For over two years now, Universal fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of King Kong to Universal Orlando Resort in the form of Skull Island: Reign of Kong, which is set to debut later this summer. However, even though this ride isn’t actually open yet, technical rehearsals have been going on in the past few days, which have given a lucky few an advance look at this attraction

Interestingly, praise for the attraction on a technical level has been near universal (no pun intended), with many lauding the attraction’s amazing King Kong animatronic (which you can learn more about here). However, there was one issue that has been causing a lot of controversy in the theme park community: the queue. Now something as simple as a line might not seem like such a big cause for issue, but there’s one big thing that will separate this line from any other at an Orlando theme park….

Editor’s note: some elements of the Skull Island: Reign of Kong queue are discussed here, so if you want to experience this attraction completely unspoiled, turn back now!

There will be scareactors in the queue

Image: Universal

Anyone who has ever been to Halloween Horror Nights knows all about scareactors, who roam the streets of Universal Studios Florida and hang out in haunted mazes waiting for the perfect time to jump out and give guests a fright. And while this type of guest interaction was previously confined to Halloween Horror Nights, it looks like guests who enter the interior part of the Skull Island: Reign of Kong queue will be subjected to some “natives” of Skull Island that will be hidden at strategic points in the queue and will be surprising unsuspecting guests.

This is certainly an interesting development for a number of reasons. First of all, this will be the closest thing to a year round haunt Universal Orlando Resort has ever had. Interestingly, west coast counterpart Universal Studios Hollywood had a year round haunt with Universal’s House of Horrors for over a decade before that attraction closed down in 2014 and it will have another year round haunt later this year when The Walking Dead attraction opens. However, this will be a first for Orlando.

Image: Freddo, Wikipedia (license)

Another reason why this new addition is especially noteworthy is it continues Universal’s recent trend of making queues a legitimate part of the attraction they are placed in front of. Back in 2010 when Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey opened, guests were stunned by the Hogwarts castle queue, and to this day guests who prefer not to ride the attraction can request a “Castle Tour” just so they can see the queue.

Though this development sounds great on the surface, there are some that are wary of this change, for some very legitimate reasons