If Phantom Theater came back..

[BB1]

8 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

I am ok with it coming back. I worry that if there is not some sort of interaction piece like you are mentioning, it will be a flop to those that did not grow up with PT. 

The nostalgia is not there for younger guests. Considering it's location by PS,  it will be boring if not done well visually with some sort of interactive piece as well. That is just my opinion with having 3 kids that are not familiar with PT the ride.

My honest response to this is look at several of the most recent "dark/flat rides" that have come out over the past few years. Snake River Expedition is a prime example of a practically non-interactive Cedar Fair attraction that guests absolutely love. Look at the plethora of dark rides in the Florida parks and many do not have any interactivity nor do they need it. It creates alot more complexity for the ride and honestly in my opinion ruins the whole guest experience. I've had that belief since I first rode the Scooby Doo conversion when I was a kid. Suffice to say that taking out the shooter aspect probably would reduce a lot of wear and tear on the attraction and would be a way to consolidate on an enjoyable guest experience for everyone. 

That being said guests back when PT opened didn't know of PT before hand, however now guests and more specifically families have been reintroduced to the characters within the attraction. I believe if anything it will become a massive hit based off of the responses this year and the 

[IndyGuy4KI]

4 minutes ago, BB1 said:

My honest response to this is look at several of the most recent "dark/flat rides" that have come out over the past few years. Snake River Expedition is a prime example of a practically non-interactive Cedar Fair attraction that guests absolutely love. Look at the plethora of dark rides in the Florida parks and many do not have any interactivity nor do they need it. It creates alot more complexity for the ride and honestly in my opinion ruins the whole guest experience. I've had that belief since I first rode the Scooby Doo conversion when I was a kid. Suffice to say that taking out the shooter aspect probably would reduce a lot of wear and tear on the attraction and would be a way to consolidate on an enjoyable guest experience for everyone. 

That being said guests back when PT opened didn't know of PT before hand, however now guests and more specifically families have been reintroduced to the characters within the attraction. I believe if anything it will become a massive hit based off of the responses this year and the 

You might be 100% correct. I think we can all agree that it is time to update BBOBH at this point. 

[BoddaH1994]

On 8/27/2022 at 5:16 PM, rotag said:

just please, no plywood cut-outs...

I’m with you. Either do it right or don’t do it. If they want to take a shot at a bigger, better Phantom Theater then fine, but if it’s just going to be Boo Blasters but with No Legs Larry then I’d rather just have the memories. 

[SonofBaconator]

I argue you just need figures. There are a few of dark rides where the characters are static, maybe moving one or two body parts and a lot of it’s just lighting and projections. A lot of Disney’s smaller dark rides are actually quite simple when you think about it.

[rotag]

nothing upsets me more than when you go to something that's billed with animatronics and static props only to see a plywood cutout that may/mayn't be well painted but its appearance is just flat on an actuators to make it pop out from where its hiding. and im also not a fan of shooters cause i feel that takes away from the experience. what if something with significance is supposed to pop out and it doesn't cause you missed the target.

[beastfan11]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:26 PM, SonofBaconator said:

I argue you just need figures. There are a few of dark rides where the characters are static, maybe moving one or two body parts and a lot of it’s just lighting and projections. A lot of Disney’s smaller dark rides are actually quite simple when you think about it.

Agree with you 100%. I think a lot of people miss this.  Quite simple, yet effective. But they tell a cohesive story and the overall experience “works.” Unfortunately, BBoBH (in my opinion) suffers from a lack of story, derelict effects/scenery, and a non-working gimmick in the shooting aspect. I make it a point to ride BBoBH every visit, and as of the end of the regular reason my/our guns only worked 30%-ish of the time. If that’s such a big aspect of the ride, you’d think it would be a priority to have it work. 

To your original point, three dimensional figures with basic articulation would probably be more than effective. I think time, as it often does, softens our memories and if you were to look back at the PT POV’s you’ll see that most of those animatronics weren’t incredibly dynamic. Which is fine. Many of the characters featured limited articulation. But again, they’re incredibly fun and effective.

The intensity, cost, and upkeep of those animatronics are greatly over exaggerated in comparison to those featured in other attractions throughout the industry. That’s not to say they’re not a lot of work and/or not impressive or expensive. It’s sort of become another KIC-ism over time similar to “Winterfest won’t return because of (XYZ Reason).” And we know what became of that.

There’s a lot of irony in perpetuating the “too expensive” rhetoric and then turning  around  and saying that the non-working shooting gimmick is essential to the ride experience. 
 

On 9/5/2022 at 6:23 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

I’m with you. Either do it right or don’t do it. If they want to take a shot at a bigger, better Phantom Theater then fine, but if it’s just going to be Boo Blasters but with No Legs Larry then I’d rather just have the memories. 

They could do something really special. Especially when you look at the recent thematic elements /additions in Mystic Timbers’ shed. They could do it right. Whether or not they would is up for debate. I think anything that goes in that building is going to be held to a higher caliber by fans because of the history of attractions in that spot. I definitely thinks that’s why SDATHC and BBoBH were/are met with a resounding “meh” from fans. They were both progressively cheaper reskins of an impressive attraction and as result they ultimately fell short. 

Hearing Rick Batsrup talk about a potential reincarnation of the ride with yet to be revealed characters and a new Garbonzo-centric finale makes me believe that, if they were to involve R&R, then it would be done correctly. One can only dream. 
 

 

[KIEagle33]

Ironic how they release this.

[rlentless]

Bring back the "Enchanted Voyage".  Seriously I know that would never happen.  I just wish we can bring back more water features to the park.  I feel like we have lost so many over the years and I know that sounds strange since we have a huge fountain in the front entrance.

[MeredithGrey]

On 11/3/2022 at 9:47 AM, rlentless said:

Bring back the "Enchanted Voyage".  Seriously I know that would never happen.  I just wish we can bring back more water features to the park.  I feel like we have lost so many over the years and I know that sounds strange since we have a huge fountain in the front entrance.

I had to search for this ride, beccause I had never heard of it. The video I found had a thumbnail of a creepy clown - and my first thought was "That would be kinda cool during Haunt" - having a weird clown ride to go on that's already in the park, right?

Then I watched part of the video, and (as you already know) - there's no clown theme at all! At least not that I could see. I do get the comparison to the "Small World" Disney ride, though...

 

[IndyGuy4KI]

5 hours ago, MeredithGrey said:

I had to search for this ride, beccause I had never heard of it. The video I found had a thumbnail of a creepy clown - and my first thought was "That would be kinda cool during Haunt" - having a weird clown ride to go on that's already in the park, right?

Then I watched part of the video, and (as you already know) - there's no clown theme at all! At least not that I could see. I do get the comparison to the "Small World" Disney ride, though...

 

Did you see our page and photo gallery?

https://kicentral.com/parkhistory/past-attractions/enchanted-voyage/

[BryanJay]

I made this virtual ride-through of how I would bring Phantom Theater back:

[SonofBaconator]

If they were to make any improvements to a returned Phantom Theater, I’d like to see a more immersive que. 

 

[beastfan11]

6 hours ago, BryanJay said:

I made this virtual ride-through of how I would bring Phantom Theater back:
 

Love it. You have a fantastic channel! 

[MeredithGrey]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:29 PM, IndyGuy4KI said:

Did you see our page and photo gallery?

https://KICentral.com/parkhistory/past-attractions/enchanted-voyage/

I see the creepy clown now!!

And I do like how the top of the building is painted with a compass...

The guy that looks like a Ken doll is creepy too - lol

I like the water feature on this ride

[rlentless]

I remember looking at the compass was one of favorite parts of riding the Skyride.  I was a strange kid.

[IndyGuy4KI]

19 hours ago, rlentless said:

I was a strange kid.

When most look back, they all come to this reality. Welcome to the support forum! 

[BoddaH1994]

I ran into Rick Bastrup (the guy from the video above / designer of PT) at IAAPA a few weeks ago. I told him about our discussion of "bring it back right or don't bother" and he was totally on board. I get the vibe from his Q&A as well as my conversation with him that he feels like PT was done perfectly the way it was done. I'm not sure if he's wrong about that. Granted, I'm sure with more money and more technology more could be done, but I don't think Phantom Theatre left anyone wanting more.

[beastfan11]

5 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I ran into Rick Bastrup (the guy from the video above / designer of PT) at IAAPA a few weeks ago. I told him about our discussion of "bring it back right or don't bother" and he was totally on board. I get the vibe from his Q&A as well as my conversation with him that he feels like PT was done perfectly the way it was done. I'm not sure if he's wrong about that. Granted, I'm sure with more money and more technology more could be done, but I don't think Phantom Theatre left anyone wanting more.

Glad we’re all in agreement. 2024 it is. 

[SonofBaconator]

On 11/26/2022 at 2:53 PM, BoddaH1994 said:

Granted, I'm sure with more money and more technology more could be done, but I don't think Phantom Theatre left anyone wanting more.

I might get tarred and feathered, but I would like an ending after the boiler room scene myself. I believe he talked about that in the Q&A session. Given that the last time you see Maestro is right before the prop room, and you only hear him when you’re exiting the ride when he says “you’ll be back.” I personally wish that you could physically see the character one last time after the boiler room before exiting the ride.

[SonofBaconator]

On 9/7/2022 at 9:32 AM, beastfan11 said:

Agree with you 100%. I think a lot of people miss this.  Quite simple, yet effective. But they tell a cohesive story and the overall experience “works.” Unfortunately, BBoBH (in my opinion) suffers from a lack of story, derelict effects/scenery, and a non-working gimmick in the shooting aspect. I make it a point to ride BBoBH every visit, and as of the end of the regular reason my/our guns only worked 30%-ish of the time. If that’s such a big aspect of the ride, you’d think it would be a priority to have it work.

Double Post. If you look at some Disney dark rides, you’ll notice that most of the figures are static or have very few moving parts- allowing imagineers to use music and lighting to tell the story. Granted this is established IP, I argue a concept like this would be easy to replicate..and I’m not just talking about Phantom Theater but dark rides in general.

 

[beastfan11]

24 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Double Post. If you look at some Disney dark rides, you’ll notice that most of the figures are static or have very few moving parts- allowing imagineers to use music and lighting to tell the story. Granted this is established IP, I argue a concept like this would be easy to replicate..and I’m not just talking about Phantom Theater but dark rides in general.

 

Agree 100% with all of this. 

[SonofBaconator]

5 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

Agree 100% with all of this. 

If you get a building the size of Festhaus (maybe even smaller) you could pull off a dark ride of a similar quality to the Winnie the Pooh ride I showed earlier. That stage/barnyard could fit a building of a similar square footage. Whether that would generate a good ROI or not, I’m not sure.

[johnjniehaus]

I just watched the POV of Phantom Theater and thought I'd revisit the subject of the return of the ride to the dark ride building currently occupied by boo blaster. After seeing the POV again I am still saddened and dumfounded by the decision to remove such an amazing looking dark ride for rides like Scooby Doo and Boo Blasters. I say that the Maestro and his gang need to kick Boocifer and his ghosts out once and for all and retake the dark ride building! Let's go Phantom Theater 2024! (This is also coming from a guy who never experienced the original seeing as it closed the year I was born. I also think it would be a hit amongst more than just the nostalgic park goers and would gather a whole new generation of fans)  

[SonofBaconator]

9 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

After seeing the POV again I am still saddened and dumfounded by the decision to remove such an amazing looking dark ride for rides like Scooby Doo and Boo Blasters.

From what I gather, Paramount didn’t really take the time to maintain the ride. I’ve seen multiple POVs from years past where affects weren’t working and some animatronics were basically static figures. 

[johnjniehaus]

9 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

From what I gather, Paramount didn’t really take the time to maintain the ride. I’ve seen multiple POVs from years past where affects weren’t working and some animatronics were basically static figures. 

Well that's the real trick isn't it because unfortunately many rides have fallen into disrepair in terms of theming. I mean maybe there's a reason Adventure Express is getting "enhancement" seeing as the theming that is there only works some of the time. Stunt Cars is another one where it feels like the theming could be restored or at least maintained a bit better. I'm not saying that the rides have to have movie themes or anything but I've really enjoyed the slight theme/storylines of the newer rides like Orion and Mystic Timbers. Flight of Fear has also maintained it's theme pretty well. I'm hoping with this investment into Adventure Express that we will see more money spent on the upkeep of the theming and possibly some future revamps for rides like stunt cars and see boo blaster converted  back to Phantom Theater. 

[BoddaH1994]

On 5/25/2023 at 8:17 AM, johnjniehaus said:

Well that's the real trick isn't it because unfortunately many rides have fallen into disrepair in terms of theming. I mean maybe there's a reason Adventure Express is getting "enhancement" seeing as the theming that is there only works some of the time. Stunt Cars is another one where it feels like the theming could be restored or at least maintained a bit better. I'm not saying that the rides have to have movie themes or anything but I've really enjoyed the slight theme/storylines of the newer rides like Orion and Mystic Timbers. Flight of Fear has also maintained it's theme pretty well. I'm hoping with this investment into Adventure Express that we will see more money spent on the upkeep of the theming and possibly some future revamps for rides like stunt cars and see boo blaster converted  back to Phantom Theater. 

Some thoughts:

Adventure Express is different, but doesn’t have all of the theme pieces that it had. They used to have mist spray out around the track immediately after you left the station. I’ve always heard that stuff like that is bad for track, but it’s hard to believe that so many made the same mistake over and over. I think they use it until it fulfills its marketability and then they don’t want to pay for the water. I bet they could use non-potable water for this and it would be fine. They also had snakes and whatnot. This is different. It’s just as much, if not more, than before. The term “reimagined” that they’ve been using seems to be the most appropriate. For the record, my understanding is that the project isn’t 100% finished. 
 

There is no “restoring” Backlot. It never worked the way that they said it would. The closest was in the previewed days. Even once it had media day (about two weeks later) audio, headlights, etc, were going downhill. I suppose they could restore what they had, but some things that were advertised (rumbling down the steps comes to mind) simply never happens. I’d rather see them put the money into a new ride. 
 

FOF did not maintain its themed. It was restored. It was in BAD shape until an employee took it upon themselves to fix what they could. Then it was overhauled in 2020 with Area 72. Still pretty cool for being a 26 year old ride, right??

Fun fact: (and let’s see how many can date themselves by saying they remember this!) Have you over notice an odd square hole over the stairs into the UFO? Know what that was for? Back when it had the Outer Limits theme the UFO used to project a vertical and horizontal line onto the opposing wall when the video said, “we control the vertical and the horizontal.” It was cool!

With that being said, let’s take another moment to gush over the themeing that they’ve done to Adventure Port! That’s much more than I had thought! 

[Outdoor Man]

11 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Some thoughts:

Adventure Express is different, but doesn’t have all of the theme pieces that it had. They used to have mist spray out around the track immediately after you left the station. I’ve always heard that stuff like that is bad for track, but it’s hard to believe that so many made the same mistake over and over. I think they use it until it fulfills its marketability and then they don’t want to pay for the water. I bet they could use non-potable water for this and it would be fine. They also had snakes and whatnot. This is different. It’s just as much, if not more, than before. The term “reimagined” that they’ve been using seems to be the most appropriate. For the record, my understanding is that the project isn’t 100% finished. 
 

There is no “restoring” Backlot. It never worked the way that they said it would. The closest was in the previewed days. Even once it had media day (about two weeks later) audio, headlights, etc, were going downhill. I suppose they could restore what they had, but some things that were advertised (rumbling down the steps comes to mind) simply never happens. I’d rather see them put the money into a new ride. 
 

FOF did not maintain its themed. It was restored. It was in BAD shape until an employee took it upon themselves to fix what they could. Then it was overhauled in 2020 with Area 72. Still pretty cool for being a 26 year old ride, right??

Fun fact: (and let’s see how many can date themselves by saying they remember this!) Have you over notice an odd square hole over the stairs into the UFO? Know what that was for? Back when it had the Outer Limits theme the UFO used to project a vertical and horizontal line onto the opposing wall when the video said, “we control the vertical and the horizontal.” It was cool!

With that being said, let’s take another moment to gush over the themeing that they’ve done to Adventure Port! That’s much more than I had thought! 

 

and yet, the Adventure Express "Grand Finale" (still) doesn't work. 

 

[BoddaH1994]

3 hours ago, Outdoor Man said:

 

and yet, the Adventure Express "Grand Finale" (still) doesn't work. 

 

Word on the street is that some “tech” stuff is still on the docket to be fixed. I’m not sure which element that you’re talking about, but hopefully we will see more in the last tunnel. 

[Outdoor Man]

4 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Word on the street is that some “tech” stuff is still on the docket to be fixed. I’m not sure which element that you’re talking about, but hopefully we will see more in the last tunnel. 

the animatronics in the last lift. No sound, no movement, and only the right side was lit up.

[BoddaH1994]

3 hours ago, Outdoor Man said:

the animatronics in the last lift. No sound, no movement, and only the right side was lit up.

Probably the “tech” stuff that I’ve heard is still being worked on. I don’t have any details, but that’s what I imagined it was when I saw that.