R.I.P. King Kong

[VMKCardCollector]

Everyday and all day I keep thinking about Kong, I miss him already. He was sooo cool. But I still cant believe that he's gone. It feels like a big dream or something.

[BassBone]

I saw USF when it first opened and was amazed at attractions like Kongfrontation and Jaws. Kong was better there, and I'm surprised they took it out, I felt it was better than a lot of things that Disney does. I felt Jaws in Florida was one of the best theme park rides ever, in Hollywood it's so lame. Kong also was not as good in Hollywood, though I'm very sad to see it go. I feel Uni has done some things, especially large scale AAs better than Disney. Do you remember the Fievel/American Tail show at USH some years ago? It had articulated heads and if I remember correctly, a huge cat hand that was very well done. My point is that spectacular attractions like Kong are being abandoned in favor of 'high tech' attractions, I think to the detriment of theme parks as a whole.

Remember that Hollywood came first. King Kong in Hollywood was something of a test bed. No one had ever done an animatronic as large and complex as that Kong. It was larger than the one in Florida.

[HV10N90]

I posted a tribute to the King Kong set on my youtube page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQtgc5nq_88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72VdWe6eDg4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlh5WZBe3g8

[JtnOrl]

No one had ever done an animatronic as large and complex as that Kong. It was larger than the one in Florida.

Source?

[JohnnyQuest]

I have a nostalgic connection to Kongfrontation, as I was a Tour Guide at USH back in the '80's, and Kong was opened the last summer I worked there. I remember how awesome it was at the time, but all the details really stick with me: the graffitti, poor Kelly King in her doomed chopper, the banana breath, the way Kong's eyes lit up when the electricity hit him, and the fire! It made us laugh at the time, because some executive must have had "a thing" for flames - after I was there a couple of years, they "improved" several of the attractions with fire effects (why does Jaws need fiery explosions?), so it was no surprise that Kong had firebursts. (Shortly thereafter, they built Backdraft, no doubt approved by the same exec...)
That summer ('86, I believe) they also had big Kongburgers at one of the places we could use our employee discount (yes, we had to wait in line, with guests, to get our lunch), so I also have fond memories of that delicousness. (Although I was disappointed to discover that the burgers contained no actual giant ape, nor any ape meat whatsoever. Cheapskates.)

As far as a Return of Kong, I'm sure that posted article is accurate, and they won't rebuild. I don't know the extent of the damage to the attraction/animatronics, but since it's over 20 years old, they'd almost certainly have to rebuild from scratch - if you remember, the USF Kong was a different configuration (whole body vs. head-and-shoulders), so I'd say there's not much chance they could use it without totally redesigning the ride. As someone else pointed out, with USH's limited space, they need to use it wisely, so they'll probably look for the next hot property. (Blue Sky: How about Iron Man: The Ride done like Spider-Man at IOA...?)

So it seems we've guided our tram down Old Fulton Avenue for the last time. Hey, maybe our good friend Werner would like to open the Yesterversal Studios Tour? It could showcase the Runaway Train, the Collapsing Bridge, Torpedo Run, Ice Tunnel, and now King Kong. Remember how the Hulk used to bust in on the Makeup Show? Or the Cylon Attack?!? (At the time, it was the world's most powerful permanent laser display - my brain still spits out these facts...)

- Johnny

[Indiana J]

I Will miss kong but im open to somethng freash and new

[BassBone]

Source?

My dad who helped build the durn thing.

[JtnOrl]

I need measurements.

[JohnnyQuest]

I need measurements.

What's the deal - are you building your own in the back yard?!?
I mean, both of these are gone, now, so how important is it?

They told us (tour guides) and advertised everywhere that the USH Kong was 30 feet tall, but I think that must have included the support structure that you don't see, because there wasn't 30 feet of Kong visible above the bridge (I'd estimate 15 or maybe 20 feet from the bridge/road to the top of his head.) Even measuring from the bottom of his chest below the bridge to the highest point of his hands (they were slightly above his head, no?), I don't think it was 30 feet of "dressed" Kong.
Now, the Florida version was bigger, in a sense, because it was full body (I only saw the USF Kongfrontation once, many years ago, so maybe some of you Floridians can help). I'd say that was probably 40-45 feet for the whole megillah, so that means the scale of the Hollywood ape was slightly bigger, but the whole animatronic was much bigger in Florida.

I could be way off on my estimates (always been kinda bad at that), so feel free to disagree!

- Johnny

[JtnOrl]

What's the deal - are you building your own in the back yard?!?

Maybe. Actually, they just don't look that different to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtLlLg4UqJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN1M7b48iLs

USH's looked like it had a taller head, while USF's had a larger chest and longer arms. But that's about it.

[kinkerbell]

It was my boyfriend's birthday last weekend, and he wanted to go to universal, so he's family and I took him there. He mom's favorite ride is the studio tour, and she had to got on it. We were the last tram of the day....the very next morning king kong burnt down. So I can add another thing on my list of stuff that's happened to me. I was one of the few who got to see King kong before he burned up.

[TacAlert]

I was one of the few who got to see King kong before he burned up.

Along with the "few" millions of others who saw him over the last 20 years or so.

[drb]

Along with the "few" millions of others who saw him over the last 20 years or so.

Yeah, but they got to see Kong's Final Performance. I'm assuming that it doesn't keep running through the show when no tram is present, or else nobody got to see Kong's Final Performance.

Does anyone know how Kong's scale compared with the huge cat animatronic in the old American Tales show? I remember being really impressed with how huge it was yet how smoothy it moved, and how it interacted with the live performer playing Feivel, singing a duet while scooping the little mouse up in his paw.

[ALIASd]

Photos of the "Monsters of Rock" press conference in the King Kong show building:



Kong takes up backing vocals for Van Halen and The Scorpions



MTV's Mark Goodman about to be crushed by the mighty one's paw



Alex Van Halen & Sammy Hagar discuss their escape plan



Michael Anthony leads Eddie and Alex Van Halen to safety