The Orlando Eye

We have been watching the Orlando Eye being built at the top of I-Drive for quite a while now and was really excited when we saw it was opening a couple of weeks before our arrival in June. We had already read on the main Orlando Eye website that it would be easier and cheaper if booking was made in advance via the website, so this is what we did. We looked at the weather for a few days in advance and chose the day we thought would be best and booked it online, very easy and instructions are very clear.

We chose an early morning slot as we thought it would be less crowded. We eventually found the parking area, very few signs were evident and the workmen were still putting signs up everywhere and the bus stop was just being built when we arrived, but the parking was easy even though the multi storey car park was not in use.

We found our way in and was happy that it was quite quiet really, we only had to line behind one person to pick our tickets up, the staff were very friendly and helpful and explained how it all worked, we were directed through to the waiting area by more very friendly staff. (There may be a shortage of signs but there was certainly no shortage of staff).

We waited a few minutes and was then directed into the preview area where a short film is shown about ' How and why the eye was built' it is quite a sweet film about a young girl and her dad.

We then went out to the boarding area, more helpful and friendly staff boarded us into our capsule. We were very lucky in that there were only 2 other people in the capsule with us meaning we had plenty of room to wander around for photos.

The ride itself is incredibly smooth, even when we had a short stop for wheelchair guests to board, you didn' t feel it, the capsules are air conditioned so the whole ride is very comfortable.

You can see for miles, we had good views of Disney’s Magic Kingdom in the distance, we could pick out Space Mountain and the castle quite easily, Universal was practically in front of us although the view was spoiled a bit by the large number of building cranes there and Seaworld was very clearly seen behind us. In the long distance we could see Orlando City and its vast number of shaped buildings and even further away they say you can see the Kennedy Space Center, well we are not sure that we did but it was certainly a very long way that we could see.

The ride itself takes about 20 minutes and there is no shortage of different things to spot during this time, you do get an occasional commentary but most things are clear enough to identify anyway.

There are supposed to be Apple tablets installed but as of mid June these were yet to appear but it certainly does not detract from the experience. We cannot wait until later in the year when we shall experience ‘The eye’ after dark!

You can get combi tickets that include Madame Tussauds and Orlando Sealife Aquarium too, we didn’t on this occasion but they did look interesting.