Florida's ICON Park Guest Hit by $323,000 Theft

Orlando’s ICON Park is popular with adrenaline junkies – and, so it seems, thieves.

Since 2015, Florida’s ICON Park has become an increasingly busy destination for thrill fans and families alike. Home to over 50 attractions – including the 400-foot-tall Orlando Eye (previously known as The Wheel at ICON Park), a Madame Tussauds wax museum, and a Sea Life aquarium – it welcomes millions of visitors per year.

However, the park has also been plagued by bad luck since its opening. In 2022, ICON Park was the scene of a tragic accident when 14-year-old Tyre Sampson fell to his death from the Orlando Free Fall ride. It was later found that ride operators had manually adjusted the restraint proximity sensors of Sampson’s seat. The ride was demolished in March 2023.

Also in 2022, ICON Park temporarily closed Bullseye Blast – a laser tag attraction – shortly after its opening, following mass complaints about its insensitivity considering the number of nationwide mass shootings. In December of the same year, ICON Park was also forced to evacuate The Wheel when 62 people were stuck on the attraction.

Massive Theft Reported at ICON Park

In 2023, ICON Park faced more misfortune as reports emerge of a luxury car being stolen from its valet service.

Cora Johnson – a real estate broker and owner of Wynnmore Realty – claimed that she left her $300,000 Bentley Bentayga with ICON Park’s valet on May 17, 2023, to grab dinner on I-Drive. When she returned to collect the car two hours after parking, it was missing.

Johnson told Orlando News 6 that the attendant on duty said her car had been taken, but that he didn’t call the police following the incident.

“He just gave me a dumbfounded look. I said, ‘Did you call the (explicit) police?’” said Johnson. “He’s like, ‘Well, they knocked the cones down.’ I said, ‘You’re more worried about the cones than our almost $300,000 car?’”

The valet attendant explained that the lockbox containing the car’s keys had been pried open and broken into. This follows a series of high-end luxury vehicle thefts from various valet services around Orange County in recent months.

Johnson claimed that the stolen vehicle contained more than $23,000 of valuables, including a MacBook, a Louis Vuitton suitcase and duffel, a Chanel purse, Versace slippers, and a Gucci belt. The sheriff’s office told Orlando News 6 that the luxury vehicle was one of six stolen in similar circumstances in the space of a month in the same county.

A few months later, Johnson filed a lawsuit against the park’s valet service, Right Away Valet and Parking Services.

“As a direct and proximate result of (Right Away’s) breach, (Cora Johnson) is entitled to damages including but not limited to the monetary value and/or replacement of her vehicle and its contents as well as mental anguish and emotional distress caused by the loss of her enjoyment of her vehicle and its contents,” the lawsuit argued.