Seattle's Forthcoming Waterfront Ferris Wheel

Comments

F- all of the above

Why must I only chose one?

Allyn on May 22, 2012 at 10:00 AM

I am thrilled to pieces by this, and can't wait to ride it - I hope it runs after dark too, with glowy gondolas circling in the night sky.

gloomy gus on May 22, 2012 at 10:02 AM

Can we sneak wine onto it?

DOUG. on May 22, 2012 at 10:05 AM

And the eventual income will go to this man Griffith who owns the pier? Hope he has good insurance.

Beth on May 22, 2012 at 10:09 AM

This reminds me of the weird ad I heard on the radio this morning. King 5 has some anti-viaduct/pro-waterfront show that they are advertising as if it's the summer blockbuster. Anybody hear this yet?

seattlejenny on May 22, 2012 at 10:15 AM

OK, I work nights and haven't slept yet so tired brain but- is there a random link in that post? How?

seattlejenny on May 22, 2012 at 10:18 AM

To the people voting for the first choice - do I need to remind you that this Ferris wheel is going to be located in Seattle?

Matt from Denver on May 22, 2012 at 10:18 AM

Japanese submarine bait.

Olo on May 22, 2012 at 10:20 AM

I CANNOT WAIT. There will be martinis...

Dominic Holden on May 22, 2012 at 10:20 AM

@8 It's a modern ferris wheel, not a 1941 model.

Sir Vic on May 22, 2012 at 10:26 AM

Yeah, I'm kinda feeling all of the above.

MLM on May 22, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Awesome. I wish they would build a mini amusement park on the pier to replace the sadness we lost at Seattle Center.

pfffter on May 22, 2012 at 10:34 AM

I think it's cool, though I await the inevitable Seattle no-fun brigade led by some lady who claims that the vertigo from the view aggravated her chemical sensitivity to chemtrail molecules, forcing the ride operators to black out the windows.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 10:42 AM

So....are we just trying to be London? We pretty much have the weather and now the eye?

Cato the Younger Younger on May 22, 2012 at 10:43 AM

Looking forward to catching a wave from the top when the tsunami hits.

Will in Seattle on May 22, 2012 at 10:44 AM

@15 that reminds me, I'm bringing my Service Orca.

Nom nom nom.

Will in Seattle on May 22, 2012 at 10:45 AM

@17: You're more likely to just tumble into the Sound when the seawall fails during the next earthquake.

Banna on May 22, 2012 at 10:47 AM

Time to get a new coffee mug with the updated skyline on it.

markmc on May 22, 2012 at 10:48 AM

typical a host of negative comments if someone tries something, something FUN.

loosen up prudes. get a little social, too. better yet find 5 people you'd call friends and yes, bring a bottle of wine, duh. learn how to enjoy something for once.

just because we have nature doesn't mean there aren't man made things that aren't fun and cool, too.

on May 22, 2012 at 11:01 AM

@19 anything above an 7.0 would probably be the same, hence the Service Orca.

Will in Seattle on May 22, 2012 at 11:02 AM

@16, you wish. This thing is a third the size of the Eye.

It's closer in size to (but still smaller than) the wheel in Manchester, UK, which is stupidly being taken down for some stupid big-screen Olympics TV.

I hope it works out better than the Southern Star in Melbourne, which was supposed to be a big tourist draw like the London Eye but instead buckled and cracked and had to be dismantled.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 11:07 AM

Re: Option 1 -- Yore harder. The classic-est ferris wheel held 60 people per car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Whee…

evilvolus on May 22, 2012 at 11:11 AM

I had no idea this was coming, and I am absolutely thrilled!

Catalina Vel-DuRay on May 22, 2012 at 11:17 AM

But... they'll occasionally run specials for the 1962 price, right?

MacCrocodile on May 22, 2012 at 11:28 AM

I'm with Catalina- I had heard nothing about this until yesterday!

on May 22, 2012 at 11:29 AM

A glass museum based on Tacoma.
A Ferris wheel based on London.

Seattle is becoming the Me Too City.

Supreme Ruler Of The Universe on May 22, 2012 at 11:39 AM

@28: I did not realize that those were the Original glass museums and Ferris wheels. I shall have to save my food stamps and visit those places in order to smell their history.

zachd on May 22, 2012 at 11:50 AM

@ 15.. 'the inevitable Seattle no-fun brigade'. led by sgt doom and scrotus @28

reverend dr dj riz on May 22, 2012 at 11:53 AM

London Eye? Eyewash. Windy City all the way, baby. Size and location make this a direct homage to the Navy Pier wheel in Chicago. The gondolas hark back to the original Ferris wheel, built for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoug…

gloomy gus on May 22, 2012 at 11:58 AM

Next up, we'll probably create some coffee shops at the Public Market, like every other city.

Also, tunnels. Can't be a city without tunnels for the rich folks' limos.

Will in Seattle on May 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM

I have to honestly say I am not very experienced when it comes to Ferris Wheels. The only ones I have been on are rickety old ones at state fairs that you sit in for about 10 minutes. What does $10-12 get you in this case? Heated/air conditioned gondolas kind of imply you get to stay up for awhile. If that is the case I can't wait!

yumyum74 on May 22, 2012 at 12:01 PM

Will it have low income, affordable booths or only for the 1%?

on May 22, 2012 at 12:19 PM

Now that this is built, is it too much to wish for a legitimate roller coaster?

Westside forever on May 22, 2012 at 12:22 PM

Meh. Amusement rides should be confined to the carnival district. Or to a boardwalk.

The bonkers wheel a California Adventure is on a boardwalk (but a fake boardwalk) and it ACTIVELY TRIES TO KILL YOU thanks to its sadistic sliding-on-rails cabins. Fuck that one.

Dr_Awesome on May 22, 2012 at 12:25 PM

Having come from the UK and having ridden the London Eye all I can say is "I thought everything was supposed to be bigger in America?"

I was walking past it on Friday and, well, it's laughable.

blowdart on May 22, 2012 at 12:27 PM

Why would I pay that kind of money to go nowhere fast while trapped in an overheated space with a bunch of people I don't know? Metro is much cheaper.

Just kidding...I love Metro. Really. Love it. When my legs are too broken to walk on and I have a lot of extra time to spare, that is.

stating the obvious on May 22, 2012 at 12:28 PM

Heated and air-conditioned? In the winter, I think I'll be warm enough in the clothes I bundled up in to go outside. It's like heat on the bus...ick. I don't think any gondola I've ever ridden in snowy mountains had heat. In fact, they had vented windows. If it's summer, well how about they just put a few vents in there for a cross-breeze? Just seems like overkill.

Anyway I'm sure I'll go ride this thing once...with a visiting family of four I don't know, half of which will be kids who'll spend the whole ride texting or being obnoxious. :P

sidewinder on May 22, 2012 at 12:43 PM

But...they promised us jet packs.

bedipped on May 22, 2012 at 12:48 PM

How come I don't recall ANY public debate about this thing? I hate it, it's ugly as hell and makes us look like Coney Island or the Santa Monica pier. Another cheap sideshow attraction to make our otherwise classy city look like an outdoor Chuck-E-Cheese. If an earthquake hits and this thing rolls into the bay at 2am with no one on board, I won't shed any tears. F that thing.

hifiandrew on May 22, 2012 at 12:55 PM

When I drive along the viaduct I can't help but think about the ferris wheel in the Zone of Alienation.

http://bit.ly/KkP48L

Apocalypse Tom on May 22, 2012 at 1:01 PM

This is my dream and I pray this is what happens to it ... never a Japanese sub around when you need one.
http://youtu.be/m_PeQCPq8QA

hifiandrew on May 22, 2012 at 1:05 PM

Gondolas, eh? More like Ganjalas, once I-502 passes. Just imagine how "high" above Seattle our tourists will be :D

pipedream on May 22, 2012 at 1:08 PM

@41 Just what we need, more of the Seattle Process.

@33 The permanent kind of ferris wheel can be a major attraction, like the one in Vienna featured in Orson Welles' "The Third Man".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i47-QBL4…

Sir Vic on May 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM

@41, "an otherwise classy city" my hairy ass. We're a hundred times truer to what little spirit remains around here when we let a little tacky fun in. It's a privately funded effort to give tourists (upon whom our economy relies for a very very great deal) a fascinator to pull them to the waterfront during the viaduct demolition and Alaskan Way rejiggering the next few years. Those employers, mostly family-owned, are trying to stay alive long enough to benefit from the highway being gone eventually, and I'm happy to support them in doing that however I can.

gloomy gus on May 22, 2012 at 1:24 PM

@41, both Coney Island and Santa Monica Pier are a hundred times more interesting than the Seattle waterfront, before OR after the park that will replace the viaduct. We should be so lucky.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM

@46, great hairy asses think alike.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 1:28 PM

@46,7 - nobody books a vacation to go see the Santa Monica Pier. And yes this is a classy city, at least compared to most other strip mall, Walmart-cities of Anytown, USA. People can go to any Wally-World amusement park if that's what they want. It doesn't elevate our city, it brings Seattle down to that level. And tourism dollars. You'd paint a billboard on the Sistine Chapel for a few extra tourism dollars. A little tacky fun? This entire country is tacky, you can go anywhere for "tacky fun". There are almost no US cities where one can go for beautiful architecture. No one goes to Venice, Barcelona or Milan to ride a stupid ferris wheel. Why can't a US city for once try to elevate its stature instead of coming down to the lowest common denominator. All we need now is a floating Super Walmart in Elliott bay next to it. I'm really not that stuck up or snobby either, is wanting to live somewhere with just a *little* class too much to ask? You bet your hairy ass it is apparently. Maybe we can make your hairy ass our next waterfront tourist attraction. Worlds hairiest ass.

hifiandrew on May 22, 2012 at 1:51 PM

"nobody books a vacation to go see the Santa Monica pier." The tourists who flock in untold millions to L.A. every year make a fucking BEELINE for that PIer, bub. Between that remark and your equating a waterfront ferris wheel to a billboard, much less one on the Sistine Chapel, I think you've got perspective problems more deeply rooted than Slog can help with. You're a utopian with no interest in the world as it actually is. Best of luck.

gloomy gus on May 22, 2012 at 2:02 PM

I was in LA a couple years ago with a relative who had Never Seen The Ocean. You bet your ass we went to the Santa Monica Pier. Stayed all goddamn day.

This will not make our waterfront all Santa Monica-y. Kudos to the owner for trying but the waterfront is too scattered and disjointed to be a great tourist experience.

Dr_Awesome on May 22, 2012 at 2:46 PM

This Ferris wheel looks a lot like the Texas Star in Dallas.

I wonder if it's manufactured by the same company. (How many Ferris wheel manufacturers can there be?)

Free Lunch on May 22, 2012 at 2:55 PM

How long before the ferris wheel is replaced by a glass museum?

Mahtli69 on May 22, 2012 at 3:12 PM

Hairy Assed Theme Park For Sodo! Hella more draw celebrating world famous Seattle attributes. Think of the concessions.

bedipped on May 22, 2012 at 3:17 PM

I like good tacky fun. I lived in Brighton in the UK for a while and I loved going to the pier.

This town needs an enema. Sheeeeit.

pfffter on May 22, 2012 at 3:19 PM

"No one goes to Venice, Barcelona or Milan to ride a stupid ferris wheel. Why can't a US city for once try to elevate its stature instead of coming down to the lowest common denominator. "

I guess the ferris wheel in the Jardin des Tuileries is beneath you then. Parisians and tourists alike, line up for it.

on May 22, 2012 at 3:39 PM

Seattle is not Venice, Barcelona, or Milan, nor will it ever be. And I think it's safe to say that we aren't going to have a sudden influx of people here just to ride a Ferris Wheel. What a ridiculous way to judge the value of an attraction.

It sounds like fun. What's wrong with fun? Seattle's Big Thinkers are almost as dreary as our Good Taste Police.

Catalina Vel-DuRay on May 22, 2012 at 3:47 PM

I think someone has missed the point of a ferris wheel, though Gus has a pretty good take on the motive behind the current one.

When I talk to people about visiting Seattle, I tell them the first thing to do is go to the Space Needle. Not because the Needle is cool, but because it is an unmatched urban vista. Rising above the crumbly, filthy streets to see the natural beauty of the surroundings is the attraction.

Riding a ferris wheel isn't the reason to get on one: looking at the fair/city/ocean/mountains when you are at the top is the reason.

Sir Vic on May 22, 2012 at 3:59 PM

"How come I don't recall ANY public debate about this thing?"

No doubt! Why weren't Seattle Stakeholders brought in?

The bums in Steinbrueck Park already have spinning heads!

The natives along the waterfront have 'totem' envy!

The LGBT community think it's far too small to stick in an orifice!

Animal rights activists think the elephant at WPZ should get their diaphragm back!

Where's the outrage?? Where's public meetings? Where's the KY?

on May 22, 2012 at 4:23 PM

@49, US cities are full of beautiful architecture. Ever heard of a fellow named Louis Sullivan? Chicago is spectacular. Ever been to the West Village, or Soho, in New York? To say nothing of the incredible skyscrapers; Chrysler Building mean anything to you? There are fifty beautiful buildings in Boston, and fifty more in Miami -- Art Deco, anyone? LA is packed full of the weird and wonderful, from the classic Bradbury Building downtown to the amazing Googie car washes and coffee shops. Seattle has a fair share, too -- the Smith Tower? Seattle Tower? Colman Building? Dexter Horton? The Space Needle?

If you're only interested in the dead-as-a-doornail European past, then sure, we come up short. No kings, queens, or popes either. You can have them.

Demotic pleasures have their place. Even in Milan and Venice there's room for simple pleasures.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 4:52 PM

@52, nope. It's being manufactured in Wichita, KS. The Texas Star was made in Italy.

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 6:24 PM

Also, the good news: "Riders will have the option to purchase alcohol to bring on board."

The bad: "The voice of longtime announcer Pat Cashman will provide facts and information about the wheel through speakers in each gondola." Love ya, Pat, but I don't want to hear your canned spiel.

@33, 1-15 minutes. Three times around. (That seems off; 3.5 to 5 minutes a rotation seems awfully fast for these things).

Fnarf on May 22, 2012 at 6:29 PM

Slap a stand slinging Seattle dogs next to it and I'll ride.

sloegin on May 22, 2012 at 9:28 PM

OMG. I have to move back to town much sooner than anticipated!

Soupytwist on May 22, 2012 at 10:44 PM

The Great Seattle Eyesore. Now we have a name for it. Guess you'd better get used to what's in store for the waterfront once the viaduct goes down. I was lead to believe this "opening up" of the waterfront was to make access to the fabulous views of the Olympics, etc easier for the rest of the downtown denizens too lazy to walk down a few steps. A grand open space, park-like atmosphere. Oh, I get it now, an amusement park atmosphere. So typical of Seattle to take a world class opportunity and degrade it to a Disneyland distraction. Business as usual prevails over a nice open space for the locals to gather. Why does Tacoma have such better vision than Seattle's leadership (see how they developed their waterfront along Ruston Way)? That's what you get when you keep voting in the same City council year after year. They are not after YOUR best interests!

Mortimer22 on May 30, 2012 at 9:26 AM

@ #3 I recommend "Sofia Blanc de Blanc" the groovy little pink cans of delicious sparkling wine you can sneak in anywhere! It even comes w// a straw fercrissakes! I was drinking it on the ferris wheel on Treasure Island (S.F.). LOVE FERRIS WHEELS! rather bummed about this enclosed/heated/A.C., but that's what we got.

katmet07 on June 19, 2012 at 6:31 PM

Might want to change your article title to "Seattle Great Wheel" not ferris wheel. They are sending out legal threats to content publishers who do not use their name correctly.

on June 26, 2012 at 2:53 PM

I hate it, like a couple comments previous I think it cheapens Seattle. Why can't we stick to what makes Seattle culturally interesting and of value to tourists instead of putting up uncreative gimmicks?

aminshar on November 26, 2013 at 11:04 PM

Seattle's Forthcoming Waterfront Ferris Wheel

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