Skull Island: Reign of Kong - General Discussion

[Mad Dog]

Just got off the phone with my nephew, who took his family for their first ever Universal trip, in' late June' of this year. I asked him specifically what they thought of Kong. They loved it. I asked him if the outside portion was working, since some here have said the outside has been closed since March/April. He said the outside was used both times they were on it. I also asked him if the gates opened and closed. He said yes.....So it sounds like the outside section is on at least some of the time, as late as June 2023.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Just got off the phone with my nephew, who took his family for their first ever Universal trip, in' late June' of this year. I asked him specifically what they thought of Kong. They loved it. I asked him if the outside portion was working, since some here have said the outside has been closed since March/April. He said the outside was used both times they were on it. I also asked him if the gates opened and closed. He said yes.....So it sounds like the outside section is on at least some of the time, as late as June 2023.

Glad to hear someone else enjoys this attraction haha, I’m always surprised by the hate it gets here

 

[Mad Dog]

Glad to hear someone else enjoys this attraction haha, I’m always surprised by the hate it gets here

It still gets some of the resorts' longest lines, even though it's one of the highest capacity attractions at the parks. Hardcore internet fans and the general public's likes are often far apart. Fallon's another attraction that people like but many internet fans trash.

 

[mccgavin]

It still gets some of the resorts' longest lines, even though it's one of the highest capacity attractions at the parks. Hardcore internet fans and the general public's likes are often far apart. Fallon's another attraction that people like but many internet fans trash.

While I don't deny the attraction is popular, at least some of that can be attributed to the frequent downtime and technical issues that ride experiences.

 

[Lucky Planet]

The giant gorilla at the end is worth it. Very worth it. I love him

 

[pmorosin]

I rode it multiple times last week and outside was not working. Perhaps your nephew was confused being his first time?

 

[Tbad556]

Doors were open and being worked on earlier this week FWIW:

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Does anyone know what's up with Kong's outdoor portion? Reduced ride vehicles? Gate issues?

 

[Disneyhead]

Does anyone know what's up with Kong's outdoor portion? Reduced ride vehicles? Gate issues?

The current rumor is that it's because they are down a ride vehicle so to increase capacity they are cutting down the ride time.

 

[belloq87]

Cutting show scenes to increase capacity is not acceptable.

 

[Mad Dog]

Cutting show scenes to increase capacity is not acceptable.

especially now with the parks, besides HHN, being quite slow.....So many excuses for lack of adequate maintenance in the resort.

 

[Grabnar]

especially now with the parks, besides HHN, being quite slow.....So many excuses for lack of adequate maintenance in the resort.

I full anticipate that the UOR parks will be rough until EU is out of construction, personally. They really needed to bolster crew ahead of the park instead of trying to do it now, but running a business on Lean principles, especially coming out of covid, means that you're screwed on trained talent when you try to expand.

It's bean counters all the way down.

 

[Brian G.]

I think a lot of you forget that Orlando was hit by a major hurricane just a little over a year ago…

 

[Mad Dog]

I full anticipate that the UOR parks will be rough until EU is out of construction, personally. They really needed to bolster crew ahead of the park instead of trying to do it now, but running a business on Lean principles, especially coming out of covid, means that you're screwed on trained talent when you try to expand.

It's bean counters all the way down.

Bean counters with undue influence generally hurt most companies, They just about destroyed GM in the 80's when the accountants (Smith) controlled the top echelons of the company, and made disastrous decisions cheapening the product....................and McCarthy as CFO , with strong influence, really did a job on Disney up until her ouster a couple months ago......Unfortunately, these USF trends have been going on for a few years, not just the past 12 months.......Give credit to the Epic build, they're doing a helluva good job. But the existing parks, not so much.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I think a lot of you forget that Orlando was hit by a major hurricane just a little over a year ago…

Kong was operating outside post-Hurricane. It wasn't until this summer we saw them skipping the outdoor portion entirely.

A hurricane is not an excuse for the poor upkeep of Cat in the Hat, E.T., MIB, JPRA, etc.

Like Mad Dog said, these issues have been persisting for years throughout the resort.

 

[Brian G.]

Kong was operating outside post-Hurricane. It wasn't until this summer we saw them skipping the outdoor portion entirely.

A hurricane is not an excuse for the poor upkeep of Cat in the Hat, E.T., MIB, JPRA, etc.

Like Mad Dog said, these issues have been persisting for years throughout the resort.

May I suggest stop looking at things so black and white?

Kong's alleged issue is that the temple door entryway is causing hell on the ride vehicles, and they can't close down the ride because every other ride has needs for refurbishment and maintenance - which were exacerbated by said hurricane... This is why JPRA, ET, MIB are getting fixed while remaining open, allowing UO to do little by little overnight.

The other option would be to close every problematic attraction.

But what would you like them to do? Shut down half the park?

 

[Tbad556]

This is why JPRA, ET, MIB are getting fixed while remaining open, allowing UO to do little by little overnight.

You can also add Popeye to this list. Those animatronics have been getting avidly worked on nightly over the past several weeks. They're not just waiting for the full refurb set for February 2024 by any means.

Whether attractions should be operating far beyond their point limit (looking at you, JPRA) is one (valid) discussion, but at the same time, these attractions are all absolutely being worked on after hours and aren't simply being ignored/stalled like some have insinuated.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

May I suggest stop looking at things so black and white?

But what would you like them to do? Shut down half the park?

I'm happy that UO is finally getting around to refurbishing its rides, but my point was that Universal for years (even pre-Covid) hasn't focused on maintaining their parks. I love that E.T. is getting little updates overnight recently, Cat in the Hat received some minor upgrades a few months back... but it took them forever to get to that point.

One of the problems that the WDW parks have is that they can't give rides proper closures/refurbs due to a lack of capacity at their parks, a problem that Universal fortunately doesn't have due to their excellent work over the past few years adding capacity. But they have a serious problem of not giving their rides proper refurbs (until recently with Mummy) outside of routine maintenance.

 

[JungleSkip]

May I suggest stop looking at things so black and white?

Kong's alleged issue is that the temple door entryway is causing hell on the ride vehicles, and they can't close down the ride because every other ride has needs for refurbishment and maintenance - which were exacerbated by said hurricane... This is why JPRA, ET, MIB are getting fixed while remaining open, allowing UO to do little by little overnight.

The other option would be to close every problematic attraction.

But what would you like them to do? Shut down half the park?

Yea, I promise you the people who paid thousands on vacations would much rather have king running at a reduced capacity than having it close for theme park purity reasons

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Yea, I promise you the people who paid thousands on vacations would much rather have king running at a reduced capacity than having it close for theme park purity reasons

Those same people would also like to see rides in great working condition. No broken (or completely missing) animatronics on rides, guns that actually work on MIB, etc.