Abandoned Mercado Site Giving Way to 425-ft “Roller Coaster”

Recently, the old abandoned Mercado building caught my eye while visiting near Orlando's International Drive. Admittedly, I was on the lookout for any abandoned buildings in the area, but this one - once I figured out what it was - caught me by surprise. First off was the site it sat on. It was huge! 18 acres in all, with green screening all around the perimeter. This was a place I wanted to see up close.

I told my wife to "hang on" then abruptly turned into the driveway and pulled up in front of the curved sign proclaiming, "Mercado". Though I never visited the Mercado in its heyday, I do remember it often being advertised on the radio and in newspaper ads as the place to shop near International Drive. Apparently all of this empty space used to be known as the Mercado Shopping Village.

I jumped out of my car and held my camera above the fence, snapping photos from different angles. All that it revealed was weeds, weeds and more weeds. The structure itself wasn't in too bad of condition, but it sat on the edge of a wasteland of deserted property. It had the appearance of being readied for construction. I needed to learn more.

I hit the web and did some searching, attempting to first find out what had happened to the Mercado. I first discovered that the Mercado shopping area had once been home to the Titanic Exhibit, a business made popular with the public's interest in the doomed ocean liner. It also appeared that the shopping plaza closed and was torn down sometime around 2007 to make way for another development that never materialized.

Then I stumbled onto some very interesting news. It appeared my hunch of upcoming construction was on the mark. This deserted Mercado area would soon be home to a new theme park called I-Drive Live. When finished, the park would change the skyline of Orlando with a giant, 425-foot, skyscraper-sized Ferris wheel called the Orlando Eye. Mike Synan of Fox 35 News reports that the towering wheel will be the first-of-its-kind. On the outside it may appear to be just like the London Eye wheel, located on the River Thames, but Orlando's projected wheel will be technologically unique. You see, the Ferris wheel itself doesn't really turn like a bicycle wheel. There's no central hub. Rather, the cars move around the outside of the wheel in a 1 mph "roller coaster" fashion.

Over on the Orlando Sentinel's site, Sara K. Clark reports that this new I-Drive Live park will feature a Madame Tussauds wax museum and a Sea Life aquarium. Other businesses are also lining up that may eventually provide more than 1,000 jobs to the area.

Call it a Ferris wheel or a slow crawling roller coaster, either way the Orlando Eye is sure to give an amazing view of the International Drive area.

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Ron Masters' Photography