Recently my family and I had the pleasure of visiting ICON Park in Orlando for an afternoon.
ICON Park is a 20-acre, walkable entertainment destination in the heart of the Orlando Entertainment District on International Drive. A perfect place to ride, dine, drink and explore, ICON Park has more than 40 amazing restaurants, funky bars, boutique shops and can’t-miss attractions, all anchored by The Wheel, a jaw-dropping observation wheel that stands 400 feet – 40 stories – in the air.
Guests can visit SEA LIFE Orlando Aquarium, Madame Tussauds Orlando, Orlando StarFlyer, Museum of Illusions, In The Game ICON Park and 7D Motion Theater. Dining options include Yard House, Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, Uncle Julio’s Mexican From Scratch, Tin Roof, Sugar Factory, Tapa Toro, Shake Shack and more.
I have seen many of my friends visit ICON Park but never had the chance to check it out. Take a little tour of ICON Park with us and check out all the fun we had.
The outside of ICON Park has quite a few dining options and shopping galore. Before we even visited the main attractions we spent about an hour walking around and looking inside the shops. ICON Park gifts was one of my favorites, they have all of those touristy gifts at reasonable prices.
The Wheelhouse is the main building, inside you will find SEA LIFE Orlando Aquarium, Madame Tussauds Orlando, Museum of Illusions, In The Game ICON Park and 7D Motion Theater and our favorite The Wheel.
The Wheel was our first stop, this jaw-dropping observation wheel stands 400 feet – 40 stories – in the air and can be visible from pretty much all of Orlando. I love how they illuminate it at night!
Before even getting on The Wheel you are able to get a family photo and order a drink from a bar waiting just before you get on. Of course we had to get a tasty beverage to bring with us.
Each of The Wheel’s 30 capsules now includes a brand-new Bluetooth feature that allows guests to connect their phones to the capsule sound system featuring Bose speakers.
We opted to listen to fun facts about Orlando from our seats.
Check out these views, you can see Disney World off in the distance.
The views from The Wheel are simply amazing. I thought I would be afraid going up that high but it wasn’t scary at all. It is so smooth and being able to sit and enjoy my beverage really helped.
Take a look at this video:
They even have a gift shop after you are done riding The Wheel. Reminds me of how every ride at Disney ends in a gift shop lol.
Next, we split the time between Madame Tussauds for the adults and the kids went to the 7-D Dark Ride and In the Game Arcade. At 7D Dark Ride Adventure, you don’t just play a game—you’re part of it. Gaming experiences at this state-of-the-art motion theater combine 3D imagery with light, wind, and moving chairs to create a multi-sensory adventure fit for all ages. Our kids had a blast!
I have seen photos of Madame Tussauds from many of my friends but had no idea it was so vast. I think we took photos of almost every celebrity and historical figure inside. Of course, Walt Disney had to be my favorite.
Here is a look at many of the other people you will find inside.
The lighting is perfect for photos or even selfies. Madame Tussauds did an amazing job with these wax figures. They are so life-like you will feel like you are meeting the real person.
You can see some of my favorites here:
Next up was Sea Life… SEA LIFE Orlando offers underwater adventures with more than 5000 species from the three oceans of the world. My whole family enjoyed this experience at ICON Park. There is so much to look at and for little ones to do. Our photos do not do this area justice.
You can spend several hours looking at all the marine wildlife in here. All of the exhibits have information either on a board or tv screen. My only complaint is that like us many people wanted to enjoy this area so it was a little crowded.
I was able to record some videos of the Sea Life here:
The final stop on our ICON Park tour was the Orlando Star Flyer. To get here you want to walk back towards the Parking Garage to get there. You can’t miss it trust me.
The Orlando StarFlyer claims to be the world’s tallest swing ride attraction standing at 450 feet. Riders are double-seated with a friend or partner and secured with seat belts and in-between-the-legs harnesses for their safety. Experience the thrill of the cool breeze in your face and all of Orlando below your feet.
We all we really nervous about going on this, I mean look how tall this is… You can see the video of us riding on it here:
The StarFlyer was not bad at all, once you got to the top it was quite peaceful. I didn’t feel unsafe at anytime, it was such an exciting experience, but it did get my adrenaline going on the way up…
With dinner plans on the horizon we unfortunately didn’t eat at any of the restaurants. Did I mention there are 40 amazing restaurants to eat at ICON Park? Maybe next time we will just visit for dining and shopping. You can park here for free so even if you don’t do any of the attractions you can still just walk around.
ICON Park was nice enough to give my family and I an ICON Park Play Passes. It includes 1 admission to The Wheel at Icon Park, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life, Pearl Express, Starflyer, Museum of Illusions, 7D Motion Theater, and a $5 In The Game Game Card + discounts at participating restaurants, shops, and more. It is by far the best value. I highly recommend picking one of these up if you are going to visit.
I honestly thought that 3 hours would be enough time to visit ICON Park but I was WRONG. I feel like we rushed through our visit and could have easily spent most of the day here, especially if we would have grabbed a bite to eat.
Related – Build-A-Bear Workshop coming to ICON Park
For $69 for the ICON Park Play Pass, it is such an amazing value for what you get. Like I said if you just want to shop and dine after a visit to the theme parks you can also do just that. My family and I are planning on coming back again in the evening so we can grab a bite to eat, do some shopping, and to see The Wheel lit up at night close up.
Next time you are visiting Disney World or Universal Orlando I highly suggest planning a visit to ICON Park. It was such a fun experience for us and I know you and your family will just love it too!
Special thank you to ICON Park for hosting us and for all of the memories! To learn more visit their website.
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