Orlando Slingshot ride reopens at ICON Park in Florida
The Orlando Slingshot attraction at ICON Park reopened Thursday night, more than a year after the ride temporarily shut down following Tyre Sampson's fall death from the Orlando FreeFall attraction.
While housed at ICON Park, both the Orlando FreeFall and Orlando Slingshot rides are owned and operated by a separate company, The Slingshot Group. FreeFall has since been dismantled after Sampson's death. However, Slingshot, which suspended its operations shortly after the FreeFall tragedy, had remained closed.
In an email to FOX 35 News Thursday evening, representatives for The Slingshot Group confirmed that the Orlando Slingshot ride had reopened. It comes the same day that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Tyre Sampson Act, which increases ride safety requirements.
"Today, we reopened the Slingshot ride on the south side of International Drive. We did this in close consultation with the Florida Department of Agriculture and all appropriate regulatory authorities. We also worked with a third party national safety company to guide our reopening procedures and help train the workers who will be operating the ride," Slingshot CEO Ritchie Armstrong said in a statement.
"It is important to know that this ride is a totally different ride from the FreeFall, which has been disassembled and removed from this property entirely. The safety of our patrons continues to be our highest priority and that is why we were supportive of the Tyre Sampson Act being passed by the Florida Legislature this year."
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FOX 35 News reported in March that the ride was inspected on Feb. 21, 2023, by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and had passed its inspection. No other information about the ride aside from contact information and location information as included in the report, which FOX 35 received through a public records request.
Ahead of its opening in December 2021, Orlando Slingshot was described as the world's tallest slingshot. A previous FOX 35 report said the ride would launch riders out of a volcano some 300 feet into the air – at speeds up to 100mph.