King Kong Now Open

[MizMissy]

I've seen reports that the new ride is now open.

Has anyone ridden it yet?

Any first hand accounts??

Thanks!!

[buzznwoodysmom]

We were hoping to get a chance to ride it a few weeks ago. They did have soft openings while we were there, but the line of people waiting was crazy long. Would love to hear reviews. The exterior looked pretty amazing!

[Arielfan98]

I looked up a video on YouTube and I am not impressed. It looks like every other ride they produce at Universal. It is a more extreme copy of the King Kong experience at Universal Hollywood. I expected it to be like the Indiana Jones/Dinosaur ride, but no....more simulators....

[Crow]

boo. i was looking forward to it and to riding it in Sept

[RAIDER]

Can't wait to go in Dec ..saw the ride on YouTube and it looks amazing

[Mr. Mouse 2 You]

We were there the week of 7/18, and finally braved the posted 2 hour Wait Time to ride "Skull Island: Reign of Kong". I'll preface this by saying my opinion might be somewhat clouded by the ~45 minute "We are experiencing a brief interruption in our operation..." delay while we were in queue, unforgivable with a brand-new attraction that's already posting 2 and 3 hour wait times. All in all though, I unfortunately have to say I was pretty underwhelmed.

Yes, the physical structure itself, and the theming, is very impressive, there's no question Universal spent a boatload of money on this attraction. The technology coordinating the 3D visuals with the truck motion is also very well done, but bottom line - you're still just riding in a trackless vehicle, so there's a very limited amount of actual motion that's possible. The effect pales in comparison to what Universal was able to accomplish in their 2 major Harry Potter attractions: Gringott's & Forbidden Journey. Worst of all, the ride seems to play through extremely quickly; I'd seen preview posts that heralded a roughly 6-1/2 minute ride time, but they were obviously including the time to drive from the loading area to the gates of the actual "ride" area.

Once the wait times drop it shouldn't be as much of a disappointment, and most of the queue area will be indoors (with much of the outdoor area under cover) so it's a good place to beat the heat and occasional Florida rain squalls, but overall I have to report the hype VASTLY exceeds the reality. Sorry.