Orlando Eye
Ferris wheel in Orlando, Florida
The Orlando Eye by Merlin Entertainments is a 400-foot-tall (122 m) Ferris wheel at Icon Park in Orlando, Florida, United States. It opened on April 29, 2015.
The attraction was originally called the Orlando Eye, and was owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments, which also owns the London Eye Ferris wheel, the observation decks known as the Blackpool Tower Eye and the Sydney Tower Eye, and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum attractions. It was renamed the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye in 2016 and was then sold and renamed the Icon Orlando in 2018 and the Wheel at Icon Park Orlando in 2019. The 2018 renaming was accompanied by a re-branding of the surrounding property from I-Drive 360 to ICON Park. In 2024, the wheel was repurchased by Merlin Entertainments and renamed the Orlando Eye by Merlin Entertainments. The 2024 repurchase of the Ferris wheel was the first acquisition for Merlin Entertainments under the leadership of CEO Scott O'Neil, who joined the company in 2022.
Design and construction
The Orlando Eye by Merlin Entertainments is described as an observation wheel because it "is a stabilized-driven (capsule) that gives you a really smooth experience on the way around, so it doesn't feel like when you're at 400 feet, that you're swinging around in mid-air". According to its official website, the Orlando Eye is the first wheel ever to use such a system in combination with a suspended "ski lift capsule design".
The wheel was reported to be in the early stages of planning in March 2011, with completion due in mid-2014, and was approved by county commissioners in September 2012.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Orlando Eye” as ferris wheel in Orlando, Florida. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ferris wheel in Orlando, Florida. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20712638. Authority coordinates are 28.443, -81.468. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Orlando Eye”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Orlando Eye primary sources, Orlando Eye archive and Orlando research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Orlando Eye”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Orlando Eye” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.