How do soft openings run??

[damo]

So, nobody is going to give us their opinions on the ride?

 

[Djscarlette]

34"

Thank you! My son will be so excited he's tall enough. He just watched the movie and loved it.

 

[macraven]

So, nobody is going to give us their opinions on the ride?

I'm thinking the same thing damo....
Waiting for what peeps think of that ride

 

[helenb]

We really enjoyed it, the outdoor portion is shorter than I had expected. We rode it again tonight at about 9:30 pm and waited less than 5 minutes. There is a lot of stuff happening on both sides of the vehicle. You almost need to ride it multiple times just to see it all!

 

[Disxuni]

Sorry! I didn't know if that would be considered off topic, or not. Since this topic was specific about the timing of soft openings.

Without giving too much away of major spoilers, here's what I personally have to say about the ride in more detail.

Queue seems intense I would say for children, even without the scare actors. I'll just say there is one area of the queue where it is quite obvious that is the area for the scare actors to appear, however due to the soft openings, or perhaps it might be due to the time, they were not present. There is a lot of hiding places in that area, however I do want to say it's one area of the queue, not throughout. So, people who might have been worried about that, I hope that eases their feelings about it. Also, there is a certain AA in the queue that I thought was quite impressive, but I'm sure some people know what I'm talking about, but I'll just keep it vague for now.

As we know it's combo of 3D and an AA Kong (or at least I think it's common knowledge on here). That being said...

3D portions of the ride were great, especially if you're on the side of the vehicle. You feel as if you're really there, especially since there is "4D" elements to the ride. Downside is if you're in the front row, it will be extremely difficult to enjoy the full potential of the ride, as in front of you is the truck portion. Also, I have to say is during the ride you have to whip your head back and forth to see all elements of the 3D portion, which is impossible to see if you're in the first row, especially if you're all the way on one side (spoiler alert, it happened to me).

Where to sit? While there's action throughout the ride on both sides, I'll just have to say though, that in future reference that the right side might be best (meaning when you sit in a row you're on the right) if you have to be strictly on one side, or the other. However, probably being in the middle is great (not only truck wise, but row wise), since it would be more easy to move your head and enjoy the both sides. Also, this is the one ride where it's probably best that you're in the back. I just think it would be easier to take it all in that way.

As for the AA I personally was impressed with it. I do not know about what other people have been saying, but as someone who is a huge fan of the technology and history of audio animatronics, Kong personally fascinated me due to his size, his subtle movements, and detail. He doesn't move a lot, which probably works in Universals favor (as the original Kong didn't often work and they ended up cutting down his functionality for him to work back in the day), however, it's not needed. His size and detail is what makes this creature great, in my opinion.

One thing I am confused about is that when we first heard about the different tour guides, Universal made it sound as if each tour guide had a different backstory and what not, and well, I do not really know my tour guides "backstory" is, nor did they say too much. So, did I misunderstand that bit and that it is the story itself (meaning 3D portions) are different, or am I missing something?

 

[macraven]

Did read what you gave us on other sites already
Most state avoid front rows if possible

I always enjoy reading the experiences of others
Thanks for sharing yours

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

I rode it yesterday and will state I am not familiar with the premise of Skull Island so my experience may be different than a fan's. After confirming the procedures with the cast members for the soft opening, we headed back over to Kong after 3pm and got in the soft opening line which is off stage. We probably got into the line around 3:10pm and I looked up probably 15-20 minutes later and realized they had shut the gate to the line. Around 3:45pm they let us into the main queue section.

I enjoyed the queue, particularly the inside. Great place to be waiting in line if it is raining. I had heard of the scare actors and was able to be prepared so it didn't bother me much. The screams from the guests ahead of you is very helpful. I'm not a fan of this idea, especially for those who didn't realize they signed up for that while waiting in line. Didn't Mummy have scare actors initially as well?

Ride holds 6 per row and if your fellow riders like to spread out then it is not too fun for the last people to enter the row. My friend and I are two small females who were put in a row with 4 grown men and her and I were practically sitting on each other. The couple ahead of us had the same issue.

Now for the actual ride, I don't want to give too much detail. I think during one of the scenes the effects weren't working properly so we did not get the full experience. The Kong animatronic was impressive and overall the ride was very short and underwhelming to me. There were a lot of elements of a "typical" Universal ride (can we stop with the water?). The ride operators are still getting used to the vehicles and we slowly jerked our way to the exit which was comical though a tad annoying. While we were exiting, we noticed they opened the queue to whoever walked by and the wait time was at 90 minutes.

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Rode it twice last week and loved it! On the second ride, we did notice that much of the action on one side is "repeated" on the other side. Not exactly and not at all times, but close. Again, without giving it away, Kong goes from one side to the other, and that is relatively easy to follow. I do agree that it will take a couple of rides to really know where to look to see the best action. Personally, I really enjoyed being the last person on the left side of the vehicle (board the vehicle last in your row).

I thought the queue was awesome, very intense at times. My wife walked through it like she does a haunted house, it was great.

I did watch the You Tube video before we went and it is a waste of time to watch, imo. Nothing can really prepare you for the 3D and mostly, the sound. Again, intense is the best word I can use, and it doesn't translate to cell phone video.

My 12 year old son would be perfect on it, no way could I get my 9 year old daughter to ride, she struggles with the Mummy queue - for those thinking about those types of things.

 

[kittylady1972]

So, nobody is going to give us their opinions on the ride?

Sure I'll share mine. Thought the ride was great. Agree with others here that the right side is better than left side. My kids were on right and us next to them in a row near middle to back. It worked okay for us.

Let's put it this way... we are back in the hold queue today which has moved to a more hidden location. We know we are in for a wait and all Kong ride attendants have pointed out NO guarantee that it will open. We know...but we will chance it for about an hour.

My DH says it is the best ride in both parks. My two kids loved it. I don't know if I would say best as I like some variety. I think the intensity rivals Transformers in some ways and is similar with the 3D elements. I prefer more ride to my ride and am not as big a fan of the simulation. However I did really like the intensity on this one.

There were no scare actors in the queue but we pretty much flew through that nonstop and man was that indoor queue LONG! I saw the areas where people could hide though. That may have been enough to deter one of my kids from riding if it had happened. We will see what happens today.

So let's see what happens today and what is different. I know one element in the queue was not working Saturday and we also didn't go outdoors at all on the ride. We will see if that changes today.

This is our 3rd and last day at the Universal parks and kids have done pretty much all they wanted. Today has been a re-ride if favorites so after this one we may catch one or two others and then we are done.

 

[damo]

Thanks guys! It is great to get the impressions. Sounds like the motion base in the 3D section sometimes doesn't work and that makes a huge difference in ride impressions.

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks guys! It is great to get the impressions. Sounds like the motion base in the 3D section sometimes doesn't work and that makes a huge difference in ride impressions.

We didn't notice anything on the ride itself not working but then again had nothing to compare. The hold queue started moving into the ride pretty much at 4pm exactly. This time we didn't make it as far into the building as before and it seemed like less people in front of us today. Not sure. Haven't seen a loaded car go by outside yet though and we can see them from queue. We shall see how it goes from here I guess.

 

[damo]

Apparently there are some ride things that they still have not turned on.

 

[helenb]

We had scare actors both times we rode. I recommend getting in line between 9:00 and 9:30 pm. Lines are quite short at that time, barring technical difficulties backing things up. They seem to be having some issues making sure the doors stay up for loading and unloading, and they test them every time, before they let people pass under them.

I agree with requesting a row in the middle to back for the best view. Sitting in the middle of the row itself is fine, as there are things to see on both sides: a big scene to start on the left, a big scene next on the right, then a very long scene on both sides, then the animatronic on the right at the end.

I didn't get much of a 'backstory' on the guides, but the 2 we had were different voices. One had a really strong Brooklyn accent. They each had different lines/reactions to the ride.

I don't know about the best ride in the parks, but it was a great ride, on par with the HP rides, if a bit shorter.

 

[damo]

It's interesting that people say that the ride feels shorter than the HP rides because it is actually considerably longer.

Reign of Kong is over 6 minutes. Forbidden Journey is around 4 minutes and Gringotts is 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

 

[kittylady1972]

It's interesting that people say that the ride feels shorter than the HP rides because it is actually considerably longer.

Reign of Kong is over 6 minutes. Forbidden Journey is around 4 minutes and Gringotts is 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

So call us crazy...but we did finally ride after about 2.5 hours waiting. If you told me we would ever wait that long for a ride I would call you crazy. However we were so close to the front when we entered that if that hadnt been experiencing both technical difficulties and EXTENDED technical difficulties we would have been on in about 20 minutes or less as once it truly was moving that was our wait. Plus the thought of weaving our way out of the line was equally scary.

Anyway more of the ride queue elements worked today including one scary thing in a wall (looked automated) and one scare actor that did get people. It was cool to see more of the working elements in line.

The bad thing today was clearly the ride vehicle itself. We had the same guy both times (Doc) and when we approached the exit we must have moved and stopped suddenly a good 6 or 7 times. That did not happen at all two days ago. Clearly they are still working out the kinks with that. As the girl working there said to us 'he is still learning how to drive' and that was obvious today.

We still enjoyed it and other than going outside this time (really a waste as not much to that IMO) it seemed otherwise the same in terms of the ride.

Definitely a great ride and no I wouldn't recommend a 2.5 hour wait but less than an hour is reasonable. It truly does feel too short to me but that didn't mean we didn't enjoy it.

 

[Disxuni]

I rode it yesterday and will state I am not familiar with the premise of Skull Island so my experience may be different than a fan's. After confirming the procedures with the cast members for the soft opening, we headed back over to Kong after 3pm and got in the soft opening line which is off stage. We probably got into the line around 3:10pm and I looked up probably 15-20 minutes later and realized they had shut the gate to the line. Around 3:45pm they let us into the main queue section.

I enjoyed the queue, particularly the inside. Great place to be waiting in line if it is raining. I had heard of the scare actors and was able to be prepared so it didn't bother me much. The screams from the guests ahead of you is very helpful. I'm not a fan of this idea, especially for those who didn't realize they signed up for that while waiting in line. Didn't Mummy have scare actors initially as well?

Ride holds 6 per row and if your fellow riders like to spread out then it is not too fun for the last people to enter the row. My friend and I are two small females who were put in a row with 4 grown men and her and I were practically sitting on each other. The couple ahead of us had the same issue.

Now for the actual ride, I don't want to give too much detail. I think during one of the scenes the effects weren't working properly so we did not get the full experience. The Kong animatronic was impressive and overall the ride was very short and underwhelming to me. There were a lot of elements of a "typical" Universal ride (can we stop with the water?). The ride operators are still getting used to the vehicles and we slowly jerked our way to the exit which was comical though a tad annoying. While we were exiting, we noticed they opened the queue to whoever walked by and the wait time was at 90 minutes.

How you exactly feel is actually how my father feels about the ride, which stinks since my dad was really the one who was the most excited and looked more forward to this attraction, but yet said it was "very short and underwhelming", as you described in his eyes. It was still good to him, just thought it would be longer to him (I suppose?) and was expecting more. I told him it probably seemed short since most of the time we go through single rider, or only go through short lines. We rarely wait anymore. And considering how we actually waited for something for a change (however it wasn't the longest we waited) it probably seemed like a short ride to him.

As for the seating, we were put in a row, where we literally had stopped and ended up stepping back, because there was literally (I mean it) nowhere to sit in our row, yet neither in another row, and so we got on the next ride vehicle. Hence how we ended up sitting in the very first row.

As for you, @damo, saying that some of the elements are not even turned on surprises me, as our experience seemed as if everything was working and running. As our vehicles moved with each impact something might occur to us, as well as sound, 4D effects, and the AAs seemed to be working. Unless perhaps there is more action to make things more intense than they already are??? I do not know.

 

[damo]

How you exactly feel is actually how my father feels about the ride, which stinks since my dad was really the one who was the most excited and looked more forward to this attraction, but yet said it was "very short and underwhelming", as you described in his eyes. It was still good to him, just thought it would be longer to him (I suppose?) and was expecting more. I told him it probably seemed short since most of the time we go through single rider, or only go through short lines. We rarely wait anymore. And considering how we actually waited for something for a change (however it wasn't the longest we waited) it probably seemed like a short ride to him.

As for the seating, we were put in a row, where we literally had stopped and ended up stepping back, because there was literally (I mean it) nowhere to sit in our row, yet neither in another row, and so we got on the next ride vehicle. Hence how we ended up sitting in the very first row.

As for you, @damo, saying that some of the elements are not even turned on surprises me, as our experience seemed as if everything was working and running. As our vehicles moved with each impact something might occur to us, as well as sound, 4D effects, and the AAs seemed to be working. Unless perhaps there is more action to make things more intense than they already are??? I do not know.

I've read about things going on, on the canopy of the vehicle.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

How you exactly feel is actually how my father feels about the ride, which stinks since my dad was really the one who was the most excited and looked more forward to this attraction, but yet said it was "very short and underwhelming", as you described in his eyes. It was still good to him, just thought it would be longer to him (I suppose?) and was expecting more. I told him it probably seemed short since most of the time we go through single rider, or only go through short lines. We rarely wait anymore. And considering how we actually waited for something for a change (however it wasn't the longest we waited) it probably seemed like a short ride to him.

I was pretty excited about the ride too since the exterior is so impressive. Before riding, I asked two of the coworkers separately how good the ride was and both of them responded the same way - that it was so amazing. I went in expecting life-changing based on their responses. I'll give it another go once they work out the kinks, though my friend and I both agreed that we wouldn't be willing to wait more than 30 minutes for it.

 

[Disxuni]

I've read about things going on, on the canopy of the vehicle.

For maybe a brief moment, as there is so much going on both sides of the vehicle for a more extended period of time.

I was pretty excited about the ride too since the exterior is so impressive. Before riding, I asked two of the coworkers separately how good the ride was and both of them responded the same way - that it was so amazing. I went in expecting life-changing based on their responses. I'll give it another go once they work out the kinks, though my friend and I both agreed that we wouldn't be willing to wait more than 30 minutes for it.

Of course, people who work there are going to exclaim it's amazing. I mean, it is a great ride as a whole, but I wouldn't say it's the greatest thing of all time. However, I had to ride Gringott's more than once to appreciate it more and I think seating means everything on this ride. I didn't sit in the greatest spot, however whatever was in front of me was, in fact, amazing. Also, I honestly could have just watched the AA for six minutes if that honestly was the duration of the ride. I don't know about anyone else, but I was hugely fascinated by that the most.