Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknown

[gavin]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

"Colossal new ride for your life" doesn't actually make much sense, grammatically, it does, but it just doesn't flow as a sentence, whatsoever.

Nor does that one you just wrote.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

Spoiler galore post showing some pics from inside the attraction.

Copy n pasted from the article...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Fires flare up inside a shrine-like area as the drum beat gets louder. The natives are chanting. A Shah woman with long, stringy gray hair summons King Kong. Kong responds with a massive roar.

All that, and you aren’t even on the ride yet. As guests, stroll through the queue at Skull Island: Reign of Kong, the latest attraction at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure, they are treated to impressive theatrics that build anticipation in every sense of the word.

The first thing you notice as you enter is the massive scale of things. For starters, you are surrounded by 150,000 square feet of rock work. In the distance, huge temple doors are set among a rugged landscape full of craggy peaks and dense jungle.

The next thing you’ll notice are the whispering voices and unidentifiable grunts and growls. That might be attributed to the fact that the ride includes things like a terapusmordax, a flying predator sporting a 10-foot wingspan, and a vastatosaurus rex, a rather intimidating dinosaur.

Set to open this summer, the nearly 6-minute-long experience is a feast for the eyes. It features a trackless ride system (a first for Universal Orlando), an interactive queue (yes, hostile natives are lurking around the corners) and an almost three-story-tall mechanical figure of the furry one himself.

USA TODAY was the first to peek inside the new attraction with an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour.

“Once inside the ruins, guests interact with the physical environment as the space gets tighter, the danger gets more authentic and they start to get the feeling the locals aren’t necessarily friendly,” says Mike West, executive producer at Universal Creative.

That said, keep your eyes peeled as you pass through catacombs. Among the piles of skulls a very lifelike native is peeking out. Better yet, actors dressed as not-so-friendly natives pop out from dark corners to scare the beejeebees out of you, Halloween-Horror-Nights style.

As you arrive at base camp, the ride vehicles are waiting with no track or rail in sight. Each vehicle seats 72 people and comes with an expedition guide. With five guides altogether, each guide narrates the story in a different way.

“The first thing you see are the remnants of a Kong species skeleton on the left,” West says. “You pass the terapusmordax bats as they try to attack the vehicle. Now you’re in a deep cavernous space with lots of creepy things. The truck starts rocking as more creatures attack.”

By now you are completely immersed in a jungle environment complete with giant flying bugs and all types of dinosaurs. Suddenly, Kong comes crashing through to battle the dinosaurs. The ride vehicle lowers, but Kong catches it. He pounds on his chest.

As you come around the corner, the piece de resistance: About eight feet away from the truck is Kong in all his glory. With a head the size of a car, he’s so close you can feel his breath. He even expresses human emotion like scrunching down his eyebrows in anger or contorting his face in surprise.

“We feel like we’ve made a new mark in the industry with the figure we’ve created,” West says. “We wanted to make sure this Kong we created was unlike any creature that’s ever been built before. We wanted to make sure Kong had personality.”

It all looks increasingly interesting (not that that's hard), but still, I do wish it was another type of attraction. I am I right in saying the 'trackless' system they're are talking about are the driverless ride vehicles?

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

^^^^Re: the last pic, I later realised that's the animatronic from the queue line.

Some employees have had chances to go on this ride all afternoon+evening and someone has written a detailed rundown of the ride overflowing with spoilers.

http://forums.orlandounited.com/threads/skull-island-reign-of-kong-discussion-spoilers.10246/page-12

I'm getting the impression that while it has a brilliant queue (that shares similarities to HHN) and out-of this-world physical sets, the ride is probably straight up s**t. So basically exactly what eveyone here has been saying all along

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

The walls have come down exposing the ride entrance and exit area.
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7TJjQ4-r0[/youtubevid]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7TJjQ4-r0

A snippet from inside the queue line showing the animatronic witch lady casting some spells or w/e.
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLG4T5J50XY[/youtubevid]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLG4T5J50XY

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I love that no one cares I don't like it either, but some pretty cool things have been made because of it like this sausage.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/grei_autumn/status/740145868188192769[/tweet]

 

[Lofty]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I love the animatronic witch doctor in the queue, it's a bit daunting. Excited to see the rest of it when it opens properly.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I love that no one cares I don't like it either, but some pretty cool things have been made because of it like this sausage.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/grei_autumn/status/740145868188192769[/tweet]

Where did it go
Was this...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/WDWFanBoys/status/740289992828715010[/tweet]
https://twitter.com/WDWFanBoys/status/740289992828715010

[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU_OJoNU5Ew[/youtubevid]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU_OJoNU5Ew
Not a fan of that narration :/

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

It has soft opened so there are a lot more images and videos

source

Low-light video of the queue line, i.e. the best bit Will be darker than this IRL. I think 2:10 is a great use of screens.
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01c3xmMopY[/youtubevid]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01c3xmMopY

POV
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_GZCxD1Jvw[/youtubevid]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_GZCxD1Jvw

 

[Lofty]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I NEED THIS.

 

[Ben]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I think it looks really good.

Much better than I thought it would, considering it's still really only a filler for them.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

If you think about it, it's very probably the best non-Harry Potter attraction they've done since Revenge of the Mummy (12 years ago).

 

[Ben]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I'd argue Transformers and Rip, Ride, Rockit are 'bigger' rides in terms of scale and how much the park is pushing it. Like this is more of a in between huge rides thing.

Although tbf Transformers was a bit like that too.

Quality is different to 'importance' though. Although I imagine Transformers will still be better because that ride is fab.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

Welp I forgot about Transformers I was just trying to highlight that in terms of Universal's recent outputs this is good. We've had The Minions and Shrek and now will have to brace ourselves for Jimmy Fallon and Fast & Furious.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

To avoid downtime during Orlando's stormy weather, the ride can bypass the short outdoor section. I think it's a great idea.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/TouringPlans/status/744256010899034112[/tweet]
tweet

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

So you have an attraction where the queue looks better than the ride. Hmmm...

 

[Lofty]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

That's such a clever idea, love it.

 

[SilverArrow]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

Review! (Some spoilers although I've tried to be vague!)

So queueline and outside views are as impressive in real life as in photos. The end half of the queueline is really atmospheric and got a good scare from something in there (probably only me).

So the ride vehicles are fully automated. I remember someone questioning whether there were drivers or not. There aren't. This was confirmed when our truck got stuck outside for around 5-10 mins in the outside section about 15 seconds into the ride! We sat they with no clue what was going on until they came out and checked the truck door. Off we went again. Glasses go on as you go inside. In my opinion the was a decent mix of CGI and physical theming although I am always more of a fan of physical effects and proper rides. It is similar to the mix seen in forbidden journey and transformers/spiderman etc. Pretty sure we got stuck again briefly between two scenes as there was an awkward gap but then it was billed as a tech rehearsal so issues can be expected. Overall some good moments and a good filler attraction with some nice effects and good theming elements. Nothing groundbreaking but worth up to about a 30/40 min queue I would say.

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

 

[Pokemaniac]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

So the ride vehicles are fully automated. I remember someone questioning whether there were drivers or not. There aren't. This was confirmed when our truck got stuck outside for around 5-10 mins in the outside section about 15 seconds into the ride! We sat they with no clue what was going on until they came out and checked the truck door. Off we went again.

Are you sure this counts as confirmation, though? It could be that the truck door check involved shaking an underpaid and overworked intern awake. "Hey, Fred, get up! You're still supposed to be driving this thing, remember! Yeah, take another pill, whatever, just as long as it keeps you awake. Hurry now!".

Nah, just kidding. Great to hear about a new well-themed ride up and running, though!

 

[CanobieFan]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I got to ride Kong today. I had avoided watching any of the videos or reading reviews because I didn't wanna know what I was getting myself into. The ride is pretty cool (most of my friends who have ridden didn't like it) I wouldn't wait long for it, but in singles, I pretty much walked right on (posted at 75m, 90 when I left) The 3D is very, very good... And when things are happening, you can look the other way, or just all around.. and see other smaller things happening. It gives you a reason to ride again since you'll never see everything going on in a single ride. The only bad parts I found was this odd maybe 15-20 foot long 'hall' the truck goes down with no theme or video at all... It seemed very out of place. (the same odd gap SilverArrow posted about?) Its also kinda tight to fit 6 riders in a row... 5 would be much better, but it would drop the capacity down by 12 a truck.

 

[SilverArrow]

Re: Universal Orlando | Skull Island: Reign of Kong | Unknow

I got to ride Kong today. I had avoided watching any of the videos or reading reviews because I didn't wanna know what I was getting myself into. The ride is pretty cool (most of my friends who have ridden didn't like it) I wouldn't wait long for it, but in singles, I pretty much walked right on (posted at 75m, 90 when I left) The 3D is very, very good... And when things are happening, you can look the other way, or just all around.. and see other smaller things happening. It gives you a reason to ride again since you'll never see everything going on in a single ride. The only bad parts I found was this odd maybe 15-20 foot long 'hall' the truck goes down with no theme or video at all... It seemed very out of place. (the same odd gap SilverArrow posted about?) Its also kinda tight to fit 6 riders in a row... 5 would be much better, but it would drop the capacity down by 12 a truck.

Might have been but mine seemed like a tech issue. It was one of the early screens and the scene ended, walls went dark and we just didn't move. After a while we could see the truck behind watching the previous scene before we moved off again.

Anyone know how long it is likely to be soft open for? It seems like it's already been ages but then it is quite a tech-loaded ride.