Great Orlando Wheel Coming to International Drive

Orlando’s International Drive will soon have an eye-catching attraction that is bound to make tourists and locals alike take notice: a distinctive panoramic Ferris Wheel that will be known as The Great Orlando Wheel.

Rising as tall as the city’s largest skyscrapers, the Great Orlando Wheel will weigh 4,200 tons, tower 400 feet over Orlando's main tourist district, and cost an estimated $200 million. It is capable of entertaining more than 4300 visitors per hour, and with the wheel rotating at a mere 9 inches per second, riders can enter and exit the ride while the wheel stays in continuous motion. As many as 40 passengers can ride in one of the 24 compartments at a time.

Great Wheel Corp., the Singapore-based company behind the local project, already operates the Singapore Flyer and is planning similar attractions in Beijing and Berlin. The Great Orlando Wheel is scheduled for completion in 2010.