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The Wonder Wheel is a eccentric Ferris wheel at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park at Coney Island in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The wheel is located on a plot bounded by West 12th Street to the west, Bowery Street to the north, Luna Park to the east, and the Riegelmann Boardwalk to the south. As with other eccentric Ferris wheels, some of the Wonder Wheel's passenger cabins are not fixed directly to the rim of the wheel, but instead slide along winding sets of rails between the hub and the rim.
Built in 1920 as one of several Ferris wheels on Coney Island, the Wonder Wheel was designed by Charles Hermann and operated by Herman J. Garms Sr. and his son Fred for six decades. Despite the subsequent economic decline of Coney Island, the Wonder Wheel continued to operate each summer through the 20th century. In 1983, Herman Garms's son Fred sold the ride to the Vourderis family, who restored the attraction and continue to run the wheel . The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Wonder Wheel as an official New York City landmark in 1989, and minor modifications were subsequently made to the attraction.
The wheel first opened on Memorial Day in 1920. Hermann originally called it the "Dip-the-Dip", promising to combine in his new invention "the thrill of a scenic railway, the fun of a Ferris wheel, and the excitement of the Chute-the-Chutes". To help with the Wonder Wheel's upkeep, the Garms family lived under the Wonder Wheel during the summers. With the success of the Wonder Wheel, the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company hoped to build more "wonder wheels" on the East Coast of the United States by the mid-1920s. Fred Garms worked on the ride as a ticket operator during the summer in the 1920s, when he was a child. By the time Fred had graduated high school in the early 1930s, he worked on the ride year-round, maintaining it. After the ride's construction cost had been paid off, Herman Garms bought out most of the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company's stockholders, then reduced the size of the corporation to a small number of people.
By the 1960s, Fred Garms had taken over operation of the Wonder Wheel. Coney Island started to decline during the mid-20th century, and by 1964, it had seen its lowest number of visitors in 25 years. Despite subsequent attempts to redevelop the area, the Wonder Wheel continued to operate. Furthermore, it had not had any significant incidents in its history, making it a relatively well-off ride when other Coney Island attractions were closing. To discourage crime, the wheel and surrounding attractions were protected by two at night: one at the wheel's base and the other on an adjacent roof; during the day, the dogs rode around in one of the Wonder Wheel's cars, where the operator provided food and water for them. Off-duty security officers were also hired to prevent confrontations with the mafia. By the 1970s, the Wonder Wheel had carried more than 20 million lifetime riders. To keep up with expenses, the Wonder Wheel raised ticket prices significantly, from $0.50 in 1976 to $1.25 by 1981.
The Vourderis family restored the Wonder Wheel and made it the central attraction of Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, which Denos had acquired in 1980. They spent $250,000 to restore the wheel. Vourderis planned to begin allowing couples to host weddings on the ride, and he also rented it out for film shoots. He had paid off the ride's cost by 1985, and a 65th-anniversary celebration for the ride was hosted the same year. Vourderis acquired the land for $150,000 in 1987, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) first considered designating the ride as a city landmark in July of that year.; Although Vourderis initially supported the designation when it was proposed, Newsday said he became "angry at the city" after learning that the designation would force him to ask the city for permission to repair the ride. Following public hearings in May 1989, the LPC formally designated the ride as a landmark that year.
By the early 1990s, the Wonder Wheel had offered free advertising space to the McDonald's fast-food chain, which had two franchises near the wheel. Fearing that the distinctive Golden Arches would overshadow the Wonder Wheel itself, the LPC voted against allowing a McDonald's logo on the wheel, despite allowing Vourderis to put "Deno's" above the "Wonder Wheel" sign on the wheel's hub. Upon Deno's death in the mid-1990s, control of the wheel and the amusement park passed to Dennis Vourderis.
, the Wonder Wheel is the oldest continuous operating ride at Coney Island, and Dennis Vourderis and his brother Steve continue to operate the Wonder Wheel and the amusement park. Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park is the last family-operated amusement park in Coney Island, though several developers have made offers for the amusement park and wheel, the Vourderis family has refused to sell.
The wheel itself is tall and weighs , and it is powered by a motor. It has 24 fully enclosed passenger cars with a total combined capacity of 144. The cars each have an official capacity of six people, but they formerly could carry between eight and ten people. Each rotation of the wheel takes ten minutes, giving the ride a total hourly capacity of 864. Sixteen of the cars slide inward on snaking tracks, falling outward as the wheel rotates. The remaining eight cars are fixed to the rim, giving a traditional Ferris wheel experience to passengers. Originally, the Wonder Wheel was located on two large concrete footers above a pool of water. The concrete footers are pyramids measuring wide, tapering in length from at their bottoms to at their tops.
A ride on the Wonder Wheel costs 10 credits; the cost of each credit varies depending on how many are purchased, but generally cost $1 if purchased individually. Each ride consists of two rotations around the Wonder Wheel.
The ride's first owner-operator, Herman Garms, overhauled and painted the ride each year, to protect it from the harsh weather associated with New York winters. The tradition of winter maintenance continued with the Wonder Wheel's subsequent owners. The only time the wheel stopped while not under the control of the operator was during the New York City blackout on July 13, 1977. The owners hand cranked the wheel around to evacuate the passengers.
A writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch stated in 2000 that when "the cars begin to swing like a pendulum ... you swear the entire structure is collapsing." The same year, a writer for the Central New Jersey Home News praised the views from the Wonder Wheel, saying that "a trip would not be complete without a spin on the Cyclone, a trip to the top of Deno's Wonder Wheel or a corn dog at Nathan's." In 2015, a Newsday reporter contrasted the two experiences of the Wonder Wheel's stationary and moving cars: the stationary-car experience was described as being "so pleasant a baby can ride it without alarm", but the swinging-car experience was "more like a catch-your-breath thrill".
Due to its prominence on Coney Island, the Wonder Wheel has been depicted in numerous movies, such as The Warriors, and ; and television shows including Mr. Robot and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. At least one film is named after the attraction: Wonder Wheel (2017), set on Coney Island in the 1950s.
The attraction is the subject of a song by Dan Zanes, "Wonder Wheel", as well as The Klezmatics' 2006 album Wonder Wheel, which contains lyrics by onetime Coney Island resident Woody Guthrie. In addition, the Wonder Wheel has been the setting for many engagements and weddings throughout its history. In August 2020, historian Charles Denson published a book about the Wonder Wheel, titled Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park.
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