It would not be much of a Halloween-themed maze at an amusement park without its signature scares and monsters. And what better place to experience that than at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, with Universal’s own classic monsters?

The studio will also be working with its film production partner Blumhouse for two all new scared-filled mazes based on Unfriended and Truth or Dare. More on the story below.

Skull Island: Reign of Kong, a King Kong-themed attraction, opened today at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, FL.

The new attraction, which is located in Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park, allows park attendees to board a massive 40-foot-long, 17-ton expedition vehicle that reportedly navigates an “increasingly foreboding terrain” of Skull Island, home to the legendary King Kong, who also makes an appearance on the ride.

Check out the photos from the new attraction, along with video from its opening day, here below.

Every day here at Doom HQ we receive tons of tips from our readers about really cool stuff from the world of geek, as well as promotional materials for new films, comic books, collectibles, and much more. While we do our best to bring you as much of it as possible, we don’t always have enough geek manpower available to cover it all on a daily basis. But we hate the idea of all of this really cool stuff wasting away in our inbox. How could we NOT cover it? Hence why we’ve resurrected our long-defunct column Bits Of Doom, now rebranded and revamped as Doom Digest, a collection of easily digestible bits of news, videos, photos, and other goodies.

Today: Comic book artist Alex Ross to receive prestigious alumnus award, a custom R2-D2 coffeemaker complete with sound, celebrate Roller Coaster Day today at your nearest theme park, Leonard Nimoy talks Star Trek, and Universal Studios Orlando theme park’s Superstar Parade, plus Bits Of Doom.

Universal Studios announced on Friday on their Facebook page that their Orlando, Florida resort will be closing the Jaws-themed area and water ride Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours on January 2, 2012.

The ride, which was inspired by the Jaws portion of the Universal Studios Hollywood resort’s backlot tram experience, has been in operation since the Orlando resort opened in June 1990 at a cost of $65 million. Three months after the ride opened Universal temporarily shut it down due to technical problems, but was successfully re-opened in the spring of 1993 with Jaws director Steven Spielberg and stars Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary on hand for the occasion. Over the next 18 years the ride would be continuously closed and refurbished often due to hurricanes that struck central Florida.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the elaborate attraction based on the popular film franchise that has drawn more than 7 million people to Universal Studios Orlando, is about bring its Sunshine State to the West Coast. Universal is currently finalizing a deal with Harry Potter film distributor and licensing rights holder Warner Bros. to build a replica of the Wizarding World attraction at their theme park in Hollywood, CA.