The Wheel at ICON Park acquired by UK's Merlin Entertainments - Rebranded back to The Orlando Eye

Say goodby to The Wheel at ICON Park, as Orlando's iconic giant wheel has been rebranded back to its original name, The Orlando Eye thanks to new owners Merlin Entertainments.

UK theme park and attraction operator, Merlin Entertainments who already own a significant portfolio of attractions in Central Florida, including the Sea Life Orlando Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Orlando, both at ICON Park, plus the Legoland Florida Resort and Peppa Pig Theme Park in Winter Haven have announced the purchase of the tallest observation wheel on the East Coast of the US, The Wheel at ICON Park, an attraction that the company previously operated when it first opened back in 2015.

Along with the purchase of the 400-foot tall observation wheel, the company has rebranded the attraction back to its original name, "The Orlando Eye." The original logo for the attraction has also been brought back.

Since its opening, the iconic attraction has has quite a few name changes. In July, 2016, the Orlando Eye was sponsored by Coca-Cola and renamed the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye. Then in March 2018, it was rebranded as ICON Orlando, and in April 2019, it was rebranded once again to The Wheel at ICON Park.

Merlin Entertainments, one of the largest amusement-park operators in the world with 141 attraction in 23 countries have not revealed the terms of the deal, but Merlin's Chief Executive Scott O'Neil said in an interview that the addition of the Orlando Eye to Merlin's portfolio will help turn its Orlando properties into one of Melin's "mega clusters."

Merlin create mega clusters in popular tourism destinations so that they can market several attractions together, and sell tickets bundles, much like in London, where Merlin owns the London Eye and several other London attractions.

Commenting on the Central Florida cluster, O'Neil's said, "Today’s acquisition of the Orlando Wheel in the vitally important tourist hub of Orlando demonstrates this new Gateway strategy in action and serves to replicate our successful London Gateway formula, whereby we have clustered four of our branded attractions alongside the iconic anchor that is the London Eye.”

He continued “Similarly, the Orlando Eye by Merlin Entertainments will become an unmissable stop on visitors’ itineraries, connecting guests to our wider portfolio of premium attractions and resort theme parks in and around Orlando, including the Sea Life Orlando Aquarium, Madame Tussauds Orlando, and Legoland Florida Resort and Peppa Pig Theme Park.”

Could we see more Orlando attractions added to their portfolio? It's quite possible, watch this space...

Already the new Orlando Eye branding has been added to ICON Park's website, and a new Orlando Eye website is also up and running, which demonstrates Melin's mega cluster policy of advertising attractions together, and selling multiple attraction tickets in bundle deals, check it out at theorlandoeye.com.

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