Skull Island: Reign of Kong

Skull Island: Reign of Kong is a dark thrill ride located in the Skull Island section of Islands of Adventure. It opened on July 13, 2016, and is loosely based on the 2005 remake of King Kong by Peter Jackson, and features the title character in a starring role. The ride is an expanded version of King Kong 360 3D, a segment at Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour. The ride borrows the concept of a safari through Skull Island interrupted by the dangerous wildlife, before being saved by Kong, with the effects provided via 3D screen projections on both sides of the vehicle. The major upgrade between this ride and King Kong 360 3D is the addition of animatronics, a more scenic queue, and a bigger storyline.

History
When Universal Studios Florida first opened on June 7, 1990, one of the headlining attractions was Kongfrontation, a ride based on the 1977 remake of King Kong where guests attempted to evacuate New York City during the title character's rampage that took place in the final act of the film. The ride was closed in 2002 for unknown reasons, though it is speculated that the animatronic figures of King Kong featured in the ride were unreliable, and required a lot of maintenance. Revenge of the Mummy currently sits in the spot that Kongfrontation formerly occupied.

In 2015, guests reported seeing construction occuring near the left entrance to the Jurassic Park section of Islands of Adventure, which included this entrance's version of the iconic Jurassic Park gate being removed. Rumors began to point towards a new ride based on the recent sequel Jurassic World, due to the location of the construction. In early 2016, Universal later announced that almost fifteen years after the closure of Kongfrontation, King Kong would be returning to Universal Orlando Resort in a new ride at Islands of Adventure. Skull Island: Reign of Kong opened on July 13, 2016 as the eighth and newest island at the park. The attraction itself is considered its own island as it is the only major landmark in the area, save for a gift shop cart that sells merchandise specifically focused on the ride and King Kong.

Setting
Although the ride is clearly set on Skull Island, it's unknown where in the timeline of the film it is set. Some reports say that it serves as a prequel to the 2005 film it is based on, but there is no proof of this, especially since the safari group behind the ride is called the Eighth Wonder Expedition Company. Carl Denham, who deemed Kong as the Eighth Wonder of the World in the film, previously had no knowledge of the ape prior to landing on Skull Island, which makes this theory unlikely. The other popular theory is that this ride takes place in an alternate timeline in which either Denham or another entrepreneur created a tourist attraction for Skull Island rather than bringing Kong to New York City. One of the major elements of the ride that supports this theory is that one of the five drivers in the ride is the nephew of Denham.

Queue
Guests enter under a giant stone gate sculpted to resemble the head of King Kong. Most of the queue line is set indoors, in what appears to be a settlement of the Skull Island natives. Interestingly, the queue line of this ride sometimes features scare-actors, performers who usually appear during Halloween Horror Nights, dressed as natives to scare guests. An animatronic worm in captivity can be seen in the queue, as well as another of a native shamaness that is performing a ritual, and possibly warning the guests that they are in grave danger. After listening to the shamaness, guests enter another area where they acquire their 3D glasses for the ride, and board safari trucks. The driver is an animatronic, with five different tour guides that offer different commentary for the ride.

The five drivers are:
 * Becky Callahan: A cowgirl that anticipates the dangers of Skull Island.
 * Will Denham: Nephew of filmmaker Carl Denham from the 2005 film.
 * Jinks Costanza: A former criminal who is slightly worried about the mysteries behind Skull Island.
 * Kalana: An ambassador between the Eighth Wonder Expedition Company and the Skull Island natives.
 * Charles "Doc" Jordan: A paleontologist taking time off to explore the world

Ride Experience
During adaquete weather, the safari truck will travel outside, entering a large stone temple built by the natives, who can be heard chanting as the truck enters the temple. During rainy weather, the truck will skip this segment, and take a shortcut that leads to the entrance of the temple. The temple features animatronics of Terapusmordax creatures that resemble giant bats without fur, asleep and hanging upside down. A second group of explorers, which includes a woman named Kate, are seen setting up camp in the temple. All is well until one of the explorers lights a flare and tosses it off to the side, waking a large swarm of Terapusmordax. This same explorer is caught by one of the creatures, but it drops him when Kate grabs his leg to prevent him from being taken away. Unfortunately, the creature then goes after Kate, but rather than return the favor, the other survivor runs off into the nearby truck, leaving Kate to be flown to a swamp area, where the tour truck follows.

In the swamp, Kate begins to be attacked by numerous giant bugs, specifically a leech-like Carnictis, and spider-like Arachno-claws. Kate tells the driver to leave, but they refuse, only leaving after Kate is captured and taken into a cave by another creature. The truck enters a forest where several Velociraptors begin to attack. While trying to escape, the truck runs into a pair of Vastatosaurus Rexes, an evolved version of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, on both sides of the vehicle. The V-Rexes eat some of the raptors, causing the others to flee. The V-Rexes then focus their attention on the guests in the truck, and begin to attack the truck in an attempt to reach the guests. King Kong eventually arrives and begins to attack the two dinos, while the truck that previously drove off without Kate arrives to help the guests.

However, the ongoing fight between Kong and the V-Rexes causes the trucks to fall into a pit, where they are caught by vines. One of the dinos is not caught by the vines, leaving one left. Kong continues to fight the final V-Rex as the truck swings on the vines holding it. He accidentally causes the truck to fall from the vines, but catches it and sets it on a nearby cliff, saving the driver and the guests.

In the next room, the truck encounters a massive animatronic of Kong, face-to-face with the big ape himself. Unfortunately, he begins to show aggression shortly after observing the guests, forcing the driver to leave. The riders then return to the outpost, where Kate and the other explorers of her team report that they are going to be okay.

Trivia

 * This is the second ride at Universal Orlando Resort to feature King Kong. The previous ride was Kongfrontation, which closed in 2002 to make way for Revenge of the Mummy. Both rides are expanded versions of segments at Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour, specifically King Kong Encounter and King Kong 360 3D. The latter was a replacement attraction after the former was heavily damaged in an accidental fire.
 * Unlike its predecessor, Kongfrontation, which was based on the first remake of King Kong from 1976, Skull Island: Reign of Kong is based on the second remake from 2005 by Peter Jackson.
 * Andy Serkis, who previously worked with Peter Jackson as the motion capture artist and voice of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films, teamed up with Jackson again for this film as the motion capture artist for Kong. It is unknown if he performed motion capture of the character for Skull Island: Reign of Kong.
 * When the ride opened in 2016, it was just one year shy of being fifteen years since Kongfrontation closed at sister park Universal Studios Florida.
 * Much like the Jurassic Park attractions at Islands of Adventure, along with Transformers: The Ride and E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Florida, there are no major human characters from the respective film that the ride is based on that reappear for this ride.
 * However, one of the drivers is Will Denham, the nephew of Carl Denham, the character portrayed by Jack Black in the film.
 * Although the ride opened a little under a year prior to the release of Kong: Skull Island, in addition to featuring a similar title, the ride is not associated with the film, and is instead based entirely on the 2005 version of the character.