Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare New in 2026

[Swiftdrawer]

48 minutes ago, beastfan11 said:

Full POV on YouTube. Do I have the ability to avoid it?

Just distract yourself with anything you can. Books, video games, you name it. Tbh, I turned off my watch history on YouTube after clearing it completely so the video suggestions I do get are not tailored, theyre based on what other people are watching besides whatever video youre watching. It is so tempting to go in and watch something like that but you gotta resist. Seeing it in person for the first time will be all the sweeter if you avoid most if not all spoilers which is why Im avoiding spoilers.

My job has been giving me less weekend days off than usual since late January which means I have no idea when I’ll get the chance to see it for myself. Its almost like upper management are just messing with me out of sheer whim to make my job less appealing than it already is. Anyway, Im only going to look in this thread further while avoiding spoilers. Tag goodness this forum has a built in spoilers feature. It takes serious willpower to again, avoid spoilers but you can do it. You just gotta want to avoid it badly enough.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

42 minutes ago, Swiftdrawer said:

This is really creative. Popcorn is usually a treat that is its own thing in its own container. But they have done something here I never even imagined on my own or really seen before that much if at all: a sweet treat where popcorn is essentially the topping. It should be interesting in a tasty way.

Now what the park needs now is their own gormet popcorn shop like WDW Magic Kingdom has. People would pay good money to make their own mixed popcorn bowl

[OwenFromTheRacer]

All of these photos and video are coming from media day, it was held early this morning

[Timchat2]

1 hour ago, Swiftdrawer said:

This is really creative. Popcorn is usually a treat that is its own thing in its own container. But they have done something here I never even imagined on my own or really seen before that much if at all: a sweet treat where popcorn is essentially the topping. It should be interesting in a tasty way.

A ice cream shop in Cleveland (Sweet Moses) used kettle corn as a topping in a baseball-themed sundae and it was great!

[Diamondback_Is_King]

3 hours ago, beastfan11 said:

Full POV on YouTube. Do I have the ability to avoid it?

Ahhhh! I am in the same boat. I did look at the video thumbnails and I am beyond excited! You do not know how much I want to watch one of these POV's right now. But I can't I just can't. I have to wait. I go on Saturday, so I guess I can wait 2 more days...

[cdubbs727]

I watched the POV because I'm not sure when/if we're making it down to KI this year (think we're trying Dollywood instead). I won't spoil anything. But I'm beyond impressed. When this was announced, I really thought it was going to be a cheap Boo Blasters overlay or very screen-based. But the use of animatronics is great, and they've really put a lot of work into using projections, physical effects and new sets to make the ride look new and fresh. And I love that they've found ways to incorporate things from the old ride alongside new surprises. I think this is going to be a huge hit. Kudos to KI on this one; it looks like they pulled off something special. 

[johnjniehaus]

14 minutes ago, cdubbs727 said:

I watched the POV because I'm not sure when/if we're making it down to KI this year (think we're trying Dollywood instead). I won't spoil anything. But I'm beyond impressed. When this was announced, I really thought it was going to be a cheap Boo Blasters overlay or very screen-based. But the use of animatronics is great, and they've really put a lot of work into using projections, physical effects and new sets to make the ride look new and fresh. And I love that they've found ways to incorporate things from the old ride alongside new surprises. I think this is going to be a huge hit. Kudos to KI on this one; it looks like they pulled off something special. 

Same boat here. I won't be at the park till Aug so I'm getting the spoilers because I'm not going to be able to avoid them for 4 months 

[johnjniehaus]

Curious if anyone has found a POV where the riders don't give you a commentary the entire ride. All the ones I'm seeing it's difficult to hear the character and storyline over everyone blabbing through the entire thing. If you know of one feel free to DM me as I know some folks are desperately trying to avoid spoilers 

[cdubbs727]

33 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

Curious if anyone has found a POV where the riders don't give you a commentary the entire ride. All the ones I'm seeing it's difficult to hear the character and storyline over everyone blabbing through the entire thing. If you know of one feel free to DM me as I know some folks are desperately trying to avoid spoilers 

I haven't seen one -- seeing the videos, they all appear to have similar edits and camera placement, so I'm wondering if KI provided some footage and also gave guidance as to what could be shown. 

[kingsislandfan1972]

5 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

Curious if anyone has found a POV where the riders don't give you a commentary the entire ride. All the ones I'm seeing it's difficult to hear the character and storyline over everyone blabbing through the entire thing. If you know of one feel free to DM me as I know some folks are desperately trying to avoid spoilers 

Yeah I agree I wasn't a big fan of that either, hopefully sometime this weekend we'll get a talk free POV from KI.

[kingsislandfan1972]

Another easter egg? 🤔

Spoiler

 

[Eric FL]

I have to say, from what I have seen online this really looks like a high quality dark ride Kings Island added, congratulations to the team that got it done. I just hope they budget for yearly maintenance on it and guest respect the theming elements.

[beastfan11]

Can’t wait to see my favorite blue characters at KI tomorrow. 
 

[MaestroJr]

I might be wrong but I noticed this in the ride and Isn’t that the original bust from the queue? Picture and video courtesy of melanin coaster network

[kingsislandfan1972]

44 minutes ago, MaestroJr said:

I might be wrong but I noticed this in the ride and Isn’t that the original bust from the queue? Picture and video courtesy of melanin coaster network

I was thinking the same thing, I think its from the original ride que. I'm surprised the other ones weren't there with it, well as I can see. Nonetheless I'm glad the Maestro bust is back! 🙂

[calakapepe]

Ive been watching the POVs cause Im not concerned with spoilers for this one & Im glad KI now (seems) to have a good dark ride again.. so long as those torches last.

 

I may hold OG phantom on too high a pedastool cause Ive been making a 50/50 pros and cons list just from vids for now.. and its easier to say my cons.. surprising cause overall I think it looks good! 

 

Ill have to hop on for real .. whenever the lines arent opening day levels 😛

[johnjniehaus]

15 hours ago, MaestroJr said:

I might be wrong but I noticed this in the ride and Isn’t that the original bust from the queue? Picture and video courtesy of melanin coaster network

I was also wondering if that was one of the original ones and if so what happened to the others? Even if it's not original it's a cool nod to the original ones 

[calakapepe]

24 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

I was also wondering if that was one of the original ones and if so what happened to the others? Even if it's not original it's a cool nod to the original ones 

Judging from this video:

I'd bet it is an original. The level of detail and the type of shaping is too similar to this other inverted-bust for me to think they put that much replication when the entire ride has a brand new art style.

 

[johnjniehaus]

Maybe they thought more than one bust would be too scary for the kids haha. Or maybe the others were in poor condition? Seems interesting that there's only one left but at this point if anything original is not in a dumpster were lucky 

[MaestroJr]

Two of them were displayed three years ago for PT Encore so I would assume they are still in good condition and the other two were left in the wall presumably until they were removed last year, I’m 99 percent sure that the is the original one that wasn’t displayed for PT Encore but was left in Boo Blasters until the new ride

[johnjniehaus]

19 minutes ago, MaestroJr said:

Two of them were displayed three years ago for PT Encore so I would assume they are still in good condition and the other two were left in the wall presumably until they were removed last year, I’m 99 percent sure that the is the original one that wasn’t displayed for PT Encore but was left in Boo Blasters until the new ride

I just imagine the other ones sitting in the executive office starring down the park executives haha 

[BryanJay]

1 hour ago, johnjniehaus said:

Maybe they thought more than one bust would be too scary for the kids haha. Or maybe the others were in poor condition? Seems interesting that there's only one left but at this point if anything original is not in a dumpster were lucky 

 

Spoiler

I don’t want to go off leaks, but the ride might not be finished yet…

 

[johnjniehaus]

Spoiler

I could see that maybe they still have a few finishing touches to do on the ride or perhaps it ran behind schedule and certain things were cut last minute - kind of like adventure port ya know 

 

[calakapepe]

3 hours ago, BryanJay said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I don’t want to go off leaks, but the ride might not be finished yet…

 

Spoiler

If that's true... definitely not too unreasonable that a giant peppers ghost effect of the main hall could still be done.  Right?  👀 

 

[Swiftdrawer]

Was able to come up today due to calling off work to attend a coworker’s funeral. My deceased coworker loved roller coasters, loved Kings Island so I get to go in his place whenever I go up now. Ive come to terms with his death, Im happy I got to know him and then learn a lot about him today. Unfortunately, I was unable to get on Phantom Theater but I saw the exterior at last and Im impressed. It looks awesome! The merch cart is pretty great. Im excited to be able to ride it eventually and when I do, judging from what Ive seen here, its likely to become my new favorite dark ride, maybe even beating out like The Haunted Mansion, Pirates Of The Carribean, and Great Movie Ride(RIP).

[johnjniehaus]

59 minutes ago, Swiftdrawer said:

Was able to come up today due to calling off work to attend a coworker’s funeral. My deceased coworker loved roller coasters, loved Kings Island so I get to go in his place whenever I go up now. Ive come to terms with his death, Im happy I got to know him and then learn a lot about him today. Unfortunately, I was unable to get on Phantom Theater but I saw the exterior at last and Im impressed. It looks awesome! The merch cart is pretty great. Im excited to be able to ride it eventually and when I do, judging from what Ive seen here, its likely to become my new favorite dark ride, maybe even beating out like The Haunted Mansion, Pirates Of The Carribean, and Great Movie Ride(RIP).

Sorry for your loss. Hope you had a nice day at the park in your friend's memory. 

[brenthodge]

59 minutes ago, Swiftdrawer said:

Was able to come up today due to calling off work to attend a coworker’s funeral. My deceased coworker loved roller coasters, loved Kings Island so I get to go in his place whenever I go up now. Ive come to terms with his death, Im happy I got to know him and then learn a lot about him today. Unfortunately, I was unable to get on Phantom Theater but I saw the exterior at last and Im impressed. It looks awesome! The merch cart is pretty great. Im excited to be able to ride it eventually and when I do, judging from what Ive seen here, its likely to become my new favorite dark ride, maybe even beating out like The Haunted Mansion, Pirates Of The Carribean, and Great Movie Ride(RIP).

I feel you may be a bit disappointed considering the bar you’ve set for this tider. Pirates it ain’t. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

On 4/16/2026 at 1:10 PM, johnjniehaus said:

Curious if anyone has found a POV where the riders don't give you a commentary the entire ride. All the ones I'm seeing it's difficult to hear the character and storyline over everyone blabbing through the entire thing. If you know of one feel free to DM me as I know some folks are desperately trying to avoid spoilers 

Ask and you shall receive! Phantom Theater Archives uploaded their Passholder Preview POV. (Also thank you @BryanJay for the archives channel!! I'm pretty sure you said it's yours . It's helped a ton with some of my research!)

 

[Swiftdrawer]

11 hours ago, brenthodge said:

I feel you may be a bit disappointed considering the bar you’ve set for this tider. Pirates it ain’t. 

Fair enough. Im being a bit expansive, willing to consider all possibilities when it comes to my reaction to the ride. From what Ive pondered over the things that are my favorites of something, there are numerous variables that determine what one’s favorites are or arent. Ive had the same favorite pizzeria since I was little despite having some of the best deep dish pizza around which my favorite pizzeria does not offer, for example. I could go further. Miitopia, despite me since going on to play Baldurs Gate 3 and other amazing MMORPGs since I first played it in 2017 is still one of my favorite games.

Associated sentiments and memories, enjoyment over a long period of time.. So many variables. Anyone liking Phantom Theater over Pirates isnt the most likely possibility but it still very much is a possibility. But in the end, it doesnt really matter that much. I dont really compare things I like that much anyway. I like what I like without thinking much on what I prefer. I have a hard time picking a top favorite in most categories so I just dont do that and choose to say my favorites. I’ll like Phantom Theater for what it is and compare it to Boo Blasters since it replaced it but other than that. Plenty of space for liking a large pallet of dark rides in my noggin. Plenty of space.

[Swiftdrawer]

11 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

Sorry for your loss. Hope you had a nice day at the park in your friend's memory. 

Only did Diamondback and WindSeeker. Lines were pretty bad even with at least a quarter to a third of people there consistently being in line for Phantom Theater. I almost completely doubt anyone who came didnt come to at least try to ride it but I know better. Seeing a wide range of possibilities and all that. But yeah, it was still a good time overall. Line for Skyline moved fast despite only one register being open. Disappointed I didnt get to do PT last night but theres a reason my friends know me as being patient. I can wait. Ive been building my patience for well over half my life. Though I still dont like waiting 30 minutes or more for rides. Waiting on long lines when I was a teenager was not exactly enjoyable despite me being such a persistent thinker.