Chicago’s Navy Pier Building Larger Ferris Wheel

Navy Pier announced earlier in the week that the pier will be home to a new, larger Ferris wheel in time for the tourist attraction’s 2016 Centennial.

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The new 196-foot wheel will fit into the space that will be vacated by the existing wheel that was built in 1995. The new wheel will include enhanced features and amenities, including accommodations for up to 180 more passengers per ride and temperature-controlled gondolas allowing guests to ride it year-round.

The new wheel, which will be 49 feet taller than the existing Ferris wheel.

The Ferris wheel has a significant amount of historical relevance in Chicago:

Since the first-ever Ferris wheel was unveiled at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the Ferris wheel has been a hallmark of Chicago. The wheel symbolizes how Chicago has remained true to Daniel Burnham’s vision for the “people’s pier,” as articulated in his famous 1909 Plan of Chicago.

Navy Pier conducted a worldwide search for a wheel that would “best meet the unique structural and operational requirements of the Pier.”

A new model was selected and purchased — the DW60 — from Dutch Wheels, the Netherlands-based company that built the Pier’s current wheel.

The DW60 will be the first and only one of its kind in the U.S. with similar wheels currently in operation in Hong Kong and Baku, Azerbaijan. Features include “two-sided cars that allow for easy loading and unloading, a fortified structure to withstand winds of 115 miles per hour, and safety glass capable of weathering intense storms.”

“One of our goals was to be sure the new wheel would provide our guests with a significantly enhanced year-round experience,” says Marilynn K. Gardner, President and CEO, Navy Pier, Inc. “The new wheel will deliver a smoother and more luxurious ride – increasing ride time from seven minutes to twelve minutes, and circling three times, not just once as the current wheel does.”

The size of the new wheel was selected because it fits in the footprint of the current wheel. Ferris wheel operations will be closed for construction during the off-season months beginning in late September 2015 and reopening in summer of 2016.

Even the gondolas will be an upgrade over the former wheel’s:

The new gondolas will seat up to 10 passengers (the current wheel holds six), include padded seats, TV screens and speakers, and will feature an innovative HVAC condensation drainage system that collects and releases water when gondolas are at the bottom of their rotation to prevent dripping and clouding during rotation.

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Nearly 16 million people have experienced the Ferris wheel since it opened in 1995.

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