Skull Island: Reign of Kong - General Discussion

[Mad Dog]

They've been mixing the AA's & other stuff in with the attractions (ride & queue combined). Universal's queues have become so good, they're for all intents and purposes, part of the attractions.* FJ ride & queue: AA's, Massive Sets, Musion, Screens, Unique innovative ride system. *Gringotts ride & queue: AA's, Musion, Screens, Massive sets, Technically advanced ride system . *Transformers: Sets, Screens, Innovative elevator ride system *Hogwarts Express: Screens, AA, Probably the most unique set: the train itself & train station. So I think you really have to look at the Totality of the Experience, from when you walk into the door, wind through those fantastic queues & pre shows, and then finally the ride itself. I'm looking at Kong as that Total Experience also. Queue & effects, live interaction, massive sets, AA's, and screens. To me, that's what creates a unique experience.

 

[Imperius]

Seriously pumped for this ride though. I'm wondering how close to the vehicle the AAs will be.

 

[Teebin]

I think a major factor here is that Universal just doesn't have the budget Disney does. I think it costs a lot more to build an animatronic heavy, thrill ride like Dinosour at Animal Kingdom than it does to build a screen heavy thrill ride like Kong.

Doesn't have the budget??? Maybe pre Comcast but certainly not now. Remember, Comcast once tried to buy Disney.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Are the film sequences using the 60fps like Kong 360? If so that makes an amazing difference

 

[TheLastAshen]

Doesn't have the budget??? Maybe pre Comcast but certainly not now. Remember, Comcast once tried to buy Disney.

Ok but they do not have the budget to perfect their craft, let's say. Disney is over there with their very own shops creating new ways of building more realistic and believable animatronics whereas Universal out sources their animatronic concepts to vendors who they hope can pull off something worthy of Gringotts Bank. Disney spends tons on experimenting and pioneering where as I don't think Universal has such privilege.

 

[JungleSkip]

Ok but they do not have the budget to perfect their craft, let's say. Disney is over there with their very own shops creating new ways of building more realistic and believable animatronics whereas Universal out sources their animatronic concepts to vendors who they hope can pull off something worthy of Gringotts Bank. Disney spends tons on experimenting and pioneering where as I don't think Universal has such privilege.

Disney outsourced its Animatronic work to Garner Holt years ago

 

[IzzyB]

Because most people, AKA not hyper critical theme park fans, see this and go, "Oh wow that's cool!"

That was me then, I thought it was cool lol

 

[Teebin]

Ok but they do not have the budget to perfect their craft, let's say. Disney is over there with their very own shops creating new ways of building more realistic and believable animatronics whereas Universal out sources their animatronic concepts to vendors who they hope can pull off something worthy of Gringotts Bank. Disney spends tons on experimenting and pioneering where as I don't think Universal has such privilege.

What once was true is no longer. Today Disney might show video of a head being sculpted etc. even though the person sculpting it is a vendor. Disney hired and fired so many Imagineers over the years, they all might as well be considered vendors. Most of their robotic characters are now created by vendors. - The Kong building was sculpted in bigature and the Gringotts dragon were created in full or part in the Universal soundstages, mostly by freelancers temporarily brought onto the payroll. Today's game is a different game.

 

[TheLastAshen]

What once was true is no longer. Today Disney might show video of a head being sculpted etc. even though the person sculpting it is a vendor. Disney hired and fired so many Imagineers over the years, they all might as well be considered vendors. Most of their robotic characters are now created by vendors. - The Kong building was sculpted in bigature and the Gringotts dragon were created in full or part in the Universal soundstages, mostly by freelancers temporarily brought onto the payroll. Today's game is a different game.

Great insight, thank you.

 

[fryoj]

I suspect that the scene in the cave where the bats go flying will be the same scene in the recent concept art that shows the skull and has the bats off to the right side. We go into the temple, see the skull and bats. We meet the other truck and crew on a screen(might even be how we are told to put our glasses on. Gotta watch out for bat droppings in your eye), and when she gets all the bats going, the AA bats on the right start flapping their wings.

 

[UNIrd]

Are we even comparing apples to apples anymore? Universal's output the last few years: Forbidden Journey, Minion Mayhem, Transformers, Gringotts, Kong, etc. Disney's: Little Mermaid, Snow White Mine Train, Frozen. If Disney built E-tickets more often, you'd notice their use of SCREENZ. Wait til Avatar and Star Wars hit. You'll see.

 

[DoubleJ]

Doesn't have the budget??? Maybe pre Comcast but certainly not now. Remember, Comcast once tried to buy Disney.

Pre-Comcast, Universal Studios was 80% owned by General Electric, a much, much larger corporation. Also, bear in mind that Comcast tried to buy Disney when Comcast was at their top and Disney at their bottom. Today, however, Disney is 8% larger than Comcast (Comcast Corporation: $145 billion/Walt Disney Company $157 billion). None of this matters, however. What does matter is how much $$$, each is investing in their parks. Comcast promised stockholders in their Q3 2014 conference call that they'd cut capital expenditures (investments) in their parks after Q2 2016, in order to control spending. Currently, Comcast/Universal is spending, on average, about $550 million/year in capex on theme parks, or $110 million per park per year. In comparison, Disney spends about $2.9 billion per year, or about $265 million per park per year, or about 2.5 times what Universal does. So, yes, Universal does have the budgets to build impressive rides, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 

[Quint]

Welcome @DoubleJ :wave:

 

[Andy]

Pre-Comcast, Universal Studios was 80% owned by General Electric, a much, much larger corporation. Also, bear in mind that Comcast tried to buy Disney when Comcast was at their top and Disney at their bottom. Today, however, Disney is 8% larger than Comcast (Comcast Corporation: $145 billion/Walt Disney Company $157 billion). None of this matters, however. What does matter is how much $$$, each is investing in their parks. Comcast promised stockholders in their Q3 2014 conference call that they'd cut capital expenditures (investments) in their parks after Q2 2016, in order to control spending. Currently, Comcast/Universal is spending, on average, about $550 million/year in capex on theme parks, or $110 million per park per year. In comparison, Disney spends about $2.9 billion per year, or about $265 million per park per year, or about 2.5 times what Universal does. So, yes, Universal does have the budgets to build impressive rides, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Two things
1. Hasn't Comcast changed their entire strategy on the parks since that 2014 conference call? I'm not sure if the stockholders have been told but there is no slowing down after Q2 with park spending. It's now the largest cash flow in the entire company. Comcast is all in on the parks and spending will dramatically rise in the future if the economy keeps chugging along in Orlando.

2. Park spending at Uni is way different than Disney. Rumored cost of Kong is around 140-150 million bucks. That's all thanks to lower overhead, less middlemen, and subcontractors. Had Disney built the exact same Reign of Kong it would of easily cost imagineering 400 million somehow.

 

[Teebin]

Comcast promised stockholders in their Q3 2014 conference call that they'd cut capital expenditures (investments) in their parks after Q2 2016, in order to control spending.

Parks worldwide or US only? Because they have some awful grand plans for Hollywood, Orlando, and Japan. Perhaps they are still 51% of Japan or did they buy it all since?

Regardless, they have already dropped some really big coin in Hollywood and Orlando bringing them closer to par. One attraction per park per year and decent upkeep should suffice.

 

[Tylereapple]

Here's a preview of the upcoming Face Off episode:

 

[Mad Dog]

Two things
1. Hasn't Comcast changed their entire strategy on the parks since that 2014 conference call? I'm not sure if the stockholders have been told but there is no slowing down after Q2 with park spending. It's now the largest cash flow in the entire company. Comcast is all in on the parks and spending will dramatically rise in the future if the economy keeps chugging along in Orlando.

2. Park spending at Uni is way different than Disney. Rumored cost of Kong is around 140-150 million bucks. That's all thanks to lower overhead, less middlemen, and subcontractors. Had Disney built the exact same Reign of Kong it would of easily cost imagineering 400 million somehow.

Definitely. As an example they were so happy with the revenue results from Diagon that materialized in the Jan. 2015 quarterly report, they sent UO a huge extra amount for spending in 2015 over & above their original 2015 budget. And with the purchase of the Lockheed property too, I would imagine all of that 2014 stuff has been thrown out the window. ....Concerning Disney, two things/ 1)As HTF said, Disney costs structure is way out of hand. One reason for a new Director of Imagineering 2) The bulk of those Disney WDW costs are for infrastructure & upkeep. One result of having so much property & roads to maintain. You can't really compare Universal & Disney on that. They're two different animals.

 

[Tylereapple]

Here's a test run without the blue tarp and overall more work on the vehicle:

 

[Mad Dog]

Here's a test run without the blue tarp and overall more work on the vehicle:

Nice...Heck that sways more than the 7 Dwarfs Coaster, and Disney made a big deal out of the swaying.

 

[Teebin]

Here's a test run without the blue tarp and overall more work on the vehicle:

Was that today? Today the 24th?