Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare Reviews

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Something I've noticed about the soundtrack is that it's now either Terror Toccata (at least I think that's what they're implying when they play Toccata & Fugue in D Minor) or the different arrangement of the original Phantom Theater theme. Both are nice, but I really want to hear the original during the ride in addition to/instead of the new arrangement. 

Hoping to get another ride in tomorrow if I'm able to make it out to the park!

[kingsislandfan1972]

We'll be going to Kings Island this weekend, so I'll finally be able to ride it and make a review! (And fingers crossed that I'll be able to buy a PT:ON hat too! 🤞)

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

My lunch trip to the park yielded me two great rides through the Phantom Theater! The wait time was 0 minutes (probably thanks to the rain) and I was able to speed right through. Despite the low crowds there was still a grouper at the accessibility door (likely for that reason), one grouper at the turntable, and two associates on the turntable itself. Something interesting was that my second ride placed me in Opera Box #1: the unpaired ride vehicle. It was honestly a really nice experience and I kind of preferred it to having another car right next to me. 

The only screens/effects/things that weren't working today were Hilda's second mirror (the TV was off) and I think there was an issue with something in Garbonzo's scene. Other than that I didn't notice anything else being broken. I'll give the park props on this: it looks like they've finally turned down the lighting so the scenes are lit more than everything being lit. 

One more thing for my laundry list of little changes I'd love to see made to the ride is that some kind of dim projection should be added to the Backstage door that opens right before we see Maestro at his organ. I think the original had one that looked like a windy Vortex mixed with an endless hallway behind the door marked "DELIVERIES". That would be a really cool way to spruce up a very rigid door movement — but it wouldn't do much besides fixing something you barely see.

[kingsislandfan1972]

First time riding PT: ON this weekend and I have to say I absolutely loved it! Honestly the POV doesn't do the ride justice you Honestly have to ride it for yourself to have an opinion on it! Honestly I give Kings Island big props for how much effort was put into this ride and playing homeage to the original ride. Now there are some mechanical problems is some parts of the ride but that can probably be fixed easily. Overall I give it a 10/10 I rode it at least 10 times within the past 2 days. My favorite character is Willard Warble in case you couldn't tell by all the pictures!😅 Also I finally got my PT: ON hat! 😁

 

[BeeastFarmer]

I went to Kings Island last week and was able to get two rides with very minimal waiting.

I never experienced the original ride, my hook was the show.

I really enjoyed both rides, and liked how they "de-fleshed out the characters." (From my perspective from the show they are static vs dynamic).

I think Hilda's personality came through most of all in the headliners.  Garbonzo in the cannon was a nice surprise. Sir Pretzel was a nice addition.

I like that they kept some of the elements from Boo Blasters.

They flashlights were surprisingly fun for the ghost notes.

The smell of roses was a nice surprise.

On both of my rides, there was a brief stoppage, not sure if that was to allow for the turntable to stop for rider assistance, or a technical problem but even the stoppages were "themed" with the overhead announcement.

I was very impressed and look forward to riding again.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Took a nice little ride through the theater tonight. The wait time was posted at 60 minutes, but I only waited for 20 minutes. It probably would have gone faster if all of the ride vehicles were working. As I got into the loading station I realized that they were having to skip quite a few opera boxes, presumably due to non-functional flashlights. Having all of those operating might've cut about 5-10 minutes off of my wait time.

I noticed a lot of broken/misfiring effects tonight, but I won't complain too much because I know they'll be fixed overnight. There were at least 5 broken opera boxes that passed in the 3 minutes that I could see the turntable. When I got in, the first few audio lines were each messed up a little (Larry also blurted out a random "Thanks!" in the queue), and I noticed that one of my flashlights was broken. All of the tumbling boxes and shelves were working, as were all of Hilda's mirrors. My flashlight began to have some issues around the Electric Panel, but was mostly reliable during the rest of the ride. The first boiler TV was off again, but I'm glad that they still have the physical coals at the bottom to give it a B-Mode. While I commended the park on lowering the lighting throughout the ride in a previous post, it's unfortunately been turned back up [sad face]. If I had to guess, the ride has an issue with staying 100% operating throughout the day. 

It's still a magnificent ride! I'm glad they keep fixing it when it breaks and I hope the maintenance teams can keep it up.

[MaestroJr]

Audio glitched in the queue tonight and yes I also noticed they were skipping quite a few opera boxes. Only main thing of note that I find funny is during the first weekend of the ride I got 999999 first time but now I can’t get it so I suppose the score has been adjusted to make it hard, does anyone know if some notes count for more points or do all the notes score the same total 

[Orion-XL200]

On 5/24/2026 at 5:42 PM, kingsislandfan1972 said:

First time riding PT: ON this weekend and I have to say I absolutely loved it! Honestly the POV doesn't do the ride justice you Honestly have to ride it for yourself to have an opinion on it! Honestly I give Kings Island big props for how much effort was put into this ride and playing homeage to the original ride. Now there are some mechanical problems is some parts of the ride but that can probably be fixed easily. Overall I give it a 10/10 I rode it at least 10 times within the past 2 days. My favorite character is Willard Warble in case you couldn't tell by all the pictures!😅 Also I finally got my PT: ON hat!

Glad you finally were able to get a ride on it, I know you were definitely looking forward to it. I wish Willard's audio was a bit louder! 

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Going on the comments about the flashlights, I still am wondering how when I rode it (the only one in the opera box) how the other 2 flashlights scored. Haha

[robintodd]

6 hours ago, MaestroJr said:

Audio glitched in the queue tonight and yes I also noticed they were skipping quite a few opera boxes. Only main thing of note that I find funny is during the first weekend of the ride I got 999999 first time but now I can’t get it so I suppose the score has been adjusted to make it hard, does anyone know if some notes count for more points or do all the notes score the same total 

Where I haven't confirmed it, I believe I heard some notes are more than others.  Also the number of riders has alot to do with it.  The first time I rode it i was by myself in my car and the next one had no one in it so basically 1 flashlight for all the notes and I maxed out at Hilda.  However you get the other car full and you have 4 lights competing for notes instead 1.  Not to mention you can try and it the notes on an upcoming scene (sometimes giving you a different color on your flashlight).  Not sure but I think at that point you're scoring for someone else.  Also 2 beams hitting the same not does nothing, (as far as I can tell).   I would love to see how this system works exactly.  None the less it's much more accurate than Boo ever was.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

I forgot to mention it in my ride report, but if anyone from the park is reading this: there is a small hole in the wall of the queue right under Maestro's balcony. It might've been kicked in? There's also a small bit of wallpaper that looks to have been peeled. Is this the kind of thing that could've been done by some rowdy unchaperoned teenagers. Yes, but it could also have been an honest accident (that drywall is probably 23+ years old. Whatever happened, that's the kind of thing I hope someone can easily fix overnight.

[Tr0y]

2 hours ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

I forgot to mention it in my ride report, but if anyone from the park is reading this: there is a small hole in the wall of the queue right under Maestro's balcony. It might've been kicked in? There's also a small bit of wallpaper that looks to have been peeled. Is this the kind of thing that could've been done by some rowdy unchaperoned teenagers. Yes, but it could also have been an honest accident (that drywall is probably 23+ years old. Whatever happened, that's the kind of thing I hope someone can easily fix overnight.

Also the edge trim for the stairs are peeling away.

Today was my first time riding Phantom Theatre. The ride aspect and the theming within the ride itself felt fresh and new but the queue itself, more or less, got the “landlord special”.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Two more "windows" with closed curtains and light panels (instead of 3D windows) would've gone a long way on the other walls. I'm curious as to how much weight the ceiling above the entrance can hold because it would be a great spot for a pipe organ and/or a Christmas tree during a potential holiday overlay. The edge strips on the stairs just need better adhesive since those are brand new. The entire floor got replaced with this renovation IIRC.

Speaking of which... day 20(?)(30?) of asking Kings Island to have an original Phantom Theater overlay for PT:ON during Haunt. Once it's been programmed, it would be one more attraction with great capacity that'd be open during the busiest nights of the season.