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Another rumor of kongs departure for the studios!
- Thread starter JAY-ROD
- Start date
woofboy111
New Member
Please, don't close kong!!!:brick: . Closing it for HHN is ok, but don't close it for good because of another mummy movie that's coming out. The least they could do is see if the movie does ok first.
And why can't they build it somewhere else? It seems like a scorpion king ride would fit nuch better somewhere in IoA than in Universals NY...
And why can't they build it somewhere else? It seems like a scorpion king ride would fit nuch better somewhere in IoA than in Universals NY...
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Actually, they are wrong. It has pretty much been confirmed that Universal is going to scrap the entire facade of the Kong building, and replace it with a highly themed indoor launched coaster, based on Apollo 13. You will sit in "space capsule" type cars, and view only through a porthole. This enables them to make it highly realistic, unlike Rock 'n' Rollercoaster.
Read more about it here: http://www.thrillnetwork.com/article.php?sid=252 , they have ride layouts/blueprints too
Read more about it here: http://www.thrillnetwork.com/article.php?sid=252 , they have ride layouts/blueprints too
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Well, not to shoot holes in that author’s theries and/or findings of fact but there are a few loose ends, here. The first thing that comes to mind is the age of the movie. Apollo 13 was released in 1995 – a year before the movie Twister which opened as an attraction in Universal about two years after the movie. Also, Apollo is not the Box office smash hit that that article makes it out to be. Apollo 13, at the end of its theater run grossed $172,060,755 putting it currently in 62 place for all time grossing movies. Compare that with Twister which currently holds the #20 position at $241,708,908. They made money on it, to be sure but I don’t exactly see this as being an incredibly successful movie that they could open an attraction around 7 years later. Nothing about it has given it a “classic” status. Also, the article only suggests that it could be for a ride themed after that movie not to mention the fact that they only guess at an actual location within the park. To take it even a step further, what’s posted on that site are the patent illustrations which means nothing. Go do a search for granted patents at http://www.uspto.gov with the name: Disney” and see how many articles come up. Go do it for a span of time that goes a ways back like say 1989-1996. You’ll find a lot of things that we have never seen in a Disney park. Why is that? Because once they decided whatever it was, was a sound idea, they patented it to give them time to fully develop it and determine if it was something they wanted to use. The same could hold true here…. Actually, the most telling thing that would suggest this article to be wrong can be found in the article itself. Universal applied for those patents back in 1999 and had them approved in April of this year. According to that site, they are planning to have this ride open in the next “year or so”. Call me crazy but I’m going to guess that if that ride were going to be opening at that location in the next 12-16 months, Kong would already be closed and at least half dismantled at this point. There are just too many things with that article that don’t make sense….
JBloom1029
New Member
Apollo 13 would be a great addition and they should get a mummy ride, however, they can not take king kong away. That movie and ride are classics and it can't be replaced. Also, why would you have a mummy or apollo 13 ride in new york. Apollo 13 would be good in the world expo area and there is room in the corner of the park, behind back to the future and next to men in black. That would be good and the mummy ride would fit in at the lost continet at ioa.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I understand that link was very vague and somewhat innacurate, but it does make more sense to build a ride based on Apollo 13 rather than The Mummy Returns. Whos really going to remember TMR in a few years anyway? Its the same reason Paramount's King's Island made a bad decision in building a Tomb Raider themed ride for 2002.
Also, if not the Kong building, there is nowhere else for a rollercoaster to go, other than the old Hard Rock Cafe location. Kong does appear to be closing, too. For one thing, the long time bilboards for Kong, which have been there since at least 1994, have recently been taken down.
Also, if not the Kong building, there is nowhere else for a rollercoaster to go, other than the old Hard Rock Cafe location. Kong does appear to be closing, too. For one thing, the long time bilboards for Kong, which have been there since at least 1994, have recently been taken down.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
One might think so but you have to look at the box office totals. The Mummy Returns chimes in at #35 with $201,950,275 and if you combine that with the total grossing figure of the theater release for the 1999 release of the Mummy, that total goes reaches an impressive $357.221,000. The Mummy movies have proven to be a profitable and popular franchise. If they were to theme a ride after the Scorpion King it would have a direct tie-in with the Mummy Returns as well as the new Scorpion King movie and an indirect tie-in to the first (1999) movie. It's also a franchise marketed towards teens and young adults. Coincidentally enough, so are roller coasters. Apollo 13 was never actually targeted at that demographic and it was released 6, going on 7 years ago. Lets say that online article was right and they will have it open in a year to sixteen months. That would make it an attraction based on a movie that is over 8 years old. Let's put this in perspective: Someone who is 16 year old at the time would have been 8 when Apollo 13 was in theaters. Someone who is 21 would have been 13. How powerful a marketing tool do you think the Apollo 13 theme would be among the targeted demographic age group for an attraction like this? Also, you have to keep in mind that we are talking about a movie based on a true life event that happened decades before any of these people/kids were born.
Personally, I wouldn't put a lot of stalk in either article till you see something in the way of construction. As for avaiable space, I don't see why they couldn't use the space that those sound stages towards the front of the park use. It's not like anything signifigant in terms of live actoin, has ever come out of either of the Florida "studios" , anyway.
MonkeyHead
Well-Known Member
Apollo 14
Sorry but Apollo 13 was scrapped several years ago.
They built mock-ups, and a prototype vehicle, but the motion simulator on a coaster track turned out to be financially unfeasible.
If it had been built, it would have been either where MiB is now, or behind BTTF. As it is, A13 will never see the light of day. Whether or not the right system ever shows up again is entirely different.
Sorry but Apollo 13 was scrapped several years ago.
They built mock-ups, and a prototype vehicle, but the motion simulator on a coaster track turned out to be financially unfeasible.
If it had been built, it would have been either where MiB is now, or behind BTTF. As it is, A13 will never see the light of day. Whether or not the right system ever shows up again is entirely different.
Heres another article on kong!
http://orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locmiket14121401dec14.column?coll=orl-home-headlines
http://orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locmiket14121401dec14.column?coll=orl-home-headlines
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Re: I have a ton of pictures of Kong
Now THAT must have been weird! Being on Kong all by yourself, with just the Cast Member! Did they do the normal acting spiels they usually do?
Now THAT must have been weird! Being on Kong all by yourself, with just the Cast Member! Did they do the normal acting spiels they usually do?
Re: Re: I have a ton of pictures of Kong
wow! agree! that must of been weird !!!! i just cant imagine it really! wow! it must be pretty weird for the CM to be doing the acting with just one person on board!!
I can see why they are thinking of getting rid of it now!
I think its a good ride - i cant understand why people arent going on
wow! agree! that must of been weird !!!! i just cant imagine it really! wow! it must be pretty weird for the CM to be doing the acting with just one person on board!!
I can see why they are thinking of getting rid of it now!I think its a good ride - i cant understand why people arent going on
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I'm not trying to give you a hard time or be critical of you or anything but would you mind using the "quote" feature when you reply to a post? Sometimes it's a little hard to tell what people are talking about when they are responding to someone who isn't the last poster of when their post ends up on a second page. By quoting the original text, it keeps us all up to speed with where you are when you post so that we can understand what your talking about. It isn't too bad here but I've noticed that you haven't used that feature yet so I just wanted to let you know it was there in case you hadn't noticed it.
Originally posted by MrPromey
I'm not trying to give you a hard time or be critical of you or anything but would you mind using the "quote" feature when you reply to a post? Sometimes it's a little hard to tell what people are talking about when they are responding to someone who isn't the last poster of when their post ends up on a second page. By quoting the original text, it keeps us all up to speed with where you are when you post so that we can understand what your talking about. It isn't too bad here but I've noticed that you haven't used that feature yet so I just wanted to let you know it was there in case you hadn't noticed it.
lol Well at least your picking on him and not me!
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by JAY-ROD
lol Well at least your picking on him and not me!
I'm not picking on him, Jay. I know he's probably still a little hot over the friction in the other thread and I'm just trying to help him out a bit so that there isn't confusion in his posts with other people...
woofboy111
New Member
Re: Re: Re: I have a ton of pictures of Kong
I too have rode the ride being the only one in the tram. I told the "tour Guide" that I've been on the ride plenty of times, and he didn't need to do his show, and I was just riding it to look around, but he just ignored me and started right up with pretending that he didn't know what I was talking about, and how he's just an underpaid tram driver trying to do his job and he didn't know what kind of "show" I was talking about.
If you think about it, it's not just this ride that people aren't riding. At night, before the parks close, all rides get very empty like this. I've ridden on MIB, Jaws, e.t., and Kong in my own car. Why they chose to close down kong when all the rides get like this? I'm still wondering!
Originally posted by Alberrisford
wow! agree! that must of been weird !!!! i just cant imagine it really! wow! it must be pretty weird for the CM to be doing the acting with just one person on board!!
I think its a good ride - i cant understand why people arent going on
I too have rode the ride being the only one in the tram. I told the "tour Guide" that I've been on the ride plenty of times, and he didn't need to do his show, and I was just riding it to look around, but he just ignored me and started right up with pretending that he didn't know what I was talking about, and how he's just an underpaid tram driver trying to do his job and he didn't know what kind of "show" I was talking about.
If you think about it, it's not just this ride that people aren't riding. At night, before the parks close, all rides get very empty like this. I've ridden on MIB, Jaws, e.t., and Kong in my own car. Why they chose to close down kong when all the rides get like this? I'm still wondering!