On July 1, 2010 Universal Studios Hollywood introduced King-Kong 360 3-D. Created by Peter Jackson, who created the second King Kong remake, it was put in as part of the Studio Tour.

I decided to see how good it was. I visited on July 3.

Guests were given 3-D glasses before boarding and, after a brief tour of the newly re-opened New York Street, the tram took you to a “sound stage” that acted as Skull Island. Peter Jackson (in a video) introduced the concept and even told you when to put the 3-D glasses on.

To call this a 360 experience is inaccurate in my opinion. If you’ve visited the Chinese Pavilion on Epcot Center’s World Showcase, and you’ve seen the movie showing there, then you know what 360 is like. King Kong 3-D experience is more like a 180 showcase where you have action to the left and right of the tram.

During the show you see Kong battling the creatures on Skull Island and your tram becomes part of the action as you are jostled about like the Earthquake sound stage which happens later on in the tour.

So what was my overall impression? It was good, not great. I think Universal Studios should have made this a stand-alone attraction similar to Shrek 4-D and it should have been a little bit longer.