I have to laugh at the majority of these thin early impressions.
As I sit in Tampa patiently waiting for my family to pick a day for our shot at Kong softs, I have concluded our Kong bond must run way deeper than the vast majority of folks. No doubt due to the visceral impact Kong had throughout our life.
See, for us, the Kong connection is pure pleasure, not just superficial entertainment. It demands respect and nuanced understanding. Kong represents a lifetime of pleasure. The Italians call it "Dolce Far Niente" - the sweetness of doing nothing.
I'll never forget watching re-runs of the movie version of Kong whenever I could as a young child. Or when we bought our annual passes in the 90's to Universal, not Disney, simply because of Kong. The anticipation of reuniting with my old friend was difficult to contain. While the ride had it's fair share of cheesiness, the re-connection with Kong was vivid and entirely satisfying.
I still remember, like it was yesterday, our three-year-old son holding tightly onto mommy and burying his head throughout the Kong ride and then screaming uncontrollably as we attempted to get a photograph of him in the old Kong hand. Hard to explain to a baby that Kong, deep down, is savage but with a soft spot for humans especially those with long blonde hair. Our son's genuine fear reminded me that Universal was, for us, essentially one ride: Kong. Sure while so-called "normal" families raved about Its a Small, Small World, we were a Kong family through and through. To this day, we haven't looked back on our decision of choosing Universal over Disney. I've managed to pass that sensibility down to our children apparently because they "feel" the same way.
We felt betrayed when the Kong ride was shut down by Universal years ago. We tried to find pleasure in any of the "other" rides but it simply wasn't there to be found. Peter Parker? Please. He pales in comparison to the big fella. Never felt the twinge of true pleasure elsewhere. But we remained hopeful that Universal would see the error of their ways.
Imagine our delight when Hate unexpectedly revealed initial details of Kong a couple of ears ago. It sent a lightning bolt through our collective souls and gave us hope again for
that connection.
We view Kong like our kids or our football team - we don't love 'em because they're always good. We love 'em because they're ours.
Thanks for listening...