Artegon Sky Trail

Brought my niece here who is 11 to enjoy. I’ve seen another one of these sky trails in Orlando that is glow in the dark, but this one was 2 – 3 times larger. She had a great time up there for about 40 minutes. The price was a bit hefty for me, $ 15, but I guess it’s right on I-​Drive so you would expect tourist prices. It wasn’t very crowded, just a good amount of kids on it. They also had a small area that was much lower for younger kids at a price of $ 8 which I thought was so cute. Overall she had a great time!

Great activity for kids, and inside, no big sunshine, especially in Summer! Only provide single time ticket, if have season pass will be great!

A neon green and orange steel structure stands out at as one of the first things you see inside the main entrance of Artegon Marketplace. What is this contraption? The Sky Trail, which is a fancy name for ropes course. Participants can pay an extra fee to participate in a sky jump as well. There was a sky rail (zip line), but that was removed at the end of last year.
You need to be at least 48 inches to participate in the ropes course by yourself. Smaller children can climb if an adult supervises them. They also have a miniature ropes course for super little kids (so cute). The rules are pretty clear. Basically, don’t bring anything in your pockets and no horseplay while up on the course. First, strap on some harnesses, then get hooked up to a sturdy black rope (I think it’s a belay, but I call it the life line). Once the attendant connects you up to the track, you’re free to traverse the course.
A flight of stairs gives access to numerous rope and balance challenges in between platforms. There are two levels and about 12 different obstacles on each level. The scariest obstacles were the ones with only a few single lines of rope to hold onto. I’m not afraid of heights, but there were a couple times that I had to remind myself that I was still attached to my life line. No need to hit the gym before going here — working on your balance and grip is a pretty good workout. My palms were red afterwards from gripping so tightly. Sweaty too. Not dealing with fun Florida weather elements (rain, heat, wind) is a plus! However, it is hotter up on the course than down on the ground.
We did the ropes course with a group on a weeknight and it was a lot of fun. The price seems reasonable at $ 15 per person. Since the sky rail was removed, the price went down by a few dollars. We did not partake in the sky jump for an additional fee.
It’s time to face your fear of heights and check out this cool attraction on International Drive!

Both Zip lines were broken when we went; a fact they kept to themselves until after we had paid and gotten harnessed in. and they don’t make it clear at all that there is a 60 minute time limit.

This review is based on an actual experience at the Skytrail and not a blind attack based on news articles.
You have to catch an employee and then walk all the way back to their kiosk. The kiosk is barren aside from a disclaimer about refunds and a small pamphlet. You pay, you walk back, then they get you hooked up.
First off, they asked my bf to remove anything that could fall. Which included keys, pack of cigs/​lighter in his pocket, and his sunglasses. But not his hat. He has a belt clip and phone (otter box) and they didn’t notice until he said ‘Oh yeah, I’ll keep my phone on so I can record as we go.’ They instantly said ‘no phones’… Not because they could fall, just no phones. We thought that was weird because they feature photos of people on the skytrail FROM ON THE SKYTRAIL on their Facebook. We shrugged, as they waited to state that little ‘rule’ until after my daughter had been harnessed and we had paid for the experience. Which was the only thing clearly and prominently stated at the kiosk: No refunds are given after being harnessed.
That’s an instant annoyance.
So, there were two employees at the base and one up at the first level, with one or two other people doing the Skytrail when we first got there. It was easy for my daughter to be at her own pace and enjoy the Skytrail.
The whole while, the employees were repeatedly doing some sort of rappel/​free fall training off one part of the course. Whatever the reason, it took their full attention and little was paid to the people doing the course. Considering we didn’t sign a waiver of any sort we already assumed it was a pretty lax sort of place but I do think they should have had a guy at the second level at all times on watch.
Anyway, the thing that irritated me about their little training session was that the blonde employee dropped with a phone in her hand. Go figure.
About 45 mins later, it was getting crowded up there so my bf and daughter came down. They were drenched because there’s no airflow. We ask the guy at the bottom if our daughter can get on the little tykes trail (which was empty) so he calls out to his fellow employees to ask and the blonde one screeched, ‘THEY’VE BEEN UP THERE A LONG TIME’, but another employee said sure.
She gets attached to the little trail and off we go. I was now chaperoning her while the bf got some air. A minute or two later, a woman pushes her kid through the gate to get harnessed for the tyke trail and then walks away. I’m left to watch her kid assault my kid’s rope and line as he tries to stand on top of her and force her down the path he wants to go on. Meanwhile, the woman’s other child is standing in the line, 15 feet from her (she’s on the bench), hanging off the fence screaming ‘BAM BAM VAM BLUE WAH WAH WAH WHAM BLAH’ etc…
The sign CLEARLY states all tykes must be chaperoned.
I pulled my daughter aside as soon as I could and the kid just stood there hitting her track guide over and over with his. His mother eventually caught on and came to talk to him and suggested that ‘maybe she doesn’t want to go this way’ and motioned him move along to the other track from behind the fence. That lasted all of 3 minutes.
Fortunately, my daughter was done, so we moved to the exit area which had one of the 5 employees who was busy unharnessing two other people when suddenly, the kid comes barreling down the exit area and into my daughter. So I took the track guide out of the track before he knocked it down onto her and moved her about a foot away. Then some woman I assume knows the boy comes off the main skytrail and starts talking to him. The boy stares off into space, looks back, notices my daughter is a foot away, and lunges at her sending his guide (heavy metal and plastic cylinder resembling a skateboard wheel) at her head which I caught literally a quarter of an inch before it hit her. The woman is laughing going ‘oops!’ while I’m resisting the urge to punch her. I move my daughter past the tyke fence and try not to make eye contact with the woman as I wait for the one employee who is still unharnessing the other two people.
When he was done, the employee came over and told us we weren’t allowed to do that and I stated that we were attempting to get her away from the unattended child that was pushing her around. He didn’t really listen and put them both back into the track and began disconnecting the boy.
Long story short, the rules are hidden/​not followed/‘played by ear’ (according to an employee, it’s an hour up top and 30 mins for tykes) which again aren’t even followed as has been proven.
–UPDATE– We went to The Artegon to see the new Avengers movie and while walking around decided to check out the Skytrail. Lo and behold, there was a boy no older than 8 up top with NO employee in sight. After a few mins, he came down and he just stood there harnessed for probably 5 minutes before an employee moseyed on over and unharnessed the poor kid.

I don’t think most people come for the ropes course – like me, their kids rope them in when you’re there for other things at the Artegon Marketplace. With its location center stage in the courtyard/​food court, it’s impossible to miss – but its location also makes the course feel bigger and more interesting. It was just me and the 6-​year-​old, so he got to do the Tykes course. It doesn’t look like much, but he had a blast – and I liked it because I could sit back (figuratively) and take a ton of great pictures. They let the kids go until they get bored, and mine lasted about an hour at it. He’s done other ropes courses before, so this was a little tame for him, but not so much so that he wasn’t a little scared and challenged. I think the high course would be a ton of fun too – we had a lot of fun watching! This, combined with some of the other kids’ activities at Artegon would make for a fabulous vacation day out of the Florida sun and heat!

The Sky Trail is an indoor ropes course at the center of the Artegon mall. It looks like loads of fun, and of course as soon as we walked in my kids wanted to do it.
When you enter there are employees that fit you in a harness. The harness is then clipped to a rope that attaches to a track that continues throughout the course. It seems extremely safe. Once you are up on the ropes there are multiple paths to take across different types of obstacles. You can stay as long as you want, and you don’t have to follow any particular path. The way the tracks are set up you can let people pass you, so everyone can go at their own pace. There are a couple of areas of the track that are sort of like a zip line, you take off from one platform and slide across to another platform (there is a brake that slows you down).
My kids were having a blast and everything went great until they got to the jump at the end. The oldest jumped first, but the youngest one was really unsure about it. She must have stood on the platform for 20 minutes debating whether or not to jump until finally deciding to just take the stairs. The employees were really nice and encouraging, but I felt like after some point they should have told her she had to go back. There were other kids waiting to jump and she really held things up. The employees explained that they aren’t supposed to tell the kids they can’t do it, which is cool… but difficult. (They also aren’t allowed to push the kids, we asked.) I would say if you have a younger kid make absolutely certain they are OK with the heights before paying the extra money for the jump, since they may not want to do it.
You have to be 48 inches tall to do the ropes course. For kids under that height there is a smaller play area. We saw a few kids on the little kids track. It is a good alternative for little siblings that feel left out, but for $ 8 isn’t really that great.
The main ropes course is $ 18, and if you add the jump at the end it is $ 25. The course is open to all ages, and I think they said the weight limit was around 300 pounds, so really, anyone can do it. While we just had the kids doing it my husband agreed that we would like to go back and do it as a date night activity.
We asked if they had any coupons, and they said they are working on promoting through Groupon and other sites, so we’ll be sure to look out for those deals to go back.