If you’re in or around Orlando, Florida before or after your cruise or you’re otherwise
in the area, The Wheel at ICON Park is a 400-foot-tall Ferris wheel that offers expansive views of
local attractions, the Orlando skyline, and more.
In this video, we’ll provide an overview of our Summer 2021 visit to The Wheel, when
we were invited to take a ride on what has become an instantly recognizable part of the
International Drive area.
ICON Park is a 20-acre entertainment complex located about three miles south of Universal
Studios and about three miles north of SeaWorld.
The complex offers more than 40 restaurants, shops, bars and attractions, all anchored
by The Wheel.
Before visiting ICON Park, we recommend going to their website -- which we’ve linked in
the description below -- to check out pricing, attraction combos, and specials.
When we arrived at ICON Park, we parked in the complimentary street-level parking that
was located on the east side of the complex.
Free parking was also available in a covered parking garage that was located on the north
side of the complex.
The ticket counter was located in the middle of The Wheelhouse, which is the building located
at the base of The Wheel.
The ticket counter also had tickets for Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the SEA LIFE Aquarium,
which were also located in The Wheelhouse.
After passing through the entrance for The Wheel, complimentary lockers were available
to store any items that were not allowed on the attraction.
Just before boarding, the ICON Park Sky Bar had beverages and popcorn available for purchase
that you could enjoy while riding on The Wheel.
When it was our turn, we boarded The Wheel via the curved platform.
Although The Wheel doesn’t stop to allow you to board, it does move slow enough that
our family was able to get on without any problems.
Our ride on The Wheel offered a lot more than the traditional Ferris wheels we’ve ridden
in the past.
Other than the size of The Wheel, the next most obvious difference from a traditional
Ferris wheel was the climate-controlled enclosed capsule that provided a great way to relax
and beat the Florida heat.
Another difference was the touchscreen that provided information that helped us identify
and learn more about the points of interest we could see.
A few of the more distant spots we were able to identify included: Universal Studios and
Universal’s Volcano Bay water park, which were about one to two miles away;
the Orange County Convention Center, which was a little over a mile away, as well as
SeaWorld, which was a little over two miles away;
the Downtown Orlando skyline, which was over eight miles away;
and Orlando International Airport, which was about nine miles away.
According to the t-shirt we saw in the gift shop, The Wheel has a viewing distance of
57 miles, so there was much more available to see.
And directional stickers located on the sides of the capsule helped us keep our bearings
as we constantly looked around to spot new points of interest.
When our capsule reached the top of The Wheel, we were all amazed by the spectacular panoramic view!
It was like a slow motion view of Orlando that you typically only see for a few moments
when arriving or departing by plane.
So, be prepared to look and take a lot of photos at the top when you ride!
Of course, The Wheel kept turning at its very leisurely pace of one mile per hour and we
were soon descending back to ground level.
And, much to the delight of Jellybean, we were able to play her favorite songs during
the ride by connecting our cell phone to the capsule’s Bluetooth-enabled sound system
and she danced throughout the ride, so she likes to point out that she technically danced
400 feet in the air!
It took about 20 minutes for our capsule to make the full rotation and return us back
to the platform.
We then exited our capsule and continued back to explore everything else The Wheelhouse
had to offer, including: a gift shop that had souvenir clothing, hats, drinkware, magnets,
and more;
The Wheelhouse Market food court that had four different eateries, as well as restrooms;
and an arcade that had many video games, skill games, a mirror maze, and an escape room.