I have been to Florida many times visiting Tampa and Miami three times each and been to Key West once as one of the port of calls.  I have never been to Orlando and always wanted to visit and check out what the city was all about.  A friend and I wanted to attend the popular music festival EDC last month and wanted to make a trip out of it.

I always wanted to visit Disney World and Universal Studios and had to include that in my first Orlando trip.  When I researched more about the city and some of the attractions to do, ICON Park really interested me so I had to include that on our trip too.  What was even better, was that they were advertising the ICON Park Play Pass on their website.

What Is It?

The ICON Park Play Pass is basically just a ticket package that bundles 8 of ICON Park’s most popular attractions at a discount bundled price.  It also gets you a small discount at some of the shopping and dining options at ICON Park.  This all inclusive pass costs only $69 USD per adult, and is valid for 30 days after the first attraction has been visited.

It includes these 8 attractions: The Wheel at ICON Park, Madame Tussauds Orlando, SEA LIFE Orlando Aquarium, Orlando StarFlyer, 7D Dark Ride Adventure, Pearl Express Train, Museum of Illusions and a $5 credit to In The Game.  I did not get to do all 8 attractions as some were not wheelchair accessible.  Some of the ones I couldn’t do, my friend experienced them for me.  I will comment on each below:

The Wheel at ICON Park

The Wheel at ICON Park is a 400 feet (122 meter) tall giant Ferris wheel.  It opened in 2015 and was initially named Orlando Eye.  Later in that year, it was renamed Coca-Cola Orlando, then in 2018: ICON Orlando before finally settling with the name The Wheel at ICON Park in 2019.  This was the first attraction we visited at ICON Park and we did it on the Tuesday evening.

I have been to many other large Ferris wheels and this one is just as similar.  Each of the 30 air conditioned gondolas are wheelchair accessible and gives passengers a stunning bird’s eye view of the Orlando skyline along with it’s many attractions including Disney World and Universal Studios.  I enjoyed this ride just as much as the others.  Purchased on it’s own, it costs $32.49 for this fun and easy 18 minute ride.

Orlando StarFlyer

Orlando StarFlyer is a recently new addition to ICON Park.  It opened in June 2018 and is “The World’s Tallest Stand-Alone Swing Ride” at 450 feet.  The swings move up and down and rotates around the tower at up to 45 mph.  This ride was not accessible as I could not hold myself up to sit in a swing.  My friend got to ride this twice and he went once in the daytime and once at night.  This ride costs $12.21 and costs $7.51 for the same day return rider if purchased separately.

7D Dark Ride Adventure

This shooting game features state of art motion 3D theater that has 7 dimension of fun including wind, sound and movement.  There are several different games to choose from and I did not go on this ride either.  I would have to transfer to the game seat and there wasn’t any harness for me to sit properly during the rocking motion of the seat.  I also couldn’t hold the gun to shoot at the screen either so I let my friend use my ticket to play twice.  Regular prices for this attraction is $12 for 1 ride, $18 for 2 rides or $22 for 3 rides.

Madame Tussauds Orlando

Having been just opened in the spring of 2015, Madame Tussauds Orlando’s wax museum is already a big hit with tourists.  This and the rest of the attractions on the ICON Park Play Pass, we did on the Thursday of our trip.  I have been to many Madame Tussauds around the world and have always enjoyed coming back for more.

This whole museum was all on the one main floor which made it easier for me without having to deal with elevators and ramps.  There didn’t seem to be as many wax figures as other locations but there was still a great mix of celebrities, musicians, athletes, political figures, cartoon characters and even super heroes.

They didn’t have any costumes or props out to pose with the wax figures due to covid.  We still had a great time posing and taking pictures and spent over an hour here.  Regular tickets start at $33.95 when purchased separately.

SEA LIFE Orlando

SEA LIFE Orlando also opened in 2015 at the same time as Madame Tussauds and The Wheel did at the I-Drive 360 complex.  SEA LIFE is the world’s largest family of aquariums and has over 40 locations in 17 countries around the world.  I have visited other locations and thought the Orlando location was quite small compared to others.

There are still over 5000 sea creatures like sharks, turtles, stingrays, fish and more in a few exciting exhibits like Jelly Wall, Indian Ocean, Feeding Frenzy, Coastal Rockpool and more.  They even have Florida’s only 360 degree Ocean Tunnel.  It was all on one floor and very wheelchair accessible.  Regular prices start at $33.95 and can be seen in about an hour.

Museum of Illusions

I love Museum of Illusions and just recently went to the Toronto location a few months earlier.  Even went to one on Hollywood a few years back.  This Orlando location just opened earlier this year and is the newest addition to the ICON Park Play Pass.  This location has over 50 exhibits that are interactive, immersive and definitely social media worthy.

The whole experience will have guests using their brain to see these cool illusions and figure out how their mind is tricking them and how the illusion works.  They not only have smaller illusions like photos and displays, but bigger ones that are room size like the Reverse room and the Ames room.  It was very wheelchair accessible  except one exhibit required a staff member to put out a ramp for me.  This attraction was quite fun and we spent almost 2 hours here.  Tickets are only $26.95 purchased separately.

$5 Credit to In The Game

In The Game is basically just a big arcade at ICON Park.  There are many different type of video games, carnival games, and skill testing games.  All we had to do was scan our Play Pass and we got a plastic card with $5 worth of credits loaded on the game card.

Regular pricing are as follows: 40 credits for $10, 120 credits for $25, 250 credits for $50, 400 credits for $75, 550 credits for $100 or $1200 for $200.  Depending on the game, they take different amounts of credits to play.  I did play an easy claw game, where I just had to press a button to try to get the claw to grab and win a prize.

Pearl Express Train

The Pearl Express Train takes guests around ICON Park to check out the sights and sounds of the area.  The train was not wheelchair accessible as it was a miniature train and was mostly for kids.  My friend did not even bother riding the train either.  Regular pricing is $5 for kids 12 and under and $3 for Adults.

Having spent two days at ICON Park, my friend and I really had a lot of fun.  Using the ICON Park Play Pass really made everything cheaper and easier by having everything bundled together in one package.  Even though I could experience ALL 8 attractions, I still thought it was a great value.  If I were to visit again, I would definitely buy the Play Pass again.