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Skull Island: Reign of Kong - General Discussion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Drew
  • Start date Start date May 6, 2015
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UniversalRBLX

UniversalRBLX

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Brian G. said:
I guess it all depends on what your preference is and what you're looking to get out of the ride. I still think Kong's meat and potatoes are there, but Everest (and speaking as someone who has seen A-mode) doesn't hit the same due to the Yeti's issues.
Click to expand...
Obviously the bulk of the ride is indoors, but there's a reason why ride designers add scenes to setup the tone and backstory. Imagine skipping the caves on Pirates of the Caribbean or the dark ride section of Mummy just to get to the coaster portion faster.
 
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belloq87

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Scott W. said:
It's a grumpy looking head and shoulders that's been placed into a corner like an afterthought. Technically, more advanced but does nothing of interest.

The originals were full body on display hanging from a bridge with banana breath with mild interaction with the ride vehicle that served the story.

Skull Island was made during a creatively bankrupt era of screen heavy rides with little to boring stories. Kongfrontation is superior in every way and to make matters worse, it took away an expansion pad from JP.
Click to expand...
I like Skull Island a lot... but I can't argue with too much of this.

Kongfrontation was the more ambitious attraction, unquestionably.
 
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Brian G.

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UniversalRBLX said:
Obviously the bulk of the ride is indoors, but there's a reason why ride designers add scenes to setup the tone and backstory. Imagine skipping the caves on Pirates of the Caribbean or the dark ride section of Mummy just to get to the coaster portion faster.
Click to expand...

Well, again, the difference is the Kong doors are designed to be skipped while everything else wasn't designed that way. The difference between going through the doors and skipping them is one line of dialogue and the cool door opening reveal.

Again though, it's just a matter of preference. The ending is more important to me than the beginning.
 
sonoma15

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UniversalRBLX said:
Imagine skipping the caves on Pirates of the Caribbean
Click to expand...
Soo, the Disney World version?
 
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Tbad556

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Scott W. said:
It's a grumpy looking head and shoulders that's been placed into a corner like an afterthought. Technically, more advanced but does nothing of interest.

The originals were full body on display hanging from a bridge with banana breath with mild interaction with the ride vehicle that served the story.

Skull Island was made during a creatively bankrupt era of screen heavy rides with little to boring stories. Kongfrontation is superior in every way and to make matters worse, it took away an expansion pad from JP.
Click to expand...
I genuinely don’t even think this is a hot take. Real tour guides with actual personality vs fake ones, set-heavy ride vs 70% screenz, heavy amounts of physical effects (fiery explosions, water, smoke, helicopters, etc.) vs some torches and minor touches, Kong animatronics being heavily involved vs sitting around at the finale, etc. Obviously the Skull Island animatronic is more technically impressive, but it never comes close to matching the immersiveness and thrill of the OG ride. Kongfrontation is one of my favorite themed attractions ever and I typically skip Skull Island.
 
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Brian G.

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Tbad556 said:
I genuinely don’t even think this is a hot take. Real tour guides with actual personality vs fake ones, set-heavy ride vs 70% screenz, heavy amounts of physical effects (fiery explosions, water, smoke, helicopters, etc.) vs some torches and minor touches, Kong animatronics being heavily involved vs sitting around at the finale, etc. Obviously the Skull Island animatronic is more technically impressive, but it never comes close to matching the immersiveness and thrill of the OG ride. Kongfrontation is one of my favorite themed attractions ever and I typically skip Skull Island.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of people prefer the OG - but I don't think dismissing the current version is warranted just in spite of it.
 
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Tbad556

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Brian G. said:
I think a lot of people prefer the OG - but I don't think dismissing the current version is warranted just in spite of it.
Click to expand...
No disagreement here! I’d still take some Kong over no Kong.
 
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UniversalRBLX

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sonoma15 said:
Soo, the Disney World version?
Click to expand...
Fair point
 
belloq87

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sonoma15 said:
Soo, the Disney World version?
Click to expand...
UniversalRBLX said:
Fair point
Click to expand...
MK's still has some atmospheric mood-setting at the start, plus the waterfall/drop transition.

I think the real equivalent would be starting the ride immediately at the assault on the fort scene.
 
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Brian G.

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belloq87 said:
MK's still has some atmospheric mood-setting at the start, plus the waterfall/drop transition.

I think the real equivalent would be starting the ride immediately at the assault on the fort scene.
Click to expand...
So what you're saying is the ride still works without the opening scene? ;)

At the end of the day, it's hard to really find an equivalency just because it's a different scenario for each.

Ultimately, we all can agree it's time they try to give it some downtime and fix it (if it's possible).
 
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OLSinFLA

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belloq87 said:
MK's still has some atmospheric mood-setting at the start, plus the waterfall/drop transition.

I think the real equivalent would be starting the ride immediately at the assault on the fort scene.
Click to expand...
Oh, you mean like Paris? :D
 
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Tbad556 said:
I genuinely don’t even think this is a hot take. Real tour guides with actual personality vs fake ones, set-heavy ride vs 70% screenz, heavy amounts of physical effects (fiery explosions, water, smoke, helicopters, etc.) vs some torches and minor touches, Kong animatronics being heavily involved vs sitting around at the finale, etc. Obviously the Skull Island animatronic is more technically impressive, but it never comes close to matching the immersiveness and thrill of the OG ride. Kongfrontation is one of my favorite themed attractions ever and I typically skip Skull Island.
Click to expand...
I was so disappointed by Skull Island when I finally rode it this year for the first time. The idea of a modern 21st century King Kong attraction is a slam dunk but no, it was just more screenz, a copy of the Hollywood 360 tunnel and then 10 seconds with a big AA head that does nothing.
 
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Rhian

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IzzyB said:
I disagree, the Yeti is just one part of the coaster, but the coaster itself is the same length. Honestly as a GP person before ever stepping foot into these boards had no clue it did more or cared it did more. It was and still is a really fun coaster.

The part of Kong that is strange to me and tells me something is wrong is they tell you "I will tell you when to put the glasses on", then you begin moving and right away pass by the outdoor section and are told to put your glasses on. It feels like something is missing. My husband didn't know it should go outside until after the ride and he thought it was odd to put them on so quickly. When I told him why then he understood more. So maybe if this is longterm they should have changed that bit a little.
Click to expand...
You and others make a fair point about the length of the ride being shorter. If I wanted to take the Everest example a little further it could be like going straight into the lift hill from the station. To my point though and as you said, the average guest isn't going likely to notice these things right away (or if someone like us is with them and we'll point it out and more lol).

What you're pointing out probably wouldn't get so much attention if the ride wasn't in this situation for this long. Like Brian pointed out the problem happens to be at the start of the ride and that's in front so it's obvious but this was also designed to be skipped.

I believe at one point someone mentioned they might have to actually dig into the area to fix things, and if they do it might mean the ride's closed entirely to do it. That would be another reason why it hasn't happened yet, and could coincide with a refurb on the entire ride.

UniversalRBLX said:
It's not just the door opening that makes the scene spectacular, it's the entire approach, fire and awe of a massive vehicle going outdoor before venturing in to a massive facade. Everest doesn't skip the entire Yeti coaster segment and honestly the disco lighting does a solid job at making it appear like its moving.
Click to expand...
ttb.jpg

(Not to go too far into Yetiville in this thread...) Seriously though when the Yeti was fully operational it was legit scary. It benefited from multiple rerides to really get a sense of it since you'd know exactly where to look when it started its movements. I just looked at an older video and it looks like it was even continuously lit as it moved, which is how I remember it.



I'm glad I wasn't panicked by a giant AA Yeti coming off its foundations but man that would've been one hell of a story! I think if we're ever going to see the Yeti fixed it might be if and when they replace the coaster track.

UniversalRBLX said:
Imagine skipping the city flyover on E.T., that's a more apt comparison.
Click to expand...
In terms of iconic scenes or moments for the ride, I'm with you there. The difference is that the ET scene is in the middle of the ride which would be more like removing the dinosaur battle scenes in Skull Island (going by chronological order of the ride). Doing that would obviously disrupt the flow of the story.

The door scene while critical in building that sense of foreboding into the main ride, and certainly an integral part of the ride a whole, it's also one of the few times (only time?) where the designers built a way to skip it and if you didn't know about it before you aren't likely to miss it after riding it. At this point I don't think anyone here doesn't want the entire scene back 100% and it obivously wasn't meant to be a long-term solution; it just had to be for one reason or another.

All that said, Kongfontation had a lot more going for it in the physical set department and I wish Skull Island had more of that at least. That's probably another reason the first scene is so missed, it's one of the few compelete physical ones for that ride.
 
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I usually skip Kong whenever I go to IoA. Nothing too harsh to say against the ride, just feels thoroughly mid-tier and not too exciting to me. It's not actively unfun like modern Figment, or even ironically fun like Fast and Furious, I'm usually entertained when I'm on it and leave feeling completely whelmed. It usually also has a 35-60 min wait which is way above my balking point for the ride.

I think it's good that Kong has some representation in the parks again, IoA needs more indoor dark ride offerings, and not every ride needs to be the best thing in the world, but I also have no real attachment to Skull Island as a ride. The doors should be fixed as soon as possible though.
 
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belloq87

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The irony when I'm the bigger fan of the screen-heavy ride in question than most others here!
62134903-a87f-4fa2-ad99-955a98b3b750_text.gif
 
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PerceptiveCoot

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belloq87 said:
The irony when I'm the bigger fan of the screen-heavy ride in question than most others here!
62134903-a87f-4fa2-ad99-955a98b3b750_text.gif
Click to expand...
It's us against the world buddy.
 
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belloq87

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In all seriousness, I think I have no real issue with Skull Island because the ride didn’t replace anything. It was a pure addition/expansion. Contrast that with any number of the new-ish screen-heavy attractions in USF which did replace physical experiences (Race Through New York, Supercharged, Gringotts) or swapped like-for-like in terms of format (VillainCon). And IOA, overall, has a broader range of attraction "types" than USF.

Tying it back to the outdoor section discussion, I think part of the reason that sequence in the ride is so key is because
it’s an expansive, impressive, entirely-physical scene right at the start to help set the tone. Lose that, and the attraction overall does get more imbalanced towards the screen/simulator sections. So it’s an important scene on a couple of fronts.
 
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Mad Dog

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One big plus that some miss is the excellent queue, especially the very entertaining section with the voodoo priestess AA and the cataclysmic effects within that area of the queue. Even when I have Express, I stop to watch the entirety of that scene from the Express area. The entire queue has a plethora of physical scenery. The queue could stand on its own as a walk through C ticket attraction.
 
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IzzyB

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Mad Dog said:
One big plus that some miss is the excellent queue, especially the very entertaining section with the voodoo priestess AA and the cataclysmic effects within that area of the queue. Even when I have Express, I stop to watch the entirety of that scene from the Express area. The entire queue has a plethora of physical scenery. The queue could stand on its own as a walk through C ticket attraction.
Click to expand...
I do want to do the queue, but I was afraid it would scare my son from riding it and was glad we did express. But he does love the ride now, so some day I do want to head thru the general queue.
 
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belloq87

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The queue is one of the best in Orlando.
 
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