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THE ORLANDO EYE and I-DRIVE 360 Attractions
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and SeaLife Aquarium
(4/30/15) I’m happy to report that over the past three days, Screamscape was invited to preview all three new attractions at I-Drive 360: The Orlando Eye, Madame Tussauds and the SeaLife Aquarium. While I couldn’t be there myself, I had an excellent candidate to fill in, take photos of it all, and report back with brief reviews. Plus to top it all off, the world witnessed Nik Wallenda go for the stroll on top of a moving Orlando Eye just before it opened to the media. Ready to hear all about it? Let’s go!
MADAME TUSSAUDS -
The new Madame Tussauds at the beautiful I-Drive 360 is a very cool and fun experience. The Orlando location is separated into sections consisting of; A-List Party, TV, Film, Sports Stars, History and World Leaders, Arts and Science, Music, and Authentic History. The size of the experience itself was probably just about right and didn’t seem too long or cluttered. The theming of each area was really on point, especially The Walt Disney area, the section with Andy Warhol, and the Science areas.
There is plenty of room and photo opportunities to be had and the staff is more than happy to help you out. The attention to detail is impeccable from the Tattoos, birth marks, even recreating jewelry that was worn. There are built in photo opportunities where the staff with their own professional cameras take your photos. Those photos are then put into a book with photos of the figures at the current location. Along with the details and other interesting facts about them. The price for the book is $35.
SEALIFE ORLANDO -
At Sea Life Orlando there are 30 different displays, Three interactive ocean environments and a variety of interactive elements. One of the main features at Sea Life Orlando is the 360 degree Ocean tunnel. Similar to Sea Worlds shark Tunnel, Sea Life's is completely transparent acrylic all the way around and it makes it seem as if you are about to just “fall in” to the water around you. Having sharks swim under and over you in unique in its own right, and this was a very cool part of the experience. One of the other neat parts were the 360 degree bubbles that you can pop your head into (kids and adults) and surround yourself and get really “close” to certain sea creatures such as eels and other creatures of the deep. There are educational experiences to be included such as talks and feeding demos. One of the other cool things is the Rock Pool experience where you can get up and close and touch starfish, urchins and other benign sea creatures. The cheerful new staff is rather knowledgeable about the areas they work in as well (I found out that Sea Life is the top breeder of Seahorses)
THE ORLANDO EYE -
The Majestic "ginormous" centerpiece of the new I Drive 360 is the Orlando Eye topping out at whopping 400 feet, a number that even this roller coaster buff was a little worried about.
The Orlando Eye experience starts off with a Photo Op and then a 10 minute “4D” movie which consists of a lot of fly over and drone footage from Central Florida which I thought they did very well, the sub story line for the flyover was a little cheesy but its basically an extended setup for the Eye itself.
The Eye rotates continually and you hop on an off as the Gondola cars come by, 10 people would be rather comfortable in a cab (we had about 6 in ours) as the Eye slowly brings you up into the Florida sky. On a clear day you are able to see the vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral (that’s 57 miles away) on this not so clear day
Islands of Adventure, The Contemporary Resort, Spaceship Earth, and the gleaming spires of Spaceship Earth were all visible. The gondolas themselves are windows ceiling to floor with air-conditioning, and a calming soundtrack. The ride was smooth even on this slightly windy day.
Pricing is $25 for one attraction, $39 for two and $49 for three which consist of the Sea Life Aquarium , The Eye and Madame Tussauds. The three new offerings are a good bargain when done together ($49) Visiting them on a day away from the parks (or on a rainy day which we have in Florida often) and you don’t have to use all three things in one day. Individually they may have their allure to certain types of visitors all in all it’s a great addition to the Orlando lineup
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