MASON — A Kings Island classic from the ‘90s is coming back with a twist.
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The Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare will take over where Book Blasters on Boo Hill has been for the last 15 years.
News Center 7’s Xavier Hershovitz got a sneak peek of the Phantom Theater as crews wrap up construction.
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“We always heard the fans of Kings Island say, ‘Oh, but we miss Phantom Theater,’” Lauren Weaver, Sally Dark Rides’ Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, said.
Weaver has spent her life designing rides like Phantom Theater. For the last two years, her team at Sally Dark Rides has been working on bringing it back to Kings Island, where the original Phantom Theater closed in 2002.
“It’s nostalgic for so many, and now everyone that used to come as a kid are grown up, and they have their own kids, and they want their kids to experience Phantom Theater,” Weaver said.
Just like the ride before it, the new Phantom Theater is fully interactive. Riders will be able to go around using special flashlights to interact with the scenes around them.
“We know how important the Phantom Theater experience was to our guests back in the ‘90s and early 2000s,” Tony Clark, a Kings Island spokesperson, said. “To bring it back in today’s modern times, with modern technology, modern storytelling. We know our guests are going to love this and the special twists we’ve put on it.”
Clark told News Center 7 that fans have already been sharing their excitement for the new twist.
Construction on the new ride began just after Labor Day, and crews will have it ready to go for the park’s opening weekend next month.
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