I think the original Kong experience lives better as nostalgia. Of course, I have great memories of it. But would it hold up by today's standards? I don't really think so. It was slow, clunky, unconvincing, and most of us forget that most of it was watching the city and helicopter footage first. It was initially impressive for it's time, but as time wore on, it became more of a "it's-so-bad-it's-good" gag (think about how well Earthquake has aged--same idea). If it were still around today, everyone would be talking how it's overstayed its welcome and needs to go. In fact, they were sort of saying that before the fire anyway.
I don't think the "new" one is all that bad, and I'm not even a fan of motion simulators. But I find the movement of the tram is pretty convincing (way more than the movement of the tram on the original), and I was just on it a few days ago, and people still went nuts over it. IMO, what makes it diminished is the fact that F&F is mainly just a duplicate of the same trick, and not executed nearly as well. And the two together just make both feel a bit diminished.