Chicago’s Navy Pier Installing a New Ferris Wheel
Navy Pier is getting a new Ferris wheel and it is going to be awesome.
I love Navy Pier. It's one of my favorite places to go. I enjoy walking around in the different shops, eating fan favorites at different food courts, watching the water and of course the Ferris wheel.
The new Ferris wheel offers some very cool new technology according to the Chicago Tribune:
- 196 feet tall (50 feet taller than the current wheel)
- 42, new blue gondolas
- New gondolas will seat 10 passengers, instead of the six that it carries now
- New gondolas will have padded seats
- New gondolas will have TV screens and speakers
- New gondolas will have a condensation system that keep windows from fogging up
- Wheel's rim and spokes will have programmable lighting for special occasions
- Rides will now be 12 minutes, with three revolutions per ride
Currently, tickets cost $8 a ride, but there has been no word whether or not the price will rise. The current wheel will come down in September, and the new one should go up in May of 2016. The project should be completed by the Pier's centennial celebration in 2016.