BryanJay

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.

I can say with certainty that it’s not Larry.

Findings after my ride this morning, which admittedly is extremely early so it isn’t perfect. -The audio in some areas are already much better. There is audio with Maestro’s organ during the ride that I haven’t heard the previous weekend. Larry and portraits in the queue are significantly louder. The “main” ride music is still quieter than I’d like it to be. -The smells of burning in the furnace scene and the heat is turned up. This may have also been because I used early entry, but it was glorious. -Unfortunately some screens are already broken. For the most part they have been in locations that wouldn’t be noticed by a first-time rider, but I hate to see it. -Operations seem to already be better with filling every car, but I do fear that having Opening Nightmare as part of passholder ERT is somewhat detrimental (for my own greedy interests in riding it in a loop). It hasn’t been open for 10 minutes and the line was already down to Pumpkin coaster. I feel like if they had a different ride, the crowds may disperse a little better than they currently are, but it is only the second weekend it’s open.

The bust that was used was an original and was only removed when they demolished Boo Blasters. I believe all four were repainted since I’ve seen videos of them in their updated state, but strangely I think only one is being reused for the ride. Maybe they tested to see which one was in the best state, and this was the one they chose.

I think in the original, the pepper's ghost effect could've been interpreted as the performers 'disappearing' instead of materializing, since Larry calls it "the final performance" and we don't see most of them to the end of the ride... but that also doesn't make sense since they technically weren't ghosts in the original according to the creators. I think in theory the effect could've been cool in this version. Since the scenes are more synced to each opera box, Car A could've seen them appear, and Car B could have them disappear. But also adding the large glass panels would’ve definitely taken away from the budget, and realistically they’d probably use screens for the characters instead of the animatronics we did get.

To be fair, Phantom is one of the more inaccessible rides due to the use of stairs in the queue and the ability for anyone to ride it. I do agree that the Accessible line was very long this weekend, but there was a more-than-usual amount of guest waiting in the standard line too. Hopefully the wait times are able to be lowered as operations become smoother, I do think the added accessibility door within the queue should really help with that on a typical day, previously that was the job of the ride operator and the process of signing the green sheets slowed operations. I do really fear the longevity of the some of the smaller set elements. I'm hoping the newer technology and BTS infrastructure work that I believe wasn't done for the Scooby Doo conversion should help. But I really fear that it won't be long until we start seeing videos of kids climbing on Larry in the queue line. I think they should've had some additional barrier in place besides the queue line.

Questions for those who have ridden today and possibly more than me (I got the keychain today yay)

I’ve had the time to reflect and I have my solidified thoughts on the attraction. I don’t think this is as iconic as the original Phantom was, but I think the ride is objectively and physically better. I’ve heard others say that the animatronics look cheaper and worse than the original, and that’s objectively not true. I do think this is more family friendly and ‘cartoony’ than the original was. I think the primary change is that the original was modeled after the Haunted Mansion, while this seems to be based off of the 2000s Universal Studios dark rides. I loved the ride’s use of the gaming aspect, as it felt secondary to the physical sets. Some people will probably be disappointed at the lack of physical props that respond to the flashlights, but I love that I can realistically not even bother with the ghost notes and not loose anything from the experience. Same goes for the screen implementation, except for one area I’ll get into within the spoiler section. I don’t think the ride is fully finished, and I imagine/hope there will be changes made during the off-weeks leading into daily operations. The audio was quiet, primarily in the queue. The ride does have a slightly longer runtime, but I think the 3+ hour wait today was caused by a reduced capacity (They worked at about half capacity today, alongside several stops and slowdowns, but I don’t blame the associates for it.) TLDR: Ride good! I’ll be back to ride it whenever I can. Two claws up!

Hot take: I will actually really miss the 50th music loop. I’m kind of sad they changed it, I hadn’t noticed when walking in.

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.

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.