Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
{{Short description|Amusement park in Brooklyn, New York}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox amusement park
| name = Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
| image = Wonder Wheel (7082366245).jpg
| caption =
| location = Coney Island
| location2 = New York
| location3 = United States
| coordinates = {{Coord|40.574310|-73.979182| type:landmark_region:US-NY | display=title,inline}}
| address =
| homepage = http://www.denoswonderwheel.com/
| owner = Dennis Vourderis and Steve Vourderis
| opening_date = 1920 (Wonder Wheel)Denson, Charles, "Coney Island Lost and Found," Ten Speed Press, 2002, pages 227–231
1950 (other rides)
| closing_date =
| previous_names = Ward's Kiddie Park
| season =
| visitors =
| area =
| rides = 22
| coasters = 3
| slogan =
| footnotes =
| logo = File:Deno's_Wonder_Wheel_Amusement_Park_Logo.png
| public_transit = {{Unbulleted list
| {{rint|newyork|subway}}{{rint|newyork|mta}}{{NYCS Stillwell|time=bullets}} Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
| {{rint|newyork|subway}}{{rint|newyork|mta}}{{NYCS West 8th|time=bullets}} West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium
}}
}}
Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park is a family-owned amusement park located at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It features six adult rides and 16 kiddie rides, including a dozen family rides that parents and children can ride together. The park is named for its main attraction, the Wonder Wheel, a {{convert|150|ft|m|adj=on}} eccentric wheel built in 1920.{{cite web|title=Wonder Wheel History|url=http://www.wonderwheel.com/history.html|publisher=Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park|access-date=February 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203175820/http://www.wonderwheel.com/history.html|archive-date=February 3, 2011|url-status=dead}}
The park overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Riegelmann Boardwalk along the Coney Island beach. The Wonder Wheel was made a New York City designated landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1989.{{cite book|last1=Hillman|first1=Jim|title=Amusement Parks|date=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9780747813590|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Q7DCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|access-date=January 14, 2019|language=en}}
History
The {{Convert|150|ft|m|-tall|abbr=|adj=mid}} Wonder Wheel predates the park, having opened in 1920. It was designed by Charles Hermann, and created and built by Herman Garms in 1918-1920 by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company.{{Cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1708.pdf|title=The Wonder Wheel|date=May 23, 1989|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|access-date=February 26, 2019}} Until the construction of the {{Convert|250|ft|m|-tall|abbr=|adj=mid}} Parachute Jump, it was the tallest attraction in Coney Island. It was a stand-alone attraction operated by Herman Garms. In 1955, Garms built Spook-a-Rama, an indoor dark ride.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}
Near these two attractions, Denos Vourderis opened a restaurant called the Anchor Bar & Grill. Also, next door to the Wonder Wheel, stood a small kiddie amusement park called Ward's Kiddie Park owned by John Curran. That area was built in 1950. Denos opened up a concession stand there in 1970. In 1976, Denos bought the kiddie amusement park from Curran. In 1983, Denos acquired the Wonder Wheel and Spook-a-Rama from Fred Garms and Walter Kerner Sr. Today the park still has predominantly children's rides along with several family attractions. Since Denos's death in 1994, the park has been operated by his two sons, Dennis and Steve.{{cite book|last=Lilliefors|first=Jim|last2=Lilliefors|first2=J.|title=America's Boardwalks: From Coney Island to California|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8135-3805-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7asFiGxywfsC&pg=PA41|access-date=January 14, 2019|page=41}}
In January 2020, Deno's Amusement Park announced a major expansion to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Wonder Wheel. The expanded park would take over part of the abandoned West 12th Street amusement area, shuttered since 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/denos-wonder-wheel-owners-expanding-into-dilapidated-amusement-park/|title=Deno's Wonder Wheel owners expanding into dilapidated amusement park|last=Parks|first=Jessica|date=January 6, 2020|website=Brooklyn Paper|access-date=January 8, 2020}} The Vourderis family paid $6 million for the land and another $5.5 million for an unnamed ride. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the park did not open for the 2020 season, and the expansion was delayed.{{Cite news|last=Gill|first=John Freeman|date=2020-08-07|title=Coronavirus Silences the Wonder Wheel|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/realestate/coronavirus-coney-island-wonder-wheel.html|access-date=2020-08-10|issn=0362-4331}} A Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster called Phoenix soft-opened on June 26, 2021, with a full opening on July 1.{{cite web | last=Parks | first=Jessica | title=The Phoenix, Coney Island's newest roller coaster, opening July 1 | website=Brooklyn Paper | date=2021-06-29 | url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/the-phoenix-open-july-coney-island-amusement/ | access-date=2021-07-01}}{{cite web | last=DeJesus | first=Jaime | title=The Phoenix rises in Coney Island | website=The Brooklyn Home Reporter | date=2021-06-30 | url=https://brooklynreporter.com/2021/06/the-phoenix-rises-in-coney-island/ | access-date=2021-07-01}} Also open in 2021 is Sky Flyer, a micro coaster from SBF Visa Group,{{Cite RCDB|coaster_name=Skyflyer|location=Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park|rcdb_number=17859|access-date=2020-12-31}} which Deno's had purchased at the 2019 IAAPA Expo.{{Cite web|title=IAAPA Expo 2019 Wrap Up: Rides-4U Reports Brisk Sales; Mondial Introduces New Ride Concepts|url=https://carnivalwarehouse.com/newsserver/iaapa-expo-2019-wrap-up-rides-4u-reports-brisk-sales-mondial-introduces-new-ride-concepts-1574726400|access-date=2020-12-31|website=CarnivalWarehouse.com|language=en}}
Attractions
{{div col|content=
- Big Trucks
- Boats
- Carousel
- Dizzy Dragon
- Fire Engines
- Jets
- Jump Around
- Jumping Motorcycles
- Phoenix - a Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster
- Pony Carts
- Rio Grande Train
- Samba
- Sea Serpent Roller Coaster - a E&F Miler Industries kiddy coaster
- Sky Flyer
- Speedway
- Tilt-A-Whirl
- Twist and Shout
- Bumper Cars
- Spook-a-Rama
- Wonder Wheel
- Thunderbolt - a Chance Rides alpine bobs
- Triotech XD
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{RCDB|4772}}
- [https://www.coneyislandhistory.org/oral-history-archive/filter/Deno's-Wonder-Wheel-Park Oral histories about Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park collected by the Coney Island History Project]
{{Coney Island}}
Category:Amusement parks in New York (state)
Category:1920 establishments in New York City