ORLANDO, Fla. — The performances of daredevil tightrope walker Nik Wallenda have taken him between Chicago skyscrapers, across Niagara Falls and through a gorge near the Grand Canyon. He can now add a spinning Ferris wheel to the list.

Wallenda successfully completed a walk across the rim of the 400-foot Orlando Eye observation wheel Wednesday morning in Florida.

The 36-year-old started his walk shortly after 8 a.m. atop the city’s newest attraction, which is set to open to the public early next month.

Wallenda rode to the top of the wheel and then navigated up ladders and around parts of the structure to begin his four-minute trek along its six-inch rim. He stopped at one point between capsules to wave to the assembled crowd of about 100 below.

After his walk, Wallenda took a moment to capture a selfie with his phone before riding down to the ground atop one of the wheel’s capsules.

“We’re inspiring people to do greater things, to step out of their comfort zones,” Wallenda said afterward. “What an amazing feeling it was up there.”

Wednesday’s feat came after one in November, in which Wallenda made two Chicago skyscraper crossings on high wires. Other previous tightrope walks took him to the brink of Niagara Falls in 2012 and across a Grand Canyon-area gorge in 2013.

Wallenda is the great-grandson of Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death during a tightrope stunt in Puerto Rico at 73.


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