Being a Kongoisseur (growing up with Kongfrontation, and also having done USH classic and Kong 360), Skull Island: Reign of Kong is more than a worthy successor to the Kong attraction legacy. It could be my favorite interpretation yet.
I was lucky enough (unlucky?) to have to spend 1 hour and 45 minutes in queue waiting for my first ride, but it gave me so much time to take it all in: listening to the old-timey NBC broadcasts about the Eighth Wonder Expedition Co., the period music, etc and seeing all the details. You will miss this if the line is not long, but oh well. Revenge of the Mummy has been one of me and my friend's favorite attractions for 12 years since it opened. And I bet none of them could tell you who Reggie is.
Once you get into the temple, things take a dark turn with the witches room and the controversial boo holes. It's fun to see a non-HHN crowd getting unnerved at the possibility of being scared, but ultimately the queue was tamer than I expected. Creepy, yes. But full on scary? Not really. No disappointment here though. The queue for Kong is not where I expect to score full-on jump scares.
As for the ride, they continue to outdo themselves, especially in the realm of 3D. I could not believe the amount of depth they were able to achieve. Also the sync with the motion, the effects and the sound is incredible. It's an incredibly visceral experience. The vine swinging effect is my absolute favorite. I was on the left side of the car both times (don't cry for me. I absolutely loved it) and it felt like I was inches away from being snapped up by the TRex's jaws (absolutely loved the spit effect here).
King Kong (2005) is one of my favorite movies and they absolutely brought it to life. The vine swinging scene alone, I thought to myself, "Wow. I'm Naomi Watts right now."
I could not have been more pleased with the ability of this ride to immerse and enthrall. Then when you get a glimpse of the AA (I say glimpse because again.. left side), it's one last completely awe-inspiring moment and a wonderful nod to the original attractions.
The ride isn't perfect. For us proclaiming how massive the building is from the time it was built to now, there's not much you can fit in there. It's essentially just 3-4 scenes and it does feel short, even if it really isn't. Also, Kate does get a bit video game looking at times, which seems to be a fault with Fast & Furious over in Hollywood too. There's something about this tech that they can't get the humans just right.
But overall, they've done Kong an immense amount of justice. He's back in Orlando where he belongs in an attraction that easily ranks as one of the best in the whole resort. Thanks to Universal's output the last few years, that list just keeps growing and growing.
