Kongfrontation recreated and expanded the original King Kong Encounter from the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. That staged event on the park's backlot tram tour featured an encounter with a 30-foot-tall Kong animatronic, designed by Bob Gurr. (Yes, the Disney Legend who created ride vehicles for so many Disneyland attractions.) That version of Kong remained open for six years after the closure of the Orlando version, until a fire on the backlot in 2008 destroyed the attraction.
After Kong's demise, Universal Studios Hollywood decided to return Kong, but in digital form. Working with filmmaker Peter Jackson, who directed the 2005 film version of King Kong, USH opened King Kong 360-3D in 2010, in which Kong saves (well, most of) your tram from attacking dinosaurs on Skull Island.
Kong fans in Florida have remained jealous ever since. Over the years, designers at Universal Creative have thought about several ways to return Kong to Orlando. Rumors persist about converting the Disaster! attraction to an east-coast version of King Kong 360-3D, or building a new Kong animatronic on that site, on in a new Skull Island land in Islands of Adventure.
This week on the Theme Park Insider Discussion Forum, Daniel Etcheberry asked whether you'd like to see Kong return to Orlando in animatronic or digital form. That's such a great question, I thought we'd ask it for our Vote of the Week.
Let's consider the pros and cons of each medium. You can't experience Animatronics on a big screen at home, but they're expensive and tricky to maintain, especially in Kong's immense size. (See, Disney's Yeti.) Digital's more reliable and allows for much more narrative freedom, but the form's less unique and with rapid advances in digital technology, you'll have to budget for frequent projection updates to keep the images state-of-the-art. (USH's Kong already looks a little less sharp than the park's new Transformers ride.)
Please jump into the comments to make your best case for the return of Kong, in your preferred form. Or if you'd rather see Universal spend its money on something else, make that case in the comments, instead.
And allow me to offer one more reminder that we have a new Discussion Forum on Theme Park Insider, one where registered members no longer need to wait to have new threads approved. So please feel free to use this new board share your trip reports, ask questions about an upcoming trip, and share any news or rumors you pick up from the parks or around the Internet. As always, thank you for being part of the Theme Park Insider community!
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Personally, I know I’d be far more impressed by a giant Kong AA than by an animated version. As you point out, if I want to see a digital Kong, I can throw in my blu-ray of the 2005 film tonight, but I can’t go anywhere to see a physical, AA Kong.
And I’ll admit, I’ve got a little bit of a personal bias: even though I think Spider-Man is the greatest ride of all time, I will always be more impressed by a ride that takes me through real sets and physical animatronics than by a simulator-type experience focused on moving me from screen to screen. Misguided though I may be, I just feel like one requires more effort to pull-off than the other, and is therefore more impressive to me.
The King Kong tram ride attraction was pretty good, but not repeatable. It's yet another simulator, which Universal seems to do quite well, but it gets old by repeated use. Thus, I recommend the animatronic ride that can have a limited storyline. They shouldn't necessarily use a huge animatronic. How about a combination of animatronics of humans, natives, monkeys, animals, and combined with King Kong parts, with a huge finale in digital form.
I read another rumour that Universal is actually going to build it's own Snow White and the seven dwarfs mine train ride. The IP is in the public domain and supposedly they thought they could give it a great spin. It being Universal it's a bit more edgy then the Disney version. The concept video is already online and in this link ;-): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kIBeYoP9Wi0
Second reason: I have awful memories of waiting in what felt like the world's longest, slowest moving line for King Kong at USO in the early 90s. What a let down. The ride seemed so short, Kong so fleeting, and really bad effects throughout.
Third, I don't think you can make an effective, show-worthy, consistent animatronic of that size, without making it into a joke. That's what USH had to do with the banana breath joke. Of course, joking is part of US's DNA.
In my spiel I adlibbed the phrase "Not good! This is not good!" before the Terminator thing opened at the park.
Happy memories.
Personally, I am getting tired of Universal rehashing the same exact ride technology over and over again.
Really? How about Disney:
Omnimover ride system: The Haunted Mansion, The Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters, Space Ship Earth, The Seas With Nemo.
4D movies: every park got 1.
Similar spinner: 2x Dombo, Space Orbiter, Magic Carpets of Aladdin,TriceraTop Spin.
A mountain with a boat/coaster ride: there are 4 (a fifth is opening).
Meet and greets (sure not a ride system but it replaced at least 1 attraction): 10.000 (or so it seems).
The list goes on. Universal at least has significant variations in every ride technology wise. But in the end I don't think it's about the ride system but the story that is told. Universal always gives a new spin to a known story expending on it's world and showing us something new. Disney rehashing a movie in 4 minutes with the same music and scene's, sure if you call that creative and diversity...
My opinion is that the larger the animatronics, the worse they get. Even if they could get a good AA Kong working 365 days a year, it would still be stationary unlike a digital image.
If the guest satisfaction ratings for Transformers is any indication, it will probably have the same 30 foot HD 3D screens.
I'm a little tired of Motion simulators. If you're prone to motion sickness, it'll ruin your whole day. The only simulator ride that gives me problems is Mission Space in Epcot. But going to Universal with somebody prone to motion sickness drives me crazy. We can't do any of the popular or fun stuff.
I want physical sets accented with digital effects, instead of the opposite like we've been getting lately.
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