Kings Island's Phantom Theater hits all the right notes

April 16, 2026, 5:27 PM · Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, isn't known for its dark rides. Other than the indoor roller coaster Flight of Fear, the previous five dark rides in the park have all been in the same building. The former home of Enchanted Voyage (1972-1983), Smurf Enchanted Voyage (1984-1991), Phantom Theater (1992-2002), Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle (2003-2009), and Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (2010-2025) is now the home of Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare.

Instead of creating a new idea or buying existing IP, Kings Island decided to roll back the clock and mine as much inspiration as they could from one of the previous incarnations of the old ride, Phantom Theater. Much like what the rest of us do when trying to research something, the design team plunged the depths of the Internet looking for every ride-through they could find of the original Phantom Manor. Their research enabled them to bring forward half of the characters into the new version of the ride and to inspire the new score.

Once you enter the ride building, there is a decent amount of queuing area with an animatronic show that sets up the story and characters, which should help the wait go by faster. [We previewed that for you last month in First look inside Kings Island's new Phantom Theater, in case you missed that post and want to catch up by reading it now for those details.] After the lobby, you will climb some stairs to an amusing series of portraits that play on a loop, showing six of the characters coming to life in their picture frames and arguing with each other, setting up additional characters that the lobby area preshow didn't get to.

The targets themselves are called ghost notes, which you will attempt to “collect” with your usher’s flashlight. The ghost notes use a 2.5-dimensional aspect to make them pop off the walls better. They all have a colored glow around them, along with a shadow, which when combined with an abundance of new animatronics add quite a lot of depth to the ride. The ghost notes themselves have a small amount of animation in their renderings, allowing some to flap their wings and others to sneer. This small addition adds a delightful amount of motion to what, in the past, has been a simple target sensor.

One of the greatest technological leaps for Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare is a first-of-its-kind project system for targets. The targets now move through the scene somewhat quickly, but the difficulty of hitting a moving target has been offset by different-colored spots projected from the flashlights and by no longer needing to keep pulling the trigger. Getting rid of the need to constantly pull a trigger or a plunger allows you to chase the ghost notes around the field of play much more naturally.

While the gameplay elements are a key feature, the redesign of this ride is done so well that it begs to be ridden without the need to hit any targets. The first time we rode, we were chasing targets and missed some of the ride's best elements. At the suggestion of the park staff, we rode again without touching the flashlights and agreed that this ride is so good it hardly needs them.

I think it should be repeated ad nauseam that, despite appearances, this ride is not scary at all. If you were of an extremely delicate constitution, and I had to list things, the outside appearance of the building, getting hit with a strobe light in the generator room, some theatrical lightning and thunder effects, and the classic chains rattling on the door gag are the only things that could possibly startle a person, as long as you can deal with the concept of blue animatronic ghosts. Even the decision to use ghost notes as the targets takes most of the sting out of shooting at creatures.

I've been on my fair share of Sally Dark Rides shooter rides, and the upgrade this ride delivers over previous rides in this building is its sense of fun. The flashlight mechanism is fun, the targeting and shooting systems are fun, the characters are fun, and the story is fun. This all adds up to a very fun ride and well worth the wait to get on it. Located on the first path going to the right from the center fountain, on your way to Planet Snoopy, this is likely to be the preferred rope drop option for at least the next season.

Once you have decided you love this ride, don't worry about the lack of merch at the exit. There is a small roll-away cart with some items on it, but most of the merch will be in the KI Essentials store located just to the left before you exit the park.

While some adjustments are still being made to the ride, specifically regarding point values and sound levels, Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare will be ready for visitors in time for Kings Island's season opening this weekend. Thank you to Kings Island and Sally Dark Rides for granting us generous access to their designers and awesome new ride!

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