Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare Reviews

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Are the behavior warning stickers in the Queue line their final form or do we think they will be replaced with more permanent signage later on? Some of them looked like they were already peeling off of the wall and, frankly, for a ride that has so much detail in it I feel like the stickers are one of the only parts of the experience that feel cheap.

[BryanJay]

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. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

I feel the line will be the story of this ride this whole season. I think we can expect a full queue for it everyday this season including weekdays. I even think the extended portion will be used most of the season as well. 

Hopefully if this is the case that the park and corporate will look at it and see the value of indoor attractions and look to do something in the Crypt building and/or Action Theater in the future that doesn't involve Haunt. 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

1 hour ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I feel the line will be the story of this ride this whole season. I think we can expect a full queue for it everyday this season including weekdays. I even think the extended portion will be used most of the season as well. 

Hopefully if this is the case that the park and corporate will look at it and see the value of indoor attractions and look to do something in the Crypt building and/or Action Theater in the future that doesn't involve Haunt. 

Vekoma Madhouse for Crypt

[beastfan11]

Got another ride in this morning. Got to take the kid this time. Still totally love it. Wow. Seemed like everything was working well too. Only had to wait 20 minutes thanks to Fastlane. Glad to see the wait time over 100 minutes. People seem to be excited by it. Hope this sets the standard for future additions. Really special stuff. 
 

That said, the enduring mystery of the man behind the curtain between Houdilini and Hilda continues to drive me insane. You can see the feet of whoever’s back there pretty easily. That, coupled with the air blast effect makes me feel like something is definitely supposed to be there.  Very odd. 

[BryanJay]

17 minutes ago, beastfan11 said:

That said, the enduring mystery of the man behind the curtain between Houdilini and Hilda continues to drive me insane. 

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

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

If there's another thing I think could be changed is they should turn off the music on the pathway from I-street to Phantom Theater where the ride exit is along as well as the ride entrance area and have a spooky soundtrack or even the old wind/squawk sound effects that used to play outside the ride entrance playing there. Then transition to Vince Guaraldi music when you get into the main part of Planet Snoopy. 

[beastfan11]

18 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

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

Think you might be right…

[OwenFromTheRacer]

I have also noticed some effects not functioning. I fully believe it's kinks that will be worked out as season goes on.

 

[johnjniehaus]

Unfortunate that not everything is working 100%. Hopefully they are able to troubleshoot it and get it all functioning 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

We got our second ride in yesterday morning after waiting 120 minutes. The queue seemed to flow a lot faster than it did during the passholder preview. I really wish the queue line loop was a little longer than the 20-30 minutes it has now, though. All three queue line animatronics were louder and worked nicely. The portrait hall characters and Rick (the queue instructions presenter) were also louder and easier to hear. The lights during the ride were dimmer than before but I think they could be even darker. I deliberately noticed some of the behind the scenes stuff in the dark and enjoyed seeing that. We were in the front car for this ride (we were in the back car on Preview Day) and I didn't notice the repeated lines as much, but it's still very noticeable on most of the POVs I've seen. Hilda really needs at least one more line that isn't just her screaming the singular note. I think I'd prefer something more like Madam Leota's loop during the Haunted Mansion where you can't really tell where the loop begins and ends because it's constantly running and has dialogue that doesn't repeat the same thing for each car. Houdelini is also a good candidate for receiving more voice lines since his can easily be heard from both Garbonzo and Hilda's dressing rooms. Anything that sounds like a spell or magic trick could work.

I'm a little fine with some of the effects not working for now since this is only the second weekend of the ride getting full-time use, but I do hope they can fix everything in a relatively short time period. The popcorn and boiler smells weren't working during our visit, nor were the screen in the first boiler or the blast of hot air. We smelled the roses at the very end, though. 

 

I've come to some more conclusions after thinking some more about doing up the ride for Haunt/Winterfest. I still think they should record a more antagonistic queue loop (closer to the original ride) for Haunt, but for Winterfest I think they should at least put up some Christmas trees and lights. Maybe change out the popcorn smell with a pine needle smell. 

[SonofBaconator]

Seeing what @BryanJay did makes me wish they went this route with the redesign:

 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I just watched it and thought it would be an amazing Halloween overlay! He lined all of the audio up pretty well with the new scenes and overlaid some of the new audio onto the old to make it more immersive! Imagine this ride experience in addition to a re-recording of the original queue soundtrack. That would be a fantastic seasonal throwback to the original while still allowing the new version to keep its spotlight during the rest of the year.

Great job @BryanJay! I hope the park takes this into consideration for some special event/festival rides!!

[BryanJay]

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.  

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

40 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

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.

How would you feel about Larry saying it instead of Maestro (since his animatronic is already there)?

44 minutes ago, BryanJay said:

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'd love to see that thread happen and input some thoughts of my own after you start it! The changes between seasons would probably need to be quick/easy (I'm talking a one-day turnover per season), so new voicelines and maybe some new movements might be easiest. If it was possible I'd leave the ride experience as-is for Tricks and Treats, then play the re-recorded original voicelines and the original soundtrack for Haunt. Some Christmas trees and Santa hats would be good for Winterfest since it's (likely) going to very popular for the heating. 

One of my only gripes about this new ride is that I never seem to hear the original main theme, just the new version that's a different arrangement.

[Timchat2]

The lack of a full musical underscore throughout the ride is one of the most curious design choices of Opening Nightmare. We should absolutely be hearing a big full version of that iconic theme by the time the ghost notes return to the Maestro's organ as a finale.

[BryanJay]

1 hour ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

How would you feel about Larry saying it instead of Maestro (since his animatronic is already there)?

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.

[MaestroJr]

When did they add Garbonzo standing behind the Gargoyle that wasn’t there opening day?, actually never mind maybe it just wasn’t working when I went but it was there!