King Kong Project Update: A Truly Imposing Facade
The future King Kong themed area of Universal's Islands of Adventure continues to take shape in front of the eyes of many Guests walking by the construction zone. While the most obvious changes can be seen observing the outer facade of this massive new building, plenty of work is taking place behind the scenes, as the ride track, multiple sets, and Audio-Animatronic figures (hopefully!) have to be installed or tested. Come and take a look around with us:
A view of the construction zone from Toon Lagoon:
From the entrance of Jurassic Park:
A closer look at the rockwork:
The flat mountain range:
A few behind-the-wall shots (always taken from Guest areas):
The view from above:
And that is all for now. Before concluding, remember to like us on our official Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for live updates from the parks. If you would like to make a donation to OTPN, feel free to use the big "DONATE" button on the sidebar. Thank you for your support, and see you again real soon!
PHOTOS BY: Alex, Official Orlando Theme Park News Team Member and Photographer.
Is it just me or does it seem odd to anybody else that it looks like the inside of the building is still nothing but dirt yet they are already finishing up rock work on half of the facade?
ReplyDeleteGranted, with these pictures we can't see the whole floor of the building but I can see the back walls of the building so that means no sets or anything are in place and at least the front half of the building is all dirt. It also seems strange that they have the huge hole in the building to begin with..
"Is it just me or does it seem odd to anybody else that it looks like the inside of the building is still nothing but dirt"
ReplyDeleteShhhhh! If they actually built it from the ground up the anti-Disney people wouldn't be able to crow "look how fast Uni builds something!!" and knock Avatar's progress (and its 1000s of yards of concrete and tons of steel in the groung)
I really hope this ride doesn't have any screens...
ReplyDeleteIt's screens. That's why the building is empty. You can watch the movie they'll show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjkaIkjT82o
ReplyDeleteI think Universal own team and sub contractors build the building and do the outdoor theming then another company will do the ride system,another the special events/screens and then Universal team will finish it off. Now with Universal they open a new ride/area 1 at a time so all there eggs are put into 1 basket so it does take them a lot quicker but Disney I notice have build Disney Springs quite quickly as they know as soon as they build a restaurant/shops the more money will be coming in from rent from outside retail companies.
ReplyDeleteBut once again, it is a ride with screens. Yeah, it is a lot faster when your ride is already prefab. How about making something outside the box?
ReplyDeleteI really hope they do something to make it more thrilling if they plan to copy the Hollywood version. Sure the Hollywood version is fun once, but the sight lines are awful, the "motion" is a joke, and the special effects are not placed and used well.
ReplyDeleteUniversal really needs to come out with a ride that doesn't use a single screen. A Kong version of "Dinosaur" would have been awesome!
Kong, Avatar, HP, like many others just scream for a real physical environment for its attraction. And I mean the ride itself not the queue.
ReplyDeleteBut physical sets take space, money, time. Corporate only has so much of the first 2, and the entitlement crowd wants instant gratification.
So we get screens and over-hyped queues that we're supposed to faint over.
The golden age of the theme park is gone, put to rest by simulators, low attention span self entitled impatient guests who don't wouldn't know what a truly "immersive experience" is if it smacked them in the face.
These are people that would come out of a 24th century Holodeck adventure on Hoth and complain that it was too cold and their precious snowflake kiddies were scared by the Tauntans. "Disney/Uni needs to fix this, its too intense!!!"
I agree with the criticisms of the Hollywood ride. This needs to be far better to make an impact and to justify the expense of building the facade etc. Guests need to feel like they really are going into the jungle, entering another world. We need to really see and feel something, kind of like...what was it called...Kongfrontation! You really felt like you'd been somewhere with that attraction. Transformers however, I forgot about it 5 mins later.
ReplyDeleteJust rode Gringotts and Forbidden Journey for the first time last Sunday........... Journey is easily the most intense, wild dark rides I've ever ridden! Best? In my top 5 for sure - but no one can say that ride lacks. Even my bros, who aren't theme park nerds, understood my argument that if Universal keeps this pace up - soon - a large quantity of children will want to be there, and not inspired by EPCOT.
ReplyDeleteCalm Down people. This won't be just screens. There is a well themed outdoor ride portion, a number of state of the art animatronics including an advanced Kong robot. Huge amounts of rockwork inside and out. Physical effects and sets in addition to one screen room. There are large sections of concrete foundations poured several meters thick already. They want to make sure they don't have a yeti problem if you know what I mean!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen will it be ready?
ReplyDelete