The monkey’s officially out of the bag. One of the worst-kept secrets in the theme park world has finally been announced, as Universal Orlando is building a brand new E-ticket attraction honoring one of its most well-known and beloved film characters. In 2016, King Kong returns to Universal Orlando with vengeance and his own mega-attraction, Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
While details are scarce following today’s announcement, we do have a few pieces of concept art and even fewer answers. From a supremely detailed queue leading guests through the ruins of Skull Island to the dark and foreboding mysteries of the ancient temples therein, Universal’s next multi-million dollar expansion to its Orlando resort fits the style we’ve come to expect: larger than life, exactly what fans wanted, and on track to open faster than you’d expect.
We may not have all the answers, but we sure do have a few questions. Below, you’ll find seven questions we’ve got on our minds and the best answers we can manage at this time.
1. Will the ride be mostly screens, or will there be physical sets?
Especially lately, Universal gets a lot of flak for its reliance on screens. Sure, most of the attractions at Universal rely on screens or simulators (usually both). In the more nuanced and beloved attractions, that screen time (pun intended) is shared with physical sets, props, and animatronics that blend seamlessly into the digital creations and build a more tactile world.
We expect that Kong will follow the newer formula of balancing the real and the digital, probably with more of an emphasis on physical sets than we’re used to from Universal. One hint that gives us that impression? The vehicles. The “SCOOP-style vehicles used on other Universal attractions (Transformers, Gringotts, and Spider-Man) specialize in twisting and turning to aim guests’ views right where they need to be aimed: usually, at a specific screen.
But the vehicles used on Kong (above) are more akin to safari vehicles, or the rovers in Animal Kingdom’s Dinosaur or Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure. That means that they’ll probably travel forward along a track with visitors able to see out either side of the open-air vehicles. That probably means more physical sets than screens. Universal has already mentioned that the ride will feature the 70-foot-tall gates of the island that swing open (also above), temple ruins, and “massive” sets. While that’s all just marketing, it does hint that sets will take precedence.
2. Will Kong make an appearance in animatronic form?
There was a time when a dark ride’s success was directly proportional to the quality and quantity of the animatronics inside. Given today’s technology, rides don’t need any animatronics to leave an impression. However, in our countdown of the top 20 animatronics on Earth, we noted that coming face to face with a physical character is simply more awe-inspiring, emotional, and dramatic than a digital one. Would Jurassic Park River Adventure be as stunning if the T-Rex finale was a projection on a screen?
So will Kong make an appearance in physical form? That’s the big question. We don’t know officially and Universal hasn’t outright mentioned it. That’s expected. This early on, they’ve (purposefully) been vague when explaining the contents of the ride. Our guess is that Skull Island will be similar to Forbidden Journey – a mix of stage and screen – with the big guy making at least one appearance in physical form. And according to the reliable Theme Park Insider, you can count on it. (And according to the blueprints they’ve reportedly seen, a seat on the right side of the vehicle will be your best vantage point.)
3. Didn’t Universal used to have a King Kong attraction?
Both Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida each had a King Kong attraction at some point in their histories. In Hollywood, the King Kong Encounter (above) was a short section of the much larger Studio Tram Tour with the tram crossing the Brooklyn Bridge right in front of the 30-foot tall animatronic ape.
Because Disney had “borrowed” Universal’s concept of a tram tour through famous movie scenes for its Disney-MGM Studios park, Universal was forced back to the drawing board for its Florida park and separated out the famous scenes from its Tram Tour into separate, standalone attractions. So Kong was expanded into his own ride – Kongfrontation – wherein guests were suspended in a Roosevelt Island aerial tram to evacuate Manhattan. Of course, Kong interrupted and riders encountered the massive creature twice during the 10 minute dark ride.
Florida’s King Kong attraction closed to much dismay from fans in 2002 to make way for Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride. Hollywood’s encounter on the Tram Tour lasted longer, but a backlot fire destroyed the Kong figure in 2008. Rather than recreating the 1980s encounter, Universal opted to create a new one…
King Kong: 360 3-D opened in 2010 at Universal Studios Hollywood with the Tram entering a tunnel flanked by 200-foot-long screens on either side (spoiler image here). This innovative experience literally wraps around the entire length of the tram with action all around. Aided by motion simulating elements on the road and special effects in the tunnel, the experience makes visitors feel that they’re falling, racing, tilting, swaying, and being attacked by Kong and V-Rexes.
We’ve got a few more questions on page two…
4. So, is Reign of Kong just going to be a duplicate of King Kong 360 3-D?
No. While a portion of the new ride will no doubt mimic (or even duplicate) the 360 3-D experience from Hollywood, this will be a complete, full dark ride. The immersive 3D tunnel may be a signature moment of it (and indeed, the troop transport style ride vehicles are essentially single segments of the Studio Tram), but expect more ride to come before and after it. In its announcement video, Universal used footage straight from 360 3-D. We can’t be sure if they’ll use the same footage. It would depend upon storytelling, we hope.
Universal’s also emphasized that the queue will be part of the experience. While that may sound like a cop-out, compare it to Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure where the quarter mile queue establishes the story, setting, mood, and atmosphere. The image above is believed to be part of the queue leading up to the ride’s towering temple exterior and its jagged rocky mountains.
5. Is this ride based on Peter Jackson’s 2005 film King Kong?
Not technically. Universal Creative Executive Producer Mike West told Jim Hill, “Skull Island: Reign of Kong’ is really a new story unto itself. We’re worked closely with Peter on this attraction to help develop some of the storytelling and the looks of certain things. But it’s not really based on any specific film. It’s really a whole new generation of storytelling for our guests.”
Hollywood’s King Kong 360 3-D – as a portion of the park’s Studio Tram Tour – is about moviemaking and the creation of the specific 2005 film. As part of Islands of Adventure, Skull Island isn’t meant to be a lesson about moviemaking or even a direct reference to Jackson’s film. Rather, it’s its own immersive exotic world that will borrow the look and style of the new Kong series, but not necessarily tie to a specific film. (And yes, we realize that’s particularly hard to believe given than Jackon’s sequel to his remake is slated to come out in November 2016. Its title? Kong: Skull Island.)
6. Which of the park’s themed islands will this attraction be part of?
It’s tough to say. So far, there appear to be three options.
First, the ride could become the only attraction in its own designated eighth island: Skull Island. This seems like the simplest and most appropriate answer. If Skull Island becomes an eighth themed land at Islands of Adventure, it will – interestingly – be the only one of the islands to not border the Great Sea. Guests would travel from Toon Lagoon, through Skull Island, and into Jurassic Park. In this case, we’d expect Skull Island to recieve at least a food stand or so of its own.
Second, this Kong ride could be located in a gray area that’s vaguely related to Jurassic Park. While I doubt that the park would outright advertise “Visit the new Reign of Kong attraction in Jurassic Park,” the forested path that the ride is being built alongside formerly was the jungled entrance to Hammond’s park. The iconic entrance arch with Jurassic Park scrawled across it (above) was removed when construction on Kong began, but that might be just for ease of construction or to push it farther up along the path to leave Kong its “gray area” with no official island designation. This, to us, sounds silly.
Third (and this feels somewhat likely itself), the ride could become part of a new, expanded island that contains Kong and Jurassic Park. This isn’t unheard of. At Universal Studios Singapore (which borrows Islands of Adventure’s lagoon-centered layout), a single island called The Lost World is mostly made of Jurassic Park, but also contains the WaterWorld show stadium. In Florida, The Lost World could be made up of two smaller but related sub-areas: Jurassic Park and Skull Island. That’s entirely possible. Of the three, which would you hope for?
7. How much is it costing Universal and when will it open?
We don’t know the specific price tag of Skull Island (though anyone who walks past the towering temple under construction at Islands of Adventure will likely guess that it’s a lot). What we do know is that the owner of the parks – Comcast – has been very public about its faith in the Universal Parks and Resorts division. Comcast executives have mentioned that, post-Potter, 25% of NBCUniversal’s revenue is through the parks.
That which earns money deserves reinvestment, and Comcast is ready. They’ve announced that they’ll spend about $500 million per year on Universal Parks, with at least one major attraction opening in both Florida and California every single year. True to that promise, year after year Universal has opened massive E-tickets on par with or even exceeding Disney’s best efforts. And for 2016, it’s Kong.
For now, we’ve been given Summer 2016 as an opening. Just like all of Universal’s recent projects, that’s incredibly fast. And we can hardly wait until then!
