, and the guests they showed off, so I’m fine with that. But I think there will be more that they say in the actual queue, I’d say more of a 15-40 minute loop. - We saw new bts videos showing off the Boiler Men, Arpeggio, the vulture from The Beastie, and Willard being wrapped up (by the ghost notes I assume) into the mummy. -They showed off the flashlight technology, which I’m very curious to see how it works. I wonder if the scoring system will be off of points or how many ghost notes you capture. -The park promises more updates throughout the Winter, which at this point I sorta hope they don’t show off too much more of the ride. Overall very impressed with the event, we got more than I expected. Thank you sally dark ride and Kings Island.

RIP to the Mighty Bosco appearing heavily in this thing, he’s probably still trapped in his dressing room

I already know I’m not going to last a day once the park actually releases merch, because I need phantom theater drink… I need $75 eBay reselling of the IAAPA poster which I’m not even sure is real because they’re selling like twenty of them… I need more footage because I’ve spent literal hours trying to find the footage they play on the side of the animatronics because I don’t know anyone going to IAAPA who can film it for me nor know if they even allow people to film that.