Almost exactly two years ago, Universal Orlando Resort added an expansion to its immensely popular Islands of Adventure Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction by opening Diagon Alley in the neighboring Universal Studios Florida park. It was (and still is) a tremendous success, but now it’s time for another new attraction to take center stage, and who better to usurp the dragon than King Kong himself?

Opening this summer is Skull Island: Reign of Kong, a brand new attraction located in Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, just steps away from the Jurassic Park area. While the ride isn’t yet open to the public, I had the pleasure of attending a sneak peek last week along with a group of reporters, where I got to ride the new attraction, explore the jaw-dropping queue, and speak with some of the people responsible for bringing Kong back to life, including Universal Creative Show Producer Adam Rivest.

skull-island-reign-of-kong-wall
Image via Universal

King Kong famously had a long-running attraction at Universal Studios Florida called Kongfrontation for over a decade until it closed in 2002 to make way for the swell dark coaster Revenge of the Mummy. Now, Universal is reviving the iconic film character with Skull Island: Reign of Kong, which is a multi-dimensional thrill ride through a 1930s-set expedition to the titular Skull Island via a trackless expedition vehicle.

Let’s get this out of the way: the ride is a lot of fun. You sit in a 72-seater expedition vehicle and slowly explore the far reaches of Skull Island, where you encounter giant bugs, dinosaurs, and King Kong himself. The ride utilizes the 3D technology that Universal has become known for, but in an innovative and thrilling way that further immerses you into the story. Moreover, while it houses one of the most impressive 3D screens yet, there are also plenty of tremendous practical elements that make the ride come alive, from the stunning outside façade to the intense queue to your personal, animatronic driver. And yes, there is an animatronic Kong to be found (spoiler alert: it’s absolutely stunning) so don’t worry.

skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-image-5
Image via Universal

Moreover, the queue for the ride is a pretty terrific feat unto itself. It builds the tension as you walk through the dark caverns and catacombs of Skull Island, and in one room you’re greeted by an animatronic Shawoman warning of “Kong” as chanting and music builds and swells to a near-oppressive volume. You may also be in for a surprise as you’re walking through the tighter spaces of the queue, as Universal is putting its Halloween Horror Nights performers to good use as natives that pop out and scare folks as they walk through—so tread carefully... Long story short, Skull Island: Reign of Kong is a must-ride attraction for those venturing to Universal Orlando, and it marks yet another step forward in Universal’s innovation of the “thrill ride” format. While it moves at a much slower pace than the more coaster-skewing Wizarding World rides, it's more about effective immersion than quick drops or spins. Skull Island surprisingly scary but also really satisfying, and those who have been missing King Kong from the Universal parks will no doubt be happy about his triumphant return.

Below, I’ve assembled a list of 15 key things to know about the ride, from statistics to more specifics about what you’re in for. Take a look.

  • skull-island-reign-of-kong-vehicle
    Image via Universal
    The story of Skull Island: Reign of Kong takes place in 1931, predating the Carl Denham expedition of the 1933 original film. As a rider, you join the Eighth Wonder Expedition Company, which is searching Skull Island for creatures of unknown origin.
  • The attraction, including the queue, is roughly 150,000 square feet. Nearly ever piece of it was hand-carved, resulting in about 70,000 man-hours to bring the attraction to life.
  • The queue fluctuates from small spaces to large spaces in order to increase the tension as you’re waiting to board the ride.
  • They spent just as much time developing the queue as they did the ride, with the idea being that parkgoers are immediately immersed into the world of 1931—there are no video monitors and the technology available (like fans) looks period appropriate.
  • The entire ride lasts 6 minutes and 10 seconds.
  • The ride vehicles are Universal’s first trackless vehicles and are 40-feet long, with each able to hold 72 people. Vehicles dispatch every 2 minutes, with four on the track at any given time, and they can move 2,000 people through the ride every hour.
  • Each vehicle has an animatronic driver who interacts with the riders, but instead of using the same driver for every vehicle, there are five different drivers, each with different dialogue and storylines, so riders can experience the ride in very different ways.
  • skull-island-reign-of-kong-animatronic
    Image via Universal
    The five different drivers are Becky Callahan, a loose-cannon cowgirl unfazed by the dangers ahead; Will Denham, the fresh-faced adventure-seeking cousin of filmmaker Carl Denham; Kalana, a mystical descendent of the natives who first settled on the island; Jinks Costanza, a hardened New York City ex-con who’s wary of the island’s mysteries; and Charles “Doc” Jordan, a PhD student in paleontology who is taking time off from his studies to explore the world.
  • Using trackless vehicles was a herculean challenge for the engineering team, but they wanted to fully immerse riders into the world without feeling like they were on a ride.
  • The ride has no official affiliation with the upcoming Legendary/Warner Bros. film Skull Island.
  • For the Kong animatronic, they spent a long time getting him exactly right, going all the way down to pore detail in the skin.
  • There are no explicit nods to the Kongfrontation
  • The beginning of the ride travels outside and up through the massive gates leading to Skull Island, but they engineered an optional bypass route that stays entirely inside so that if there’s inclement weather, they don’t have to shut the ride down. It results in a slightly shorter ride experience.
  • There’s a horseshoe-shaped screen utilized in the ride that’s the longest they’ve ever created at Universal Orlando. Parts of this portion of the ride were pulled from King Kong: 360 3-D in Universal Studios Hollywood, albeit remastered in 4K.
  • They had free-reign to interpret designs how they saw fit, but they drew a lot from Peter Jackson’s King Kong film given that it’s an established Universal picture.

King Kong is synonymous with Universal Pictures, so to see him back at Universal Orlando—and in such a triumphant fashion—is exciting. Again, Skull Island: Reign of Kong is a home run from the Universal Creative team, and is very much worth your while. Check out even more sneak peek photos of the ride below, and experience it yourself this summer at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

skull-island-reign-of-kong-ride-image
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-shawoman
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-image
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-image-2
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-natives
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-image-4
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-expedition
Image via Universal
kull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-image-2
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-image
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-queue-image-3
Image via Universal
skull-island-reign-of-kong-animatronic-image
Image via Universal
The new @universalorlando King Kong ride is pretty intense. Our full review, coming soon. A photo posted by ColliderNews (@collidernews) on