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Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park

Amusement park in Brooklyn, New York

Summary

Amusement park in Brooklyn, New York

Field	Value
name	Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park
image	Wonder Wheel (7082366245).jpg
location	Coney Island
location2	New York
location3	United States
coordinates
homepage	http://www.denoswonderwheel.com/
owner	Dennis Vourderis and Steve Vourderis
opening_date	1920 (Wonder Wheel)
previous_names	Ward's Kiddie Park
rides	22
coasters	3
logo	File:Deno's_Wonder_Wheel_Amusement_Park_Logo.png
public_transit	{{Unbulleted list
{{NYCS Stillwell	time	bullets}} Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
{{NYCS West 8th	time	bullets}} West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium

1950 (other rides) | Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue | 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 150 ft eccentric wheel built in 1920.

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.

History

The 150 ft 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. Until the construction of the 250 ft 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.

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.

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. 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. A Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster called Phoenix soft-opened on June 26, 2021, with a full opening on July 1. Also open in 2021 is Sky Flyer, a micro coaster from SBF Visa Group, which Deno's had purchased at the 2019 IAAPA Expo.

Attractions

Currently Operating

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 (2015)
Bumper Cars (2012 Formerly Astroland)
Spook-a-Rama
Wonder Wheel
Thunderbolt - a Chance Rides alpine bobs
Triotech XD

Formerly Attractions

Dragon (Zamperla powered coaster)
Duck Parade
Elephant (Zamperla)
Freefall (Moser)
High Flyer (Replace Super Shot)
Mini Enterprise (Replace Samba)
Mini Pirate Ship
Red Baron
Scooter (Replace Astroland Bumper Cars)
Scrambler (Formerly Astroland 2015 and Removed in 2016)
Spin the Apples (Replace Dizzy Dragons)
Super Shot (Removed in 2008)
Willie the Whales

References

Denson, Charles, "Coney Island Lost and Found," Ten Speed Press, 2002, pages 227–231
"Wonder Wheel History". Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.
(2013). "Amusement Parks". Bloomsbury Publishing.
(May 23, 1989). "The Wonder Wheel". New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Lilliefors, Jim. (2006). "America's Boardwalks: From Coney Island to California". Rutgers University Press.
Parks, Jessica. (January 6, 2020). "Deno's Wonder Wheel owners expanding into dilapidated amusement park".
Gill, John Freeman. (2020-08-07). "Coronavirus Silences the Wonder Wheel". The New York Times.
Parks, Jessica. (2021-06-29). "The Phoenix, Coney Island's newest roller coaster, opening July 1".
DeJesus, Jaime. (2021-06-30). "The Phoenix rises in Coney Island".
{{Cite RCDB
"IAAPA Expo 2019 Wrap Up: Rides-4U Reports Brisk Sales; Mondial Introduces New Ride Concepts".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

amusement-parks-in-new-york-(state) 1920-establishments-in-new-york-city amusement-parks-opened-in-1920 coney-island family-owned-companies-of-the-united-states

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