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Take a ride through the new Phantom Theater attraction at Kings Island
Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare, a revival of the popular haunted attraction that operated at Kings Island from 1992 to 2002, premieres April 18.
Kings Island opened its newest attraction at the start of the 2026 season, and the in-park Starbucks is taking inspiration from Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare for the newest drinks on its “secret menu.”
The ride is a nod to the original Phantom Theater that operated at Kings Island from 1992–2002. It combines the haunted theater elements of the original with interactive elements of Boo Blasters, which the new Phantom Theater is replacing.
To celebrate the new attraction, the Starbucks location at Kings Island has created two drinks for its secret menu, items not officially on the menu but that can be created by baristas, that are “themed nicely to pair with Phantom Theater,” the park announced in a video posted to Facebook on May 12.
The two drinks created for Phantom Theater are:
According to the Facebook video, the purple color scheme in the drinks matches color shades used in Phantom Theater.
According to information from King’s Island, it’s always a dark and stormy night at the Phantom Theater, where a long-awaited performance by Maestro, the theater’s resident organist, is set to begin. During the storm, a lightning strike unleashes the ghost notes – mischievous musical spirits that wreak havoc across the theater – from Maestro’s mighty pipe organ.
With the help of head usher No Legs Larry, guests take on the role of a member of his team and ride in “enchanted opera boxes,” utilizing special spellbound flashlights to capture and return the ghost notes to the organ so the performance can begin on time.
Along the way, the enchanted opera boxes travel through fully built dimensional scenes, including backstage areas, haunted hallways, dressing rooms and a fiery boiler room as they meet other performers who are ready to take the stage. From animatronic forms of Houdelini and The Great Garbonzo to Hilda Bovine and Lionel Burymore, the Phantom Theater’s crew is back along with new characters like Arpeggio, Maestro’s furry feline friend.
The Maestro and head usher No Legs Larry return from the original attraction with more detailed and expressive animatronics in the 2026 version.
The Enquirer’s Jeff Suess calls the new Phantom Theater “a significant upgrade from the original. The basic premise is the same but with more of an emphasis on story and theming.”
Secret menu items are not official recipes. They are custom creations or common substitutions to existing menu items.
It’s not unique to Starbucks. McDonald’s and other restaurants have similar “menus.”
A website – starbuckssecrettmenu.com – exists to detail the most popular secret menu drinks and their prices. Secret menu drinks can also be found on Cozymeal and Pinterest, among others.