Merlin buys Orlando Eye, will call it Orlando Eye

I haven't followed this closely, but I never understood how they went from operator to not-operator, and I just assumed they were the original investor to build it.

When my kid was younger and we had Legoland passes, we would stop by and ride the Eye now and then, and usually had a cabin to ourselves. With Epic Universe going up, I suspect it's more interesting now, but back then, it was just flat land separated by lakes in every direction. I didn't realize how "meh" the view was until I did the London Eye, which is a little taller, and surrounded by, you know, London.

I get that not everyone is rich and can afford theme park tickets every day, but I can't believe enough people find themselves bored enough in Orlando to want to spend $30 to look at the air conditioners on top of Walmart.

Hey, I liked the Eye. (I’ve not been to London, so I’ll save that review for another time) And I was more interested in the engineering aspect of it all, not so much the rooftops. It felt massive and was certainly the tallest wheel I’ve been on. And the view wasn’t bad- it was nighttime so the surroundings were colorful. And if you look hard enough you can see Uni over here and the lights of Disney waaaay off in the distance over there.
I went with a friend who is local but had never been. There wasn’t a long line (although they were prepared for one) but it was steady. We got our own car, (which I assumed is a post-Covid measure) and it was cool how the lights dimmed once we left the station. (Little things) We both enjoyed it and luckily no one had to pee.
I was surprised how busy ICON was in general, the I-Drive crowd was packing themselves in for restaurants, bars, and rides. It wasn’t long after the young man was killed on the drop tower and they kept that part of the block dark. We didn’t go over there.

It is visually impressive and huge, I totally get wanting to ride it. I was anxious to at first. I still like seeing it, but the novelty of riding it is not what it used to be for me.

There are vacationers who don't check into the Disney or Universal bubble and stay there. There has to be, or all of that third-rate crap on I-Drive wouldn't be there. I even had a Fun Spot pass for awhile, until they said a prayer for Melania Trump at a ride opening, and then that thing with the kid falling off the spinning mouse. But to me, the weird thing is that you're not really going to save a ton of money outside of the bubbles, unless you're willing to stay in, and eat at, sketchy places with dubious sanitary practices.

I recall when the eye opened, I was in Orlando for work stuff. The lighting package was exquisite, more recent I feel like it is no longer. Maybe those are rose colored goggles for the past, but I don’t think so.

Anyway, cool wheel, but the starflyer is where it’s at. Same view, and a thrill wrapped into one. Ferris wheels are cool, but they aren’t much more than a leisurely ride which seems rather expensive. My favorite one is still the moving carriages on the wheel at DLR.

Last two times I was down there, I never saw that wheel open. Got my rides on the Star Flyer, which was convenient because I was staying in a Jamaican Court hotel (i.e. pretty much right across the street). Star Flyer is open until 2am, when the adjacent bar closes. I'm not sure when anything else at ICON is open, but for those of us either spending the day at the trade show, or spending the day at Universal, sadly, the Wheel simply wasn't an option. I wonder if Merlin will fix that.

Jeff, by referring to "sketchy places with dubious sanitary practices" it sounds like you're referring to literally any restaurant on International Drive. Except you left out "overpriced." Tip: much like finding a hotel near Cedar Point your best option is to go about two towns over, if you're eating in Orlando you should probaby avoid International Drive.

Speaking of sketchy places with dubious sanitary practices...

TheMillenniumRider, have you ever ridden the Wonder Wheel on Coney Island? Similar design to the DCA Wheel, but instead of a rim drive with pneumatic tires, the Wonder Wheel is driven by cast iron gears pushing teeth on the rim of the Wheel. And instead of putting the moving cars on plastic wheels running on tubular steel roller coaster tracks, the Wonder Wheel has angle-iron tracks and the cars run on flanged railroad wheels. Now for the surprise: the Wonder Wheel is a smoother, quieter ride than the Disney wheel in spite of being nearly a hundred years older.

Oh, and unlike much of what you find on Surf Ave., there really is nothing sketchy about Deno's Wonder Wheel Park.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Dave, I can’t say I have, and I would love too, but that requires visiting the NYC area, and I greatly dislike that city. I will be passing through there briefly for a connection in May, but don’t think I have enough time to run out from the airport and back. Maybe next time I’m up that way.

A gear driven wheel sounds intriguing, I am a sucker for old rides too…

Also, Fish Bones on sand lake and I drive, think it’s the only decent restaurant there. Though they might have shuttered in Covid and never reopened, the other one is in lake Mary and too far to drive, just go to Domu instead. 😋

Sand Lake is no longer with us. Lake Mary is still open.

If I recall from my IAAPA days, there are a handful of really decent restaurants along that one short stretch of Sand Lake Road not far from the OCCC.

I’ve had many a good dinner meal there. Rocco’s Tacos was always a great meal.

Yeah, there are a number of places up that way that are partially fueled by expense-account conventioneers. Not necessarily cheap, but pretty good.

Yeah, Sand Lake west of I-4 has a ton of good restaurants. It feels like they have more local people than not. Saffron, the Indian place down from Rocco's, is pretty excellent. And they legit make it "Indian hot" if you ask for it.

Didn't this catch fire about a year ago?

So, came across this, is the Orlando Starflyer for sale? Or did someone just use those photos to show what a starflyer looks like?

Footage sure looks correct.

Sale Link

It must be a stock photo because it is showing year of manufacture as 2023 and the one time I rode the one here in Orlando was well before the pandemic.