The Orlando Eye is now part of Icon Park Orlando. Icon Park has been upgraded to be a full fledged visitor friendly area with attractions and lots to explore and plenty of places of chow down as necessary or desired.
Icon Park
At Icon Park the “Eye” is still there. Now it’s called The Wheel. Still it is a neat thing, and still a worthwhile activity to get a nice view of Orlando from the summit, 400′ or so up in the air if you haven’t already been.
The Wheel rotates slowly, and apparently never really stops. Access and exit are easily accomplished. You can get a sense of the typical speed on this short video.
The view in the video above is from the outside rear of the park. There is public parking there, and it’s also the lot for the park employees. It’s on the other side of The Wheel, inside the grounds of Icon Park, where the relatively new attractions shine. There’s lots to do, a good bit to wander, and a bunch of really decent eateries.
Before we show you where we had lunch at Icon Park, here’s a very short video of one of the attractions that is new since the last time we were there. As the day progressed, this became a clearly fun activity, as all the cars on each train were full.
WThere is no charge to just be wandering into to Icon Park and it is a pleasant place in its own right. There’s tons of no-charge parking in the area.
The activities – such as the ones above – are not free. You can purchase an assortment of passes to access a few of or all of the rides / attractions. That information is available on their website which is linked below.
Now, to lunch at Icon Park!
As I mentioned earlier there’s no shortage of places to eat at Icon Park. Immediately around the park there are many more restaurants offering almost any kind of food. We went to see Icon Park, and decided to have lunch there on their grounds.
The place we had lunch was Gordon Ramsay’s Fish & Chips, British style, and it was very, very good. Yup, it’s a franchise operation, but it’s not fast good. Every order is cooked after the order is placed. Boy, does the Icon Park location ever do a good job on making fish and chips, at least for us this day! The servings were ample. For those inclined, this restaurant (eat in or on the terrace) also offers other than just soft drinks.
Inside The Wheel building at Icon Park
Inside the main building, the outside of which is seen in the next photo, there there’s lots to do as well.
The Wheel is neat and worthwhile, as I mentioned earlier. But what else? In the main building is access to what is reputedly a wonderful aquarium, the Sea Life Orlando Aquarium. It was on our list to take in, but we ran out of time this trip.
We certainly took the time to investigate the parts of the aquarium that were visible in the lobby side of the aquarium which were interesting in their own right. The entrance sto the aquarium suggests the aquarium is small. Visitors have made it clear that it’s actually quite large once you’re inside.
At the other end of the main building is the world famous Madame Tussauds wax museum.
The access to The Wheel is also inside the main building.
Earlier in the morning there were few folks at any of the attractions inside or outside of the main building, and that makes it a good time of day to visit. It did get quite busy after lunch.
What else? There’s the Museum of Illusions, Orlando. That we didn’t take in this visit.
There is the Orlando Free Fall ride for those daring enough to free fall from 400+ feet up. (At this time this attraction is closed due to a recent accident. I don’t know when it will open again, time will tell).
And, why not try the StarFlyer, immediately adjacent to the Icon Park entrance. Please see the two quick videos about that just below.
And in this next video, you’re at the top, spinning at up to 45 MPH, 450′ in the air. Oh joy!
International Drive in Orlando, home of Icon Park, has been a hub of activities for the Orlando visitor for years. Icon Park is the first step in revamping the entire area to make it even more welcoming for visitors to Orlando for years to come.