Here are a few "on the scene" photos...

I wonder if, while Kong burned, the lot smelled anything like LSPE's place did last night while they were making bananas brulee.

Well, as sad a this makes me (and it does), if there is anything left to be seen of the mighty Kong himself, I hope that photos show up. Why? Well, because potentially, it might look really cool. (Or it may have simply become an unrecognizable heap of charred twisted metal.)

That said, this really sucks.

The loss of Kong makes me really sad for a few reasons - First up, he survived the 1990 fire that really ripped up the backlot. Second, after years of neglect from Vivendi (spit) who decided that the attractions didn't need yearly maintenance, NBC Universal had restored him last year, and he got his yearly maintenance this year, just a few weeks ago. So he was lookin' pretty good for a big piece of 1980s large scale mechanical effect.

Thirdly, a lot of people put a lot of heart into King Kong's show building- if you ever saw the "grafitti" around the bridge or at the exit tunnel, that was all names of people who worked on the Tour. I've still got a "KONG LIVES" button from 1990- years before I worked for USH, but it still shows that there was a ton of pride in that 16 ton beast.

KONG LIVES - somewhere :cheers:

I wonder if Universal had a film crew covering this. It could make for some very hard to get stock footage.

I remember you telling us about this when we were on the CoasterMatt Tour. I'm glad we got to see the big guy with you before he perished.

I saw footage of the roof of the Kong building caving in. So, so sad. I remember the last fire and how devistating that was. I've got a Kong Lives button too.

I hope they rebuild but I can see them buliding houses instead. Shame..

This is very sad. Most everything can be replaced, but I wonder if they will replace Kong? It was a set peice from the movie, right? Would there be a reason to rebuild that? Since everything is CG (Computer Generated, not Gemini Cricket that is) the just don't build large mechanicals anymore.

At least the video can be replaced, but it will take time and money.

Two of the four sets from Ghost Whisperer were lost. But at least this is the summer break, so hopefully they can get it rebuilt before then.

Yeah, the whole Back to the Future square was redressed for Ghost Whisperer'er'er'er...

Kong wasn't for the film but an original attraction.

the AP has a bunch of photos on Yahoo...

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Fire-d...8universalfire

Its soo hard going through them, knowing i saw Kong and parts of New York on 07/16/05 on a VIP tour....