Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare Reviews

[IndyGuy4KI]

Will we use this thread to post our thoughts and reviews of the new Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare.

 

[beastfan11]

Still in line…. Totally surreal. 3 hour wait. 
 

 

Popcorn scent in front of the “snack bar” is a nice touch!

[IndyGuy4KI]

I just got off a little bit ago and I must say the attention to detail was a very good . The interactive flashlights (which I was unsure how that would work) turned out very fun and kids are going to absolutely love it. All in all, I think they now have a new hit at Kings Island that will create family memories for generations to come. 

[johnjniehaus]

3 minutes ago, beastfan11 said:

Still in line…. Totally surreal. 3 hour wait. 
 

 

Popcorn scent in front of the “snack bar” is a nice touch!

I heard the line was 3 hours...where did they put all those people?.the indoor ques for boo Blasters usually only held maybe 45 minutes of people max

[BryanJay]

Here’s my initial thoughts after my first ride (spoilered just in case):

Spoiler

-The ride is everything I hoped for. I feel mixed after one ride, but I think I’ll appreciate more after I get to ride it (perhaps in a final state)

-“Will call, won’t call” is a top tier gag on the merch cart. 

-I am hoping this is a technical thing that can be fixed, but the audio, especially in the queue, is WAY too quiet. It was basically inaudible unless you stand in a certain section.

-I don’t love the AI (???) of the portraits in the queue. Not necessarily because of the ethics, it just looks really weird.

-I love the speakers in the cars, that was a good touch.

-Bosco Easter Egg. 

-I was hesitant when some people speculated on its inclusion on the ride, but I loved the return of the “Back on the Stage” song from Encore.

-“How about some heat” and “So you wanted to see the theater did ya?” are tragic inclusions. They got everything else pretty well. 

-Everything else is so so perfect though. The animatronics look great. The inclusion of the animatronics are great, they all look so good. There’s so much detail inside every scene, I think I’ll still be spotting new references for the next few weeks I loop it. I think it’s alot to process, but I think it’s a worthy successor. 

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. 

[johnjniehaus]

4 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

-I am hoping this is a technical thing that can be fixed, but the audio, especially in the queue, is WAY too quiet. It was basically inaudible unless you stand in a certain section.

I was wondering if that would be an issue just with the amount of people in the lobby que area. Hopefully they can fine tune it as they go 

[IndyGuy4KI]

They funneled the line through the peanuts meet and greet area. 

[beastfan11]

Unreal. Totally in shock. Loved the whole thing.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I don't think we've seen an opening day line this long since Orion or even Mystic. Bravo to the park for hyping everyone up for this! 

I can only imagine the opening day line for whenever The Vortex replacement happens if they hype it up right....

[johnjniehaus]

11 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I don't think we've seen an opening day line this long since Orion or even Mystic. Bravo to the park for hyping everyone up for this! 

I can only imagine the opening day line for whenever The Vortex replacement happens if they hype it up right....

Not sure how long Orion lines were when opening during the pandemic but I'd say this is the biggest turn out for a new ride opening since mystic if I had to guess 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

5 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:

Not sure how long Orion lines were when opening during the pandemic but I'd say this is the biggest turn out for a new ride opening since mystic if I had to guess 

Orion had a line that stretched to the path between the Junkyard Coaster and DB's splashdown. That was with social distancing though. 

Im sure the line would've been even longer if covid didn't happen and the ride opened on time. I think they would've used the Chaos building as overflow. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

5 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

They funneled the line through the peanuts meet and greet area. 

You can thank me for making part of the extended queue line for Phantom Theater.

[IndyGuy4KI]

33 minutes ago, Cedar Fair Fanboy said:

You can thank me for making part of the extended queue line for Phantom Theater.

You work at the park now?

[BeeastFarmer]

Will reserve judgement until I go to the park, but looking at the facade, my mind goes to the turrets(?) are now part of Maestro's pipe organ. 

[KICP16]

Not sure if anyone else experienced this but they were only loading 2 buggies at a time and then skip 2 buggies then load 2 more again that would contribute too a longer wait time as well 

[johnjniehaus]

29 minutes ago, KICP16 said:

Not sure if anyone else experienced this but they were only loading 2 buggies at a time and then skip 2 buggies then load 2 more again that would contribute too a longer wait time as well 

Wow that isn't good. They have got to get better at loading all the opera boxes. We don't want a half sold show

[IndyGuy4KI]

They were not doing that when I rode earlier in the day.

[KICP16]

9 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

They were not doing that when I rode earlier in the day.

I’m pretty sure that’s what they were doing when I was up there it was either that or they were doing every other buggy. I saw AT LEAST 6 or 7 buggies move forward with nobody on them before I got up but there would be one loaded in between 1 or 2 not loaded I kept thinking too myself why are they not loading every buggy, why are they skipping buggy’s 

so I don’t know maybe they were doing that or doing something just that moment I was up there for about 5-10 minutes 

[BryanJay]

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.) 

Spoiler

The queue was everything I dreamed of. I don’t love the facade, but it fits the tone of the ride well. I love the character signs and the merch stand. The queue audio loop is ~20 minutes long, but I’m hopeful that the indoor section will eventually move faster so it doesn’t become a repetition issue. I’m still not a fan of the portraits. I’m not sure if they used AI (even though multiple guests around me commented that, so I think that’ll at least be the belief.) I don’t know if there’s an easy fix besides commissioning a 10-15 minute animation for each character, but I don’t see that happening. 

I love how (un)alive the ride feels! What blew me away was the technical upgrades to the ride. I love how they handled the connected cars, and ESPECIALLY the on-board audio. I’m not sure if it’s random or different from car to car, but there are different voicelines depending on the vehicle. The recorded breakdown/delay spiel is a very nice touch as well. I’ll have to give it some time to choose a favorite character/scene, but I loved how they did the theater scene. Bosco randomly appearing and never getting the explanation that was promised in the Q&A all those years ago is a really funny bit. I feel like the quotes from the original are so iconic that it will take some time for these to grow on me (my current favorite is Willard’s warm up noises). I am disappointed that “So you wanted to see the theater did ya?” and “How about some heat?” don’t make an appearance afaik. I think the change of opening scene means we lost the first one, but I hope the boiler room quote can return. The mouth doesn’t even need to move it would be an easy addition. 

I think for accessibility in regard to those who need green sheets: It’s unfortunate that people won’t be able to freely enter the main queue if they can’t take the stairs. However, I do appreciate the open door to the separator associate that should improve operations for the controls, and the fact that “You’ll be Back” is said within the ride rather than at the exit to preserve part of the experience for them.

Also, I got theater owner all three times I rode today, and one of them didn’t even have any stops, so take that. 

 

TLDR: Ride good! I’ll be back to ride it whenever I can. Two claws up!

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I'll post a longer rambling either tonight or tomorrow after I hopefully get my second ridethrough in. 

This was an amazing ride! There were so many Easter eggs that I noticed and even more new things overall! I don't think anyone who's ridden it could call this a Boo Blasters reskin or anything of the such anymore. 

Some spoiler-ific things below including both good and bad things! I'll try to not repeat what others have said, but apologies if I do.

Spoiler

First, the good things (which are all really good):

•  I don't think any of the imagery in the ride were made with AI. We wondered the same thing, but everything really just looked like it had a filter on it. The character signs outside made me heavily question it.
  • Is his name Willard Warble or Willard Warbler? The outside poster signs say the former, but I swear it used to be the latter. 
• Outside the ride: the running lights and moving pieces for Archie and Larry are super cute and make me happy.
• The queue slideshow presentation is really fun! I hope those don't ever become FunTVs. 
• The new door between the portrait hallway and the exit for the Accessibility Pass folks was a great idea. It's a dutch door, so the top remains open for folks to come up to it while the bottom can be opened and closed to allow accessibility pass guests to properly get into the loading area.
• I can't recall if the turntable was always carpeted, but it's nice to have. The room could use better curtain coverage, though.
• We really liked all of the sets and animatronics. They're so much more dynamic than Boo Blasters and everything feels so lively. 
• The flashlights were much more usable compared to the blasters. I got a score around 650,000!
• I really liked all of the reused props. I noticed the falling crates, Bosco's door (I don't know what it was in BB), and the potted plant that Hilda pops up out of.

Second, the bad things (which are really only nitpicks):

• The lights are generally really bright compared to what I'd prefer. There are a few walls that I feel are incredibly bare and entirely lit up.
• The sets feel a lot larger than those of Boo Blasters, which makes them feel both closer and more empty. Some of the ride is emptier for the projections, but it's just something I noticed.
• I think some of the animatronics were in B-mode today (especially Maestro's piano scene after the non-Pepper's Ghost stage). 
• The audio feels a little off at points. The queue audio definitely needs to be adjusted. Maybe it's because I was trying to see everything, but I can't remember if there was music playing throughout most of the ride.
• I noticed that with the scenes being continuous, there's quite a few spots where you can clearly see/hear the same effect twice. It's especially visible whenever Hilda Bovine is nearby since it seems most of her stuff is just the same note.
• This isn't a nitpick or a con, but we're curious: there is a section of plaster on one of the south towers that looks like it's actual damage — as opposed to the painted damage found elsewhere. I thought I could even see some of the steel structure in the hole made by the damage. 

Most of the bad things and nitpicks that I've listed may be easily solved with some new recordings and reprogramming. If the park is willing to do that is a mystery, but I think it would help after they get more guests through the ride and receive more public feedback. This really is a tremendous ride!

I think I'll like it more as I ride it more, but I'm glad it's back  

 

2 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

Not sure how long Orion lines were when opening during the pandemic but I'd say this is the biggest turn out for a new ride opening since mystic if I had to guess 

IIRC for the first few days they had return time tickets that helped the queue line feel quick while ensuring social distancing could be observed. I think I might've waited an hour before my first ride on/around July 2nd or July 7th (whichever day the park opened that year).