Holidays underway at Icon Park
Little Noah Aharon wasn’t sure what to think of the bearded, festive gentleman on the other side of the plastic barrier. His face was full of apprehension until, distracted by a toy, he beamed.
It was photo gold for his mom asNoah, 2, met TheMan himself, Santa Claus, for the first time.
The holidays aren’t canceled during the pandemic but they are undergoing safety changes at International Drive’s Icon Park where The Wheel is located.
“We feel like children shouldn’t be punished more than they already have been by this pandemic,” said Icon Park CEO Chris Jaskiewicz during a recent media preview. “We wanted to find a way to provide them a Santa experience in a safeway.”
At the Santa Workshop Experience, which runs through Dec. 24, children and families can get photos with Santa. The event requires advance reservations, temperature checks and families enter their own door to get into the staged wintery scene in the main lobby of The Wheel.
Santa sits on the other side of the plexiglass shield to talk to the children. The shield almost seems to disappear in photos, making it seem like theNoah and theNorth Pole leader are actually touching.
For the performer, who declined to give hisnameother than Kris Kringle, he misses the real
interaction when he used to lean in closely and listen to the children. Now, all interaction is behind the barrieror fromunderhis face shield.
“It’s very awkward,” said the man who has been playing Santa since 1981 and has a real beard. “But there’s noway around it. It’s the best we can do with the virus.”
Tina Aharon, Noah’s mom, said it was one of the first times she had ventured out at a public event during the pandemic. She felt safe at the event, she said.
“I’m just so excited,” Aharon said as she planned to blow up one of the photos and share the moment with family and friends after shehadworried there might be no chance for her son to meet Santa. “I definitely didn’t think we were going to do that this
year.”
Guests must make a reservation to meet Santa, which is $20. Theycantake theirownphotos at no additional cost or purchase a photo package and the reservation fee will be deducted fromthe final purchase. Reservations can be made at http://www.iconparkorlando.
Newthings, growing attendance
Despite what’s been a hard time for the tourism industry, Icon Park is in a growing mode and building a 7,000-square-foot game center that will have an arcade, an interactive mirror maze, a themedescape roomandvirtual reality next toMadame Tussauds Orlando, Jaskiewicz said.
Construction for the Family Entertainment Group venue began three weeks ago and is set to open in early 2021, Jaskiewicz said.
The venue is one of several projects coming to the Icon attraction, Jaskiewicz said. Also in theworks are twobars set toopen next year: A Florida-themed one selling drinks right before people get on The Wheel and a bar in the main lobby where tickets also are sold.
Icon Park was among the first Central Florida attractions to reopen during the pandemic in early June.
Attendance is rebounding, he said as October’s visitation was about 75% of the prior October’s attendance. For the past 10weekends in a row, Saturday’s Wheel attendance was actually higher than the same Saturdays in 2019, he said.
The return of guests comes mostly from the backing of Floridians who currently make up about 90% of visitors at The Wheel, he said.
Before the pandemic, the mix of out-of-towners and locals was closer to 50-50, Jaskiewicz said.
“Locals are coming,” Jaskiewicz said. “There’s a lot of focus on people who are restricted from coming in. We have to think about the people who are restricted in Central Florida from going out.”