International Drive's front porch
ICON Park is the open-air complex anchored by The Wheel, the 400-foot observation wheel that defines the I-Drive skyline — and it's best understood as a bundle: The Wheel, Madame Tussauds, SEA LIFE Aquarium, the Museum of Illusions, shops, bars, and restaurants in one stop, with combo tickets covering the aquarium and wax museum together. A full family review day on this page worked through all of it and ended at Ole Red, Blake Shelton's restaurant, for lunch.
The Wheel, plus a game
The capsule ride is the slow, air-conditioned skyline tour — but the family reviewers found the add-on that changes it: Bullseye Blast, a game where you shoot infrared beams at 50 wheel-shaped targets placed on the rooftops below as you rotate. It's the difference between sightseeing and competing.
And the neighbor that spins at 60 mph
Right in ICON Park's orbit is the Orlando StarFlyer — at its opening the world's tallest swing ride at 450 feet. FOX 35 rode it on opening day with the park's GM: built in Austria, shipped in 28 forty-foot containers, assembled in about two months, spinning riders at up to 60 mph (it can operate in 45 mph winds). Opening prices were $10 online, $12 at the gate — it's the thrill-seeker's counterpoint to The Wheel's calm.
Sources: the two videos on this page — a full family review day at ICON Park and FOX 35's StarFlyer opening ride — summarized from their transcripts in our catalog.
Watch: ICON Park and The Wheel, guided
6 videos · summaries from the actual guides