What Happened to Kongfrontation at Universal Studios?

Kongfrontation is one of the most important attractions in Universal Orlando’s history. Not only was it the biggest — and arguably most dependable — headliner in the park’s opening months, but its star animatronic is a big part of why Universal’s Florida park exists in the first place.

However, even with all that, the attraction closed in 2002. So, why did such a historically important attraction shutter just over a decade into its lifespan, and how does Kongfrontation’s closure — and tangential return — still impact Universal Orlando to this day? Let’s find out.

Like many of Universal Studios Florida’s early attractions, the story of Kongfrontation begins 3,000 miles away from Orlando on the Universal Studios Hollywood Tram Tour.

In June 1986, King Kong Encounter was added to the Tram Tour. This segment saw the park’s famous trams enter into a massive soundstage dressed to appear like the New York of the 1970s, as featured in the 1976 Universal-produced King Kong film, and featured a 7-ton, 30-foot-tall Kong animatronic designed by a Universal creative team that included Disney legends Bob Gurr and Peter Alexander.

According to Alexander, his former college roommate — Steven Spielberg himself, saw the animatronic during the testing phase and was blown away. Alexander explained years later:

“It all goes back to a spring day in 1986 when Craig Barr and I were animating the first “L.A. version” of King Kong in a sound stage on the “lower lot” of Universal Studios Hollywood. Kong was due to open to the public in a week or so, and Craig and I were running the 30-foot monster through his paces, adding one “move” after another via the animation control system in order to bring the ape to life. When we finished an animation sequence, I turned my head and saw Steven Spielberg, accompanied by his bodyguard Larry, drive into the sound stage in Steven’s golf cart. “I didn’t know you were doing this,” Steven said. Although we had been college roommates at Long Beach State, I hadn’t seen Steven since I had started as the Show Producer for Universal in 1983. “Yeah, you want to see Kong do his thing?” I asked. Steven said yes, and we ran Kong through his routine again. The big guy put on an amazing show. The team of Tom Reidenbach, Dave Schweninger, and Bob Gurr — all, like myself, former Disney Imagineers — had done an incredible job creating the Kong figure, and when brought to life by Craig’s programming, with a little help from my “arm waving” (the technical term for art direction), he was awesome to behold. Steven said, “You guys are pretty good at this. My friend (George) Lucas told me only Disney could do this. He just took me on Star Tours at Disney. He said, ‘You (Steven) screwed up going with Universal. They could never do a Star Tours.'” Then Steven got a devilish glow in his eye and said, “If you guys can do this … why don’t you see what you can do with Back to the Future?” He then drove away in his golf cart, but the next day, I was called to Sid Sheinberg’s office (Chief Operating Officer of Universal Studios) for a “Spielberg Visit Debriefing Meeting.” Steven had apparently called Sid immediately after seeing Kong and told him how impressed he was with not just the monkey, but the entire attraction. In Sheinberg’s mind, if Steven Spielberg liked Kong, then millions of people might think the same …”

The addition — and specifically the massive Kong animatronic (complete with banana breath) — was hugely popular, and combined with Speilberg’s enthusiasm, reignited Universal’s interest in opening a Florida version of their theme park, a plan they’d flirted with earlier in the decade and abandoned due to some alleged corporate shenanigans.

Given the part Kong’s popularity played in restarting the Universal Orlando project, it’s no surprise that the giant ape was planned for the new park from the start. However, like its fellow Tram Tour stops Earthquake and Jaws, Kong would be expanded from a quick experience within the tram tour into a massive E-Ticket in its own right as a way to ensure that Universal’s park could compete with the then newly-announced Disney/MGM Studios theme park.

When Universal Studios Florida opened in June 1990, the Kong attraction — dubbed Kongfrontation — was one of the park’s headline attractions along with Earthquake: The Big One and Jaws. The ride saw guests entering a massive facade of New York’s Penn Station into a graffiti-strewn full scale New York City street. Through a subway station queue, guests view news reports — hosted by real longtime NYC newscaster Roland Smith — detailing Kong’s rampage through the city (using footage of the aforementioned 1976 film).

Upon reaching the end of the line, guests board a near replica of the real Roosevelt Island tram. The ride vehicles — suspended from the ceiling of the show building on tracks — travel through a destroyed New York, encountering military and police vehicles and eventually two massive Kong animatronics, which measure 39 feet tall with arm spans of 54 feet. One of these Kongs weighed approximately 13,000 pounds, while the lighter, slightly more mobile figure weighed approximately 8,000 pounds, and both featured banana breath.

Opening day of Universal Studios Florida has long-been known as a disaster, and like the other headline attractions, Kong faced its fair share of issues. According to Alexander, Universal’s creative team was unsure if they could safely achieve several of their planned effects, including the illusion of the Kong animatronic “grabbing, lifting, and dropping” the tram. He would explain: “By opening day in 1990, they had just about every bug worked out except the ‘talk back’ system: there was still no way to be certain that Kong wouldn’t malfunction and stick his hand into the tram car and nail that lady in the third row or that the tram car wouldn’t break off Kong’s hand in the process. The result was that we couldn’t guarantee the safety of the general public and had to screen opening day passengers! This problem occasioned my favorite memory of the King Kong ride. On opening day, I had to serve as on-board ride control, communicating Kong’s actions to Craig and his crew in the control room. If Kong acted up, I was to radio Craig to “pull the big guy’s plug.” I also had to serve as “gatekeeper” to determine who looked like a good risk to let on the ride: we didn’t want the guests to repeat my double hernia experience.”

However, despite these initial issues, Kongfrontation would quickly become one of the nascent Universal Studios Florida’s most reliable attractions, especially compared to Earthquake and Jaws, both of which ended up involved in lawsuits between Universal and their respective designers over their issues. Thanks to this comparative reliability, Kongfrontation, and specifically the animatronics, would become a major part of Universal’s promotion during the park’s first decade.

Kongfrontation would remain massively popular as Universal entered the 20th century, however that didn’t stop the company from abruptly closing the attraction in September of 2002. While no official reason for the closure has ever been given, many have speculated that a mixture of high necessary staffing, operations and maintenance costs were to blame. However, while these likely played a role, the likely answer is that Universal needed the massive show building space for something new.

The new attraction, Revenge of the Mummy, opened in 2004. The indoor coaster earned widespread praise, even begrudgingly from die-hard Kong fans, and ushered in a new era for Universal Orlando. In the years since, numerous other iconic early Universal attractions including Earthquake: The Big One, Back to the Future: The Ride and Jaws have closed to make way for new intellectual properties and attractions. However, Kong’s days in Orlando weren’t done yet.

In June 2008, a massive fire broke out at Universal Hollywood, destroying a portion of the backlot including the Studio Tram Tour’s King Kong Encounter. In August, Universal announced that the destroyed segment of the tour would be replaced by King Kong: 360 3-D, a new screen-based experience based on Peter Jackson’s 2005 version. That addition opened in 2009, and met with mixed reviews as many praised the attraction while lamenting the absence of a Kong animatronic.

History repeated itself in 2016, when the King Kong: 360 3-D was expanded into a full-size attraction, Skull island: Reign of Kong, which opened at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure theme park that summer. The new attraction was built mainly around a clone of the 360 3-D film, but also featured massive sets and an animatronic “half” Kong figure.

While Skull Island has returned Kong to Orlando, there are still many who miss the original Kongfrontation. However, Peter Alexander had a philosophical take on the ride’s closure and place in Universal history, saying “The big guy,” as we used to call him, had a good run at Universal Studios Florida. Though he has now been retired, his legacy — the two theme parks, hotels, and CityWalk — lives on, and sometimes … I think I can still smell his banana breath.”

Did you get the chance to ride Kongfrontation during it’s Universal Orlando run? Do you wish the attraction was still there? Let us know in the comments below.

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