Skull Island: Reign Of Kong Review - 7 Ways It’s Awesome

6. The Ride Is Unapologetically Not Aimed At Children

One way that Universal parks have separated themselves from Disney is the demographic they aim at.

Walt Disney World has always cornered the young family market. Young children who have grown up on decades of animated movies and want to become princesses or pirates. Universal over the years have looked at older families with tweens and teenagers. One thing that Skull Island: Reign of Kong is proof of is that Universal don't believe rides need to be "family friendly" in order to be successful.

This ride is not suitable for young children or anyone who prefers their rides more in the style of It's A Small World.

The team behind this attraction must have spent time watching Alfred Hitchcock movies because they have certainly mastered the art of suspense. As you walk the queue the tension builds, the native temples are dark and foreboding and you know something is about to happen to terrify you but you aren't quite sure what.

When queueing to ride, there was a girl around 10 in the group in front of us who was becoming more and more scared as we navigated around dark corridors and past scare-actors. When she saw the loading trucks, she seemed just pleased to get out of the queue!

The pathways feel narrow at times, not really suitable for buggys. Everything from the huge face of Kong as you enter the ride queue to the giant doors that open so menacingly tell you that it is not aimed at younger children.

The only thing that might make you think that you could take your little ones on is the height restrictions. This isn't a coaster like Hulk where for safety reasons you need to meet a certain height requirement. This is a bumpy truck ride, you don't even need a seatbelt. For these reasons the restrictions on who can ride are low, but just because your 4 year old is tall enough doesn't mean they should.

Universal could have made the queue a bit tamer to make it suitable for younger guests who met the height requirement. Instead they chose to make an intense ride that older guests can become immersed in. A brave choice that many of us will thank them for!