| Skull Island: Reign of Kong
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| Directed by
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Thierry Coup, Mike West[1]
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| Distributor
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Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Orlando Resort
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Skull Island: Reign of Kong is a theme park attraction classified as a "trackless dark ride" at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park within the greater Universal Studios Orlando resort, which opened July 13, 2016. It was adapted from Universal Studios Hollywood's King Kong: 360 3-D tram tour stop, and until 2024 was presented in 3D, but reports claim this change will be temporary. The ride presents itself as a prequel to the 2005 film, but supposes that Skull Island was discovered by Sir Robert Ashmore Wallace in 1931, two years before Carl Denham's expedition.
Summary
Opening Ceremony
Dr. Horace Clark welcomes a fresh-faced crowd of new recruits to Skull Island as part of the Eighth Wonder Expedition Company's efforts before introducing them to Kate McCaffery and her two lead explorers Joe and Juan. She commends the new explorers, but is quickly distracted by Dr. Clark when he starts reading a mysterious incantation from the journal of a fallen explorer. A cloud of fog then encroaches, and McCaffery grabs the journal to try and find out what Clark had done. A native "Sha-woman" then emerges from the fog, chanting ominously. Kate flips through the journal and realizes that the mystic woman is evoking "Kong," the island's mysterious god, and a great beast roars behind the wall as jets of flame shoot into the air. The native woman then disappears back into the fog, and Kate encourages the new explorers to accompany her as she tries to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Queue
Guests enter the queue through the ruins of a stone monument to Kong near Skull Island's massive wall. Within the shadow of the wall, Eighth Wonder Expedition Company, a group established by Sir Robert Ashmore Wallace, has begun surveying the island after the great explorer stumbled upon it by airplane. NBC radio coverage of their activities plays over the loudspeakers, presented by radio host Richard Armstrong, and featuring interviews with various members of the expedition. Journeying deeper into the catacombs of the ancient city, one of the native tribe's warriors can sometimes be seen through a gap in the wall spying on interlopers while the native "shawoman" can be seen chanting at passersby. Approaching the ride's loading area, guests pass a series of expedition crates including a live Carnictis specimen in a glass tank before grabbing a set of 3D glasses, referred to as "safety goggles" before boarding the expedition truck.
Main Attraction
Guests take on the role of new recruits for Eighth Wonder Expedition Co, and board a huge expedition vehicle driven by one of five varying animatronic "spielers" who present the ride's story. These characters include adventurous Texan cowgirl Becky Callaghan, Will Denham, plucky nephew of famous filmmaker Carl Denham, superstitious ex-con Frank "Jinks" Costanza, paleontologist Charles "Doc" Jordan, and Kalana, a native of a neighboring island said to have also been settled by the ancient civilization that built Skull Island's wall.
The recruits depart from the base camp to deliver supplies to zoologist Kate McCaffery's survey team, who are setting traps in one of the newly discovered underground caverns. The truck drives through the giant gate doors, to the sounds of native chants, and enter a cave. Passing by the skeletal remains of a Megaprimatus and some fidgeting Terapusmordax, the truck driver usually remarks that the "Kong" they have been hearing about is likely already dead. They then arrive at McCaffery's worksite, where she greets the driver and directs them to park. She calls to her teammate "Flores Joe," who launches a flare deeper into the tunnels to give them more light. Unfortunately, this stirs a colony of bat-like creatures that McCaffery refers to as "flying rats," who are quickly followed by three Terapusmordaxes. One tries to take Joe away, but Kate grabs hold of his legs to yank him free. The two then try to take refuge in their nearby vehicle, but Kate is grabbed herself, and the beast carries her away with the truck following in pursuit. The Terapusmordax flew in over one of the island's notorious mud pits, where Kate was able to cut off its leg with a machete, forcing it to drop her. As the creatures of the pit emerge to attack Kate and the truck, she uses a machine gun to ward them off and insists the truck take the guests to safety before an Deplector grabs her and pulls her out of sight.
Emerging into the jungle, radio calls from base camp indicate that everyone is being called back to regroup after Kate's disappearance. However, the trucks are surrounded and chased by a pack of Venatosaurus. The Venatosaurs chase the trucks along the side of the cliff until running into a trio of Vastatosaurus rexes. After snatching some of the Venatosaurs, the Vastatosaurs turn their attention to the trucks, only for King Kong to come to the rescue. As the battling creatures jump over and slam into our truck, a sliding V-rex ends up pulling the second truck into the vines of the canyon. Swinging between a V-rex and a Arachno-claw, Kong rescues the on-screen truck from the V-rex on top of it and sets it down gently before helping our own. Kong pounds his chest in victory before leaping up the cliff, with our truck getting an up close encounter with an animatronic Kong as he rests from the battle. As the truck leaves Kong and returns back to base, a radio message comes in revealing that Kate had managed to escape.
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Jolene Andersen as Kate McCaffery
- Jean-Francois Donaldson as "Doc" Jordan
- Daimon Poitier as "Flores Joe"
- John Connon as Dr. Horace Clark
Appearances
Monsters
Characters
- Kate McCaffery
- Flores Joe
- Will Denham
- Charles "Doc" Jordan
- Kalana
- Becky Callaghan
- Frank "Jinks" Costanza
- Dr. Marian Creelman
- Richard Armstrong (Queue)
- Dr. Alonzo Sanchez (Queue)
- Robert Ashmore Wallace (Queue)
- Carl Denham (Mentioned)
- Dr. Horace Clark (Opening Ceremony)
- Juan (Opening Ceremony)
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
- Argo (mentioned)
- HP Sembler's Modified Opel Blitz "Expeditionary transport"
- Thompson submachine gun
- Skull Islanders
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Gallery
Promotional art
Screenshots
Videos
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| Making of Skull Island: Reign of Kong - The Story
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| Making of Skull Island: Reign of Kong - The Vehicle
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| Making of Skull Island: Reign of Kong - The Creatures
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| Making of Skull Island: Reign of Kong - The Encounter
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| Science of Universal Orlando Resort segment
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Trivia
- In the event of thunderstorms and other severe weather, the ride's trackless vehicle system allows the trucks to bypass the outdoor drive up to the gates and directly enter the caves. For several years, the ride has defaulted to this abridged format to save on maintenance costs.
- 3D glasses and effects were removed from the attraction in February 2024 to cut costs.
- From the attraction's opening until 2019, a scare actor playing a native warrior would occasionally jump-scare guests in the catacombs section of the queue.
- The ending of Will Denham's audio spiel has him remarking that he should tell his uncle Carl about the island, setting the events of the original story into motion.
- 887 skulls are scattered throughout the attraction[2]
- Several characters heard during the ride queue take their names from staff that worked on the original 1933 King Kong film. Sir Robert Ashmore Wallace takes his name from Robert Armstrong, the original actor who played Carl Denham, and two of the film's scriptwriters James Ashmore Creelman and Edgar Wallace. Richard Armstrong's name is also a reference to Robert Armstrong, with the first name Richard possibly referring to Richard Merian Cooper, son of Merian C. Cooper, whose name alongside Creelman's is used to construct the name of the expedition dispatcher Marian Creelman.
References
This is a list of references for Skull Island: Reign of Kong. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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