Skull Island: Reign of Kong - General Discussion

[snayberry]

Can't wait to go on this ride when I go for HHN.

 

[Tylereapple]

Was that today? Today the 24th?

Yesterday.

 

[Stitch_101]

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

Totally spoiled myself on who went home this week (haven't watched this weeks episode yet) but oh well. I guess we were wrong about Kong being the finale, but it looks to be a good episode regardless.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Honestly, my imagination is running wild right now. If they combine screenz and sets anywhere close to how they did in Gringotts and FJ, then this ride should be BREATHTAKING. I'm going to take a shot in the dark....

Spoiler

could maybe when we are knocked into the pit, the creature we encounter is different depending on who is driving our car (so, maybe we drive past an AA worm which attacks us, and then we move past into a screen where the creature appears that kills our driver). Would be cool if they went that route, then we'd have to ride numerous times in order to see all the monsters. I also see they've revealed 4 creatures. We have 5 drivers, so will one driver be guaranteed an escape, or maybe one or more of the creatures will kill more than just one specific driver? As far as AA's, I'm guessing we'll get a worm and a bat (maybe multiples) since remains of those were shown in the Myth Explorer vid. As for the top of the temple...I don't see an AA going up there but who knows? I am guessing the top will definitely be utilized for the grand opening ceremony which could be themed to a Native sacrifice to Kong (Makes sense to me).

Either way, SO SO SO PSYCHED for this to open. Just sucks I most likely won't be able to ride this bad boy for several months after it opens.

 

[DoubleJ]

Welcome @DoubleJ :wave:

Thank you! Always great to feel welcomed!

 

[Cole]

You people seriously need to chill. The rides cgi looks friggin fantastic, insanely close to the film and it'll look 10x better in person. Cool down everybody, you'll live.

The truck has the perfect speed, love rides that linger on scenes and moments. That outside portion looks sick as hell

 

[DoubleJ]

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.

They could certainly have changed direction on park spending. Diagon Alley brought a great deal of extra revenue to UO and that gave a lot more confidence to investors who are less wary of additional development, still future park spending hasn't been brought up since, so no certain confirmation. However, in terms of development domestically, I'm less optimistic. As it is Universal is riding a growth wave domestically (especially in Orlando, and Hollywood should be picking up after Hogsmeade opens in a few weeks), therefore it makes little sense to continue to build more E tickets (Much more efficient to make small growth large than to make large growth larger). Not sure if this will be a trend but I think the choice to build the first Nintendo land at USJ is more than for obvious reasons and could signal a shift to invest more on the foreign parks which desperately need more attractions in order to keep pace with demand (USJ is VERY crowded and the customer experience is in decline thanks to huge waits). Not to mention, unless there is a surge in overall park investment (highly unlikely), Nintendo land in Japan (Budget of $350 million) will certainly strain the budgets of the domestic parks. Again, could be wrong, but that's how I see it.

On your second point. Overall, although it may certainly seem more costly, Disney's costs are actually far more in line with Universal's than one would think. Diagon Alley cost was supposedly $256 million for the redevelopment of approx. 7 acres, New Fantasyland had a reported budget of $300 million for the redevelopment of 9 acres. Therefore on a cost per acre basis DA>NFL. Similarly, Radiator Springs Racers (a ride which has the largest footprint of any non-rollercoaster ride that I know of, 6 acres just for the ride) cost a reported $200 million, I wouldn't say that was inefficient especially when Hogsmeade at Universal Hollywood is costing $500 million according to the Los Angeles Times and is roughly the same size. There are obvious challenges to any comparisons such as these, but I don't think it's fair to say that Disney's costs especially when making locations similar (Hollywood is far more costly than Florida, for example, or Paris is far more costly than Anaheim) show that Disney is somehow less efficient. There have certainly been cost overruns (MyMagic+ comes to mind) but that doesn't mean there's systemic inefficiency.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Holy crap guys, I just realized something.

Spoiler

Kate McCaffery is blonde! Kong has a thing for blondes. I think Epcyclopedia may have hit the nail on the head as to what her fate may be (ie: Kong takes her away).

 

[alomar]

You people seriously need to chill. The rides cgi looks friggin fantastic, insanely close to the film and it'll look 10x better in person. Cool down everybody, you'll live.

The truck has the perfect speed, love rides that linger on scenes and moments. That outside portion looks sick as hell

Just my own opinion

 

[DoubleJ]

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.

General maintenance is excluded as those are traditionally recurring expenses. Major road construction and renovations (aka repaving and replacement) are included but those expenditures are generally insignificant for both companies. Lately, that's not necessarily been the case (new parking structures galore), but for most years.

 

[DoubleJ]

Holy crap guys, I just realized something.

Spoiler

Kate McCaffery is blonde! Kong has a thing for blondes. I think Epcyclopedia may have hit the nail on the head as to what her fate may be (ie: Kong takes her away).

I'm skeptical (safety issues), but that would be AWESOME!!!

 

[Cwoolboy]

Sorry for the multiple posts, but this will be the last one for tonight. It's late and my pillow is calling to me

Spoiler

As far as the front cabin for our truck, Jim Hill said that we would hear our driver over the audio system and would not be able to actually see him/her. Not sure if he's hiding details, hasn't been told the full deal, or is just wrong....but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Mad Dog]

General maintenance is excluded as those are traditionally recurring expenses. Major road construction and renovations (aka repaving and replacement) are included but those expenditures are generally insignificant for both companies. Lately, that's not necessarily been the case (new parking structures galore), but for most years.

Disney's less than historical capex in the last ten years are catching up to them. Parents of 4 does some really good statistical analysis of Disney's capital improvements and their general lack of maintenance spending over at Magic. And frankly, only some of those capital expenditures went to the four theme parks & 2 water parks. a lot of that capital expenditure was for DVC conversions and the like.Yes maintenance is a re occurring expense, but when it's neglected it often creates a need for capital expenditures and that's what I was referring to.....Lot's of things have changed at Comcast the last two years. Theme park revenue increases are through the roof, higher than anticipated. and some of the events happening in the cable business, both market place and legal, would encourage them to divert resources to the parks which have been a money printing business thus far with a bright future. They've recently made a number of moves that weren't anticipated in 2014, the Japan majority purchase & the Lockheed purchase fell into place. Cabana did above expectations and there's sure to be a lot of additional hotel building. Then Nintendo fell into place also. 2014 is already ancient history. As I've said before, I've followed Comcast since they've been a small cable company. Their roots are Pa. They've always been a very aggressive company, and once they decide to go after a market, they dive right in, no holds bar. That's their corporate philosophy. They operate different than a Disney that looks at short term profits. Comcast is in the game for the future and long term profits. They see an opportunity to grab a significant share of the theme park/resort business. They smell blood like a shark concerning Disney. While I respect your opinion, I think your analysis is faulty. Of course, only time will tell, but I'm betting on Comcast continuing to expand at a high level....Nice to see you join the forum. looking forward to more discussions.

 

[Brian G.]

Welcome @DoubleJ

 

[Ryan O]

Hey guys so in the Mike West creature reveal video we got 3 creatures the bat, slug, and the dinosaur. I follow Universal Orlando on snapchat -universalorl - and that reveals 5 total. 2 more of which are just as, if not more menacing than what already was revealed.

 

[Cole]

My guess is one creature per driver. I want to draw attention to those spider crab things because nobody is talking about them. Talk about friggin nightmare fuel, woof

 

[Brian G.]

Hey guys so in the Mike West creature reveal video we got 3 creatures the bat, slug, and the dinosaur. I follow Universal Orlando on snapchat -universalorl - and that reveals 5 total. 2 more of which are just as, if not more menacing than what already was revealed.

They revealed all 5 in the PR.

 

[AzaJ12345]

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

So, as far as I can see there is nothing in the front of the RV, which begs the question, why cover it in tarp in the first place? Anyone able to shed any light?

 

[snes2]

You people seriously need to chill. The rides cgi looks friggin fantastic, insanely close to the film and it'll look 10x better in person. Cool down everybody, you'll live.

The truck has the perfect speed, love rides that linger on scenes and moments. That outside portion looks sick as hell

The CGI looks pretty bad and is nowhere as good as the film. The film is also over 10 years old so, there's no excuse as to why it can't be as good if not better.

 

[JoeCamel]

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

Did you notice that the doors are not operating during these runs? Maybe they are gunshy after EFG and want to put them into the mix later on.