4. So, is Reign of Kong just going to be a duplicate of King Kong 360 3-D?

No. While a portion of the new ride will no doubt mimic (or even duplicate) the 360 3-D experience from Hollywood, this will be a complete, full dark ride. The immersive 3D tunnel may be a signature moment of it (and indeed, the troop transport style ride vehicles are essentially single segments of the Studio Tram), but expect more ride to come before and after it. In its announcement video, Universal used footage straight from 360 3-D. We can’t be sure if they’ll use the same footage. It would depend upon storytelling, we hope.

Universal's also emphasized that the queue will be part of the experience. While that may sound like a cop-out, compare it to Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure where the quarter mile queue establishes the story, setting, mood, and atmosphere. The image above is believed to be part of the queue leading up to the ride's towering temple exterior and its jagged rocky mountains.

5. Is this ride based on Peter Jackson’s 2005 film King Kong?

Not technically. Universal Creative Executive Producer Mike West  told Jim Hill, “Skull Island: Reign of Kong' is really a new story unto itself. We're worked closely with Peter on this attraction to help develop some of the storytelling and the looks of certain things. But it's not really based on any specific film. It's really a whole new generation of storytelling for our guests.”

Hollywood’s King Kong 360 3-D – as a portion of the park’s Studio Tram Tour – is about moviemaking and the creation of the specific 2005 film. As part of Islands of Adventure, Skull Island isn’t meant to be a lesson about moviemaking or even a direct reference to Jackson’s film. Rather, it’s its own immersive exotic world that will borrow the look and style of the new Kong series, but not necessarily tie to a specific film. (And yes, we realize that’s particularly hard to believe given than Jackon’s sequel to his remake is slated to come out in November 2016. Its title? Kong: Skull Island.)

6. Which of the park’s themed islands will this attraction be part of?

It’s tough to say. So far, there appear to be three options.

First, the ride could become the only attraction in its own designated eighth island: Skull Island. This seems like the simplest and most appropriate answer. If Skull Island becomes an eighth themed land at Islands of Adventure, it will – interestingly – be the only one of the islands to not border the Great Sea. Guests would travel from Toon Lagoon, through Skull Island, and into Jurassic Park. In this case, we'd expect Skull Island to recieve at least a food stand or so of its own.

Second, this Kong ride could be located in a gray area that’s vaguely related to Jurassic Park. While I doubt that the park would outright advertise “Visit the new Reign of Kong attraction in Jurassic Park,” the forested path that the ride is being built alongside formerly was the jungled entrance to Hammond’s park. The iconic entrance arch with Jurassic Park scrawled across it (above) was removed when construction on Kong began, but that might be just for ease of construction or to push it farther up along the path to leave Kong its “gray area” with no official island designation. This, to us, sounds silly.

Third (and this feels somewhat likely itself), the ride could become part of a new, expanded island that contains Kong and Jurassic Park. This isn’t unheard of. At Universal Studios Singapore (which borrows Islands of Adventure’s lagoon-centered layout), a single island called The Lost World is mostly made of Jurassic Park, but also contains the WaterWorld show stadium. In Florida, The Lost World could be made up of two smaller but related sub-areas: Jurassic Park and Skull Island. That’s entirely possible. Of the three, which would you hope for?

7. How much is it costing Universal and when will it open?

We don’t know the specific price tag of Skull Island (though anyone who walks past the towering temple under construction at Islands of Adventure will likely guess that it’s a lot). What we do know is that the owner of the parks – Comcast – has been very public about its faith in the Universal Parks and Resorts division. Comcast executives have mentioned that, post-Potter, 25% of NBCUniversal’s revenue is through the parks.

That which earns money deserves reinvestment, and Comcast is ready. They’ve announced that they’ll spend about $500 million per year on Universal Parks, with at least one major attraction opening in both Florida and California every single year. True to that promise, year after year Universal has opened massive E-tickets on par with or even exceeding Disney’s best efforts. And for 2016, it’s Kong.

For now, we’ve been given Summer 2016 as an opening. Just like all of Universal’s recent projects, that’s incredibly fast. And we can hardly wait until then!