Merlin buys Wheel at ICON Park, restores name to Orlando Eye

Steven Lemongello, Orlando Sentinel
Updated ·2 min read
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The Wheel at ICON Park is The Orlando Eye once again after the 400-foot-tall Ferris wheel sold Monday to Merlin Entertainments, the British group that owns Legoland.

The sale puts the wheel on Orlando’s International Drive back in the hands of the company that first operated it from 2015 to 2018. It also unites it with two other Merlin properties at ICON Park, Madame Tussauds Orlando and Sea Life Aquarium Orlando.

Merlin and ICON Park did not reveal the sale price.

“Today’s acquisition of the [Orlando Eye] in the vitally important tourist hub of Orlando demonstrates our gateway strategy in action,” said Merlin CEO Scott O’Neill, referring to the company’s “mega-clusters” of attractions around the world, including the similar London Eye in England.

The Eye is now the fifth Merlin attraction in Florida. Others are Legoland Florida and the adjacent Peppa Pig Theme Park in Polk County.

Chris Jaskiewicz, president and CEO of ICON Park on International Drive, said he was “proud that Merlin recognized the global appeal of this attraction, and of ICON Park as a destination, in selecting us as the site to expand their popular brands in Central Florida.”

The Eye has a complicated history in just the nine years since it opened, including name changes to the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye, ICON Orlando, and The Wheel at ICON Park.

It suffered a power failure on New Year’s Eve 2022, resulting in a closure until February 2023.

A sniper-like shooting game called Bullseye Blast, in which riders were given laser blasters and instructions to aim and shoot at 50 targets throughout the park, was shut down after online criticism in 2022 and reworked into The Great Florida Road Trip, which turned the blasters into cameras.

ICON Park also made national headlines two years ago when a 14-year-old fell to his death from the now-dismantled Orlando Free Fall, owned and operated by SlingShot Group. An engineering report found that the operator manually changed sensors on specific seats on the ride.

A 20-minute ride on one of the 30-passenger pods on the continuously revolving Eye costs $29.99 for adults and $24.99 for children ages 2 to 12.

Packages for the Eye, Tussauds and Sea Life start at $49.99 for adults.