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Skull Island: Reign of Kong


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Why else hasn't E.T. become a How To Train Your Dragon dark ride? 

 

Because E.T. is awesome and should last for all of eternity.

 

I heard the real reason is Spielberg won't let them replace it. 

 

 

The rumor now is that Nintendo is their coup and that will be UNiversal Studios Florida's "family" area. It would still be nice to see family stuff permeate the parks. 

 

Clean it all up, repaint it all. And I absolutely 100% think both those parks could benefit from 4 - 5 new C or D-Ticket attractions. They don't all have to be headliners. Give us a family roller coaster around Mount Crumpet in Seuss Landing, a family dark ride in Jurassic Park, a new show  / mythology ride to replace Sinbad in Lost Continent... Universal Studios suffers from a lack of "medium-sized" rides, especially. Those are the sorts of things that keep families coming back as their children grow.

 

I think people were excited for Kong, and now that it's opening, we're looking at the slate of E-Tickets they've got planned and going "uh oh..." Fast and Furious, based on the terrible, terrible, terrible piece of Hollywood's Tram Tour? Yikes. Jimmy Fallon's Soarin' Over New York? Fine, I guess, but is anyone waiting with baited breath for this? While the big name headliners may be selling points for some, the parks need to be foundationally strong to support them or else people come once... then decide Universal is a 1 or 2 day aside. That's Universal's worst fear, and I think it takes more than just big name E-Tickets to counter that. 

 

 

I think you answered your own question in a way. Jimmy Fallon is that lower tiered attraction. Secret Life of Pets is on its way to the park, another lower level attraction. I'd even throw Fast and the Furious in that because that attraction will become an after thought for most. 

 

As for cleaning and TLC, I believe Hulk and the super hero island is that first step. That whole land is getting freshened up with Hulk's upgrade.

 

As for Skull Island, I'm really nervous because this hasn't opened yet. They are still having Gringotts' level difficulties during soft openings on a ride system that isn't really that new. I thought my 2nd week of July trip was planned far enough out that it would be fully open, but now I'm worried I won't be able to ride it at all.

 

RailRider, did the two motion bases work for your ride? Those seem to be the biggest problem during soft openings, and is really hit or miss if people experience them or not. 

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Yes the 2 motion bases worked for our ride, amazing they are still struggling with these seeing as how it is the same system used for the tram tour.  There is still no transition from the tunnel to Kong.  Just odd how abruptly you go from one to the other, from my understanding there is supposed to be a transition there.  Also the ride while we were there opened at 5 both days, but we rode it at about 6 on Saturday and it was shut down a few hours later and evacuated.  From my understanding they are struggling getting it to stay open for more than a few hours on a consistent basis.  I would recommend getting in the holding area around 4 or 4:30 so that your chances of being one of the first groups on because the longer it is open the more likely it seems to close down.  I think the biggest issue they are dealing with is the wifi vehicles, those things are proving to be a nightmare from my understanding with signal issues and their massive weight is causing issues with the motion base airbags.  

 

I doubt Marvel Island will get much TLC unless things have changed, because the area around Kong has not received any love nor has the areas around Potter.  Just saying Universal seems to focus on the single attraction and not the area around it, but I hope I am wrong.

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The Marvel Island has been treated pretty well between the completely new Hulk and the HD, from-scratch re-animation of Spider-Man which truly made it into a new ride. It also received the Storm-themed tea-cup spinner shortly after the park opened. Now it just needs generally refreshed in terms of painting, etc. Kong is part of its own separate themed "island" (Skull Island) distinct from Jurassic Park, and even though it's just a tiny stretch of path, really, it's well done. Jurassic Park is huge and just needs another attraction or two to anchor it (and these could be a family dark ride through the Discovery Center and / or an "antique cars" style ride through an animatronic herbivore habitat). Toon Lagoon is tough because it's supposed to be timeless (in the same way the Peanuts are). What can be done? I don't know. Maybe razing the seldom-used amphitheatre in favor of a classic dark ride through the cartoons to introduce them to kids who don't know Rocky and Bullwinkle, Popeye, etc. 

 

As for Kong, I bet the problem is with the trackless vehicles. They're far and away the biggest trackless vehicles out there. Disney and SeaWorld's hold 4 - 6 people. These are massive and hold 60, with animatronic drivers. Wow. That being said, they're almost certainly having serious issues. No park operator wants their new ride to still be testing in June or July.

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Toon Lagoon is tough because it's supposed to be timeless (in the same way the Peanuts are). What can be done? I don't know. Maybe razing the seldom-used amphitheatre in favor of a classic dark ride through the cartoons to introduce them to kids who don't know Rocky and Bullwinkle, Popeye, etc. 

I've wanted them to turn this area into Bikini Bottom for a long time. 

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Yes Animatronic driver.  Whats funny about that is you can barely see the driver because of the amount of dirt and dust they have put on the windows plus if you are sitting past midway in the vehicle you can barely see the driver.  I am surprised Universal went animatronic for the drivers when they could have used a screen for the back window and produced a more detailed interaction.  Seems like a lot of work went in to something that has been poorly executed.  Also the ride vehicles are just massive.  72 passengers and they tip the scale at 17 tons.  The good news is when they are working this thing eats through the crowd, but unfortunately they are still struggling to keep them cycling reliably.    

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just got back from our trip and we were able to ride Kong twice. My group of three sat in the back row each time. I was in the middle of the row the first time and was blown away. Everything worked, everything was beautiful, and I would give it a 9 out of 10. 

 

The second ride I was on the far left side. This was a disappointing ride. The left is by far the most boring side, and if you are sitting on the outer edge of the row, you can see the top of the screens in the 360 room, which kind of kills the effect. I would give this seat a 6 out of 10. 

 

Overall the ride is fantastic. The queue line was amazing and my girlfriend collapsed to the ground when one of the natives popped out of nowhere to scare her. It put the biggest smile on my face. The whole area (mini-land) is beautiful and I recommend everyone to go check it out. 

 

I would put this as the third best ride in Islands of Adventure behind Spiderman and Forbidden Journey.

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I have watched it and ridden the ride. While there are similarities, they aren't closely related to each other. 

 

I was in Hawaii while they were shooting for the new movie. The set pieces are a lot smaller in person then what they appear to be in the trailer!

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The Marvel Island has been treated pretty well between the completely new Hulk and the HD, from-scratch re-animation of Spider-Man which truly made it into a new ride. It also received the Storm-themed tea-cup spinner shortly after the park opened. Now it just needs generally refreshed in terms of painting, etc. Kong is part of its own separate themed "island" (Skull Island) distinct from Jurassic Park, and even though it's just a tiny stretch of path, really, it's well done. Jurassic Park is huge and just needs another attraction or two to anchor it (and these could be a family dark ride through the Discovery Center and / or an "antique cars" style ride through an animatronic herbivore habitat). Toon Lagoon is tough because it's supposed to be timeless (in the same way the Peanuts are). What can be done? I don't know. Maybe razing the seldom-used amphitheatre in favor of a classic dark ride through the cartoons to introduce them to kids who don't know Rocky and Bullwinkle, Popeye, etc. 

 

As for Kong, I bet the problem is with the trackless vehicles. They're far and away the biggest trackless vehicles out there. Disney and SeaWorld's hold 4 - 6 people. These are massive and hold 60, with animatronic drivers. Wow. That being said, they're almost certainly having serious issues. No park operator wants their new ride to still be testing in June or July.

 

Disney has larger trackless vehicles but people rarely think of them.  Universe of Energy, and the Great Movie Ride are both trackless.  This one is less obvious because it is too dark to tell but the original Tower of Terror is also trackless when the car is driving through the 5th dimension between the first and second elevator shaft.

 

I will be in Orlando in October for Halloween Horror Nights, I would like to think Kong will be working by then.

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I have watched it and ridden the ride. While there are similarities, they aren't closely related to each other.

I was in Hawaii while they were shooting for the new movie. The set pieces are a lot smaller in person then what they appear to be in the trailer!

I would suspect there was a lot of Spielberg upshooting and shots of wistful awed expressions going on.

I always edit out the Spielberg "face of awe and wonder' reaction shots when I get one of those movies.

Thank you for the input. The ride being in place before the final cut of the movie surprised me a bit. Even with all the storyboarding that goes on, there are scenes that are just not gonna be in the film- but might up in the ride.

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The only similarity besides the name and the big ape is the giant skull that is in both the trailer and movie poster, is in the first physical set you drive through on the ride. 

 

Movie Poster:

kong-skull-island-poster.jpg

 

Universal Creative's Mike West in front of the ride: 

neon_0001_large.jpg

Edited by TTD-120-420
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Universal Creative says Skull Island: Reign of Kong isn't based on any of the Kong movies. It's supposed to be about the character and not any of his specific appearances. That said, it does borrow elements of King-Kong 360 3D from Universal Studios Hollywood, which specifically is about the "making of" the Peter Jackson movie. So Kong at Islands of Adventure borrows his look from the Peter Jackson film. The Kong in the new reboot film is supposed to be many tens of feet taller than the Peter Jackson version (see poster).

 

The nice merchandising and cross-promotional naming with the film is certainly just a coincidence. ;) 

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Thanks- I'm quite the odd man out on this board, aren't I? My amusement park experience is "Hey! A Ride! I'll enjoy it!" Ala Dan Backslide in the Dover Boys cartoon. I like the tech genius it takes to make them, but the lore and "S'posedtabe's" are totally lost on me.

Plus my work schedule has not been allowing me to jump and go to parks as many of the posters here do.

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And I've had one vacation day this year. Been to TWO parks.

It's cyclical.

Understandable. Some years are better than others.

With "Hurry up and wait jobs" one is still on the clock while waiting, so it's not like I can scamper off to the park. One can learn to make cronuts in the time it takes for the next assignment to come in.

Maybe someday, with perserverence, some entrepid scout will spot the elusive Tannabird finally making time in DisneyLand. Until then, it's back to the iMac.

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