ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Wheel at ICON Park has officially passed inspections and reopened weeks after riders had to be rescued on New Year’s Eve when the attraction lost power, officials announced Friday.
“The Wheel has been successfully run for days now to assure that all systems are ‘Go!’ and it has passed all inspections to allow the safe and fun operation of this spectacular attraction,” a statement reads.
Parts of the ride that ICON Park said were affected in the interruption of power were replaced and some supplemental safeguards were added to prevent an encore, according to a news release citing Intamin Amusement Rides, which manufactured The Wheel, and “other leading industry engineers.”
“We’d like to thank the technical team and our outside engineering partners who have worked hundreds of additional hours to help complete repairs and the meticulous inspections required by our internal safety protocols...We especially appreciate the community’s support as we have worked through this process, and we are pleased that Orlando’s most visible ‘welcome to the world’ is open‚” Chris Jaskiewicz, ICON Park president and CEO, said in a statement.
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The team behind The Wheel utilized the attraction’s downtime to make finishing touches on “The Great Florida Road Trip,” marketed as an upcoming ride experience, according to the release.
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More than 60 people were safely rescued by Orange County Fire Rescue personnel the night of the outage, with drone video obtained by News 6 showing fire crews climb the ride to reach the gondolas where riders were trapped.
OCFR Special Operations reportedly trains on the wheel 12 times a year, usually during overnight hours, and had just trained for the exact scenario weeks earlier.
It was not specified in the Friday news release what kind of safeguards were added to The Wheel, nor which specific parts of the attraction were affected by the power interruption and replaced.
Learn more about ICON Park by visiting its website.
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