It’s been a long time. Like, a loooong time. But I vaguely remember the overflow line on opening day for SDatHC being directed toward the left side of the building  by the face painting booth/Sweet Spot. Does that mean anything for PT:ON? 

Nope. 

I think they should at least set up a temporary overflow queue in the peanuts showplace just in case for opening weekend crowds. 

Man I really hope it’s ready by opening day since it will be my first time back in the park in 5 years. Going specifically in hopes that it is open on time. 

I'd hate to lose that indoor theater space to an extended queue, but it would also mean more air conditioned and shaded temporary queue space. Although, if it does get turned into extended queue the doors would probably stay open and ruin the effectiveness of the A/C system.

Does it really take 2 months to program a dark ride of this size? I haven't seen anything from similar projects, but that feels like a long time.

34 minutes ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

Although, if it does get turned into extended queue the doors would probably stay open and ruin the effectiveness of the A/C system.

Does it really take 2 months to program a dark ride of this size? I haven't seen anything from similar projects, but that feels like a long time.

Last season they didn’t have any shows inside the theater and used it as a meet and greet space that kept the doors opened. Depending on how many turnstiles they’d be able to fit I’d imagine it’d be easy enough to fit most of the crowds back there considering the reused ride system has consistent loading times and any returning ride operators have experience with it. For opening weekend it could potentially be an issue of deciding whether they want to create a within the Great Pumpkin Coaster entrance, or the exit to PT.

I’m now questioning the source’s belief that it won’t be ready by opening day, but it also depends on how much integrity the park wants to put into a first impression. If show programming starts the first week of March and takes 2 months, April 18 is in sorta in the middle where if programming takes faster than expected it could be ready, or they could choose to open it with some effects potentially not working and making any adjustments within the weekdays before they begin daily OPs. It could maybe be a case where they do passholder previews until a few weekends into the season, but that would probably only make more people upset than if their flashlights weren’t working properly.

1 hour ago, BryanJay said:

Depending on how many turnstiles they’d be able to fit I’d imagine it’d be easy enough to fit most of the crowds back there considering the reused ride system has consistent loading times and any returning ride operators have experience with it. For opening weekend it could potentially be an issue of deciding whether they want to create a within the Great Pumpkin Coaster entrance, or the exit to PT.

I think the word you were looking for is switchbacks (or cattle pens). That space could use a good renovation to fit more seats in it anyways. I do fully believe that it'd be best to use that space for any extended queue. The A/C situation would still worry me — we've seen how the Festhaus gets with its doors sometimes always open — so I'd love to see some giant fans in there if it comes to be true. 

The Reddit source might be right on some of the points. Now that you've mentioned more about it, I could understand how the connection of all of the effects could take that long. If the park decides to do some technical rehearsal soft openings then they might want to look at how Universal and Disney have handled theirs. I personally hope they don't have any because I don't want to choose between soft opening and real opening, but let's be real I think I'd go for whatever is available. Technical rehearsals would also help to sort out any potential issues with the flashlights, animatronics, and screens.

Considering I moved to Seattle, I will not be planning a visit to the park until after July 4th just to be safe haha! Not flying halfway across the country for opening day only for them to not have Phantom ready 

This press release they handed out at IAAPA sets the opening in April.

Thinking about the timeline for opening. 

If that info from Reddit is true and programming starts next week (and takes two months), wouldn’t that lineup pretty closely to opening with the park? Unless my timing and understanding are off.

 

 

The Reddit source claims programming starts the first week of March and will take to months (installation’s definitely still going to be happening awhile into February regardless of how long it takes to program. My understanding is the animatronics and ride cars aren’t at the park yet, but don’t quote me on that.) If taken literally that would place the ride’s completion date at the start of May, but since the park did say it opens in April I’m now leaning towards it opening with the park (if nothing has changed it’s essentially a difference of a week, assuming there’s not a charity thing that would happen before passholder previews.) I’m also optimistic because the park said since the beginning that PT’s set to open in the spring, and Camp Snoopy/Adventure Port were always advertised as opening in Late Spring/the Summer.

On 2/1/2026 at 1:30 PM, BryanJay said:

My understanding is the animatronics and ride cars aren’t at the park yet

I'm shocked that the auto collision shop that has the ride cars right now hasn't put up a wall to block the view of them from the street since it seems folks keep trespassing to see them. 

Here's to hoping that we'll see the ride ready for the park's Opening Day. That source from Reddit could be right on some things, but I'm still hung up on the idea that it would take two straight months of work to program the whole ride. Would they not be working all week (40 hours) every week to get it ready starting in March? If it was just Six Flags with their contractors then I might understand better, but surely it'd be Sally Dark Rides employees heading the programming efforts, right? I guess what I'm really wanting is to know how fast their other recent dark rides have taken to program — not that it's public information anyways.

I'm not sure if we are going opening day or not but if not April we are going in May, and I am going to avoid all ride POV spoilers if I can, I want to be fully surprised when I see the ride. But of course if Kings Island shows teasers of the que or what the outiside looks like, of course I'm going to take a peek. 😉

How often have the first three episodes of Curtain Call come by? Was it about every two weeks or so? Some of them seem to have been planned out since IAAPA, so it's not entirely like they're all done in the moment. I'd love to see another one come within the next week!

“Got anymore of those Curtain Call episodes?” 
 

1 hour ago, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

How often have the first three episodes of Curtain Call come by? Was it about every two weeks or so? Some of them seem to have been planned out since IAAPA, so it's not entirely like they're all done in the moment. I'd love to see another one come within the next week!

They usually post a short and a video for each Curtain Call episode. The YouTube playlist for Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare only shows 2 hidden videos left so my guess is only one more episode.

If there's two hidden videos and maybe one episode left, then what would the second hidden video be?

The two videos would be the video and shorts version of the same episode. I wouldn’t discount them not working on more episodes documenting the construction process, but I’d be worried personally of them spoiling too much if they did that. 

It shows how fast time goes... yeah it has been over a month since we've seen another Curtain Call video. I'd imagine we'll get another one sometime this month. Maybe even soon? 

This is the worst time for an anticipated ride opening especially one as exciting as phantom theater returning, the lull period. I’m ready for it to be here, I’m not patient 😂!

I felt like the park could’ve taken this opportunity to “rebrand” the highlighted area of the park strictly to Phantom Theater.

Rename Great Pumpkin into “Ghoster Coaster” or something that ties into the PT IP. 

For the Enchanted Theater, you could have a smaller PT show, live character meet and greets, or transform the inside all together into maybe a PT gift shop.

12 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

For the Enchanted Theater, you could have a smaller PT show, live character meet and greets, or transform the inside all together into maybe a PT gift shop.

Who says they're not planning to do that?  (They're probably not, but I'd love if this would happen eventually if the ride is a hit)

That would be a great little "mini land" that's part of International Street IMO. I'd also include Charlie Brown's Wind-Up (either keep it or move the ride and replace it). Keep the theater and renovate it to hold more guests. There's enough gift shops nearby, but some theming upgrades could go a long way!

Could these be 9-10 of the enchanted opera box doom buggies sitting in front of the Bandstand? I see a hint of red on one of them and their shape fits overall. The only question I have is why they're not covered and/or which route they plan to take them into the building (whether to go around the French Corner or all the way down and around Sweet Spot).

Good catch, those are definitely the opera boxes. They definitely go through inside the maintenance area behind the show building but I’m not sure what would be easiest to do.
 

I wonder if they have had to remove and reassemble the ride cars every off-season like they do for the other rides, or if they’re allowed to stay because of the ride system. Either way I love seeing visual construction progress!

On 2/3/2026 at 2:13 AM, Losantiville Mining Co. said:

I'm still hung up on the idea that it would take two straight months of work to program the whole ride. Would they not be working all week (40 hours) every week to get it ready starting in March?

I have no information nor opinion on when the ride will open, but coming from the world of industrial automation, which this ride essentially is, it would not be the least bit surprising that it would take a couple of months to program and debug this thing. It's a very complex machine, with hundreds, if not thousands, of sensors, relays, contactors, pneumatic and/or servo actuators, safety systems, audiovisual hardware and software, PLCs, HMIs, etc., all subject to hardware infant mortality, all of which is designed to be efficiently and safely operated by minimum wage operators. No small task!

When automated systems are complex, the number of failure modes skyrockets to the point that debug alone can take quite a while (think ~10 engineers & technicians working 6 or 7 12-hour days for weeks), to say nothing of the programming itself. For example, a typical automotive automated production system will run in debug for ~3 weeks once the hardware is "on its feet" to try to identify the myriad ways in which it can fail. Plus, even with those failure modes addressed, it will go on to exhibit dozens more failure modes once released to the wild.

It is amazing on how complex these rides are, even if they appear at times to be just simple on the surface. They are so incredibly complex. Thanks @DispatchMaster for a description of how much actually goes into it. I do theater work and most would think lighting is just as simple as plugging in the lights...but it's so much more than that. 

I honeslty wonder if there was any problems that arose with the construction of the original PT? 🤔

1 hour ago, kingsislandfan1972 said:

I honeslty wonder if there was any problems that arose with the construction of the original PT? 🤔

It would be interesting to know. Obviously the original animatronics were probably more simplistic and the special effects didn't include screens or laser guns. So my guess is less programming but they could have run into some interesting problems just from the standpoint that it was a new ride and pretty good for its time 

8 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

It would be interesting to know. Obviously the original animatronics were probably more simplistic and the special effects didn't include screens or laser guns. So my guess is less programming but they could have run into some interesting problems just from the standpoint that it was a new ride and pretty good for its time 

I agree, it being the 2020s VS the 1990s, technology is a lot more advanced especially with the screens and the laser guns. I am confident Kings Island will keep PT:ON better maintained than Boo Blasters On Boo Hill.

I've been driving up periodically to see if I can still see the spires of the old castle that was BBOBH, can confirm as of last weekend they still exist. My issue with the current situation is that I remember distinctly that they said work on the exterior would commence after the new year, which it is well into. That being said, we have like what practically 2 months from Opening Day? Plenty of time for the park to get everything done and get some testing in. As, with this attraction it is all indoors thus the progress seen from outside the park is slim to none. 

I remain cautiously optimistic that it opens on Opening Day, previews even. 

Could have been delayed to the mass snow storm across the state.