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New York Plans World's Largest Ferris Wheel
justelite writes "It is an old trend to build "The World's largest..." something. One of the latest somethings is a 630-foot tall Ferris wheel planned for Staten Island. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 'The New York Wheel will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City even unlike any other on the planet.' Designed to carry 1,440 passengers at a time, it's expected to draw 4.5 million people a year to a setting that also would include a 100-shop outlet mall and a 200-room hotel."
This would scare the crap out of me. I can do any ride in an amusement park. Tallest, fastest, upside down... doesn't matter. Put me on a Ferris wheet and I'm grabbing the bar with white knuckles. I think it is the fact that I just have time to look out at the world and wonder about the minimum wage carnie who maintains the machine. That and the person sitting next to me can decide to start rocking the damn thing...
No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'd rather be on the 70mph dragster than on a small Ferris wheel.
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Doesn't New York have enough there to already draw millions of tourists there each year?
It seems to be a bit over the top to me with everything else New York already has to offer.
I'd almost rather see something like that in another state here in America.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
My first thought on reading that it would hold 1,440 people at once... in New York City... What a tempting target for a terrorist... Yea, I've been brainwashed, I know it...
How long would it take to load 1,440 passengers? Given loading and unloading delays, would anyone want to waste enough time to go around more than once? Sounds like very little thought went into the actual logistics of this thing.
Will it be painted to look like a target?
It still won't be as big as the original Ferris Wheel which could hold 2,160 people at a time. Also, will a 9-minute ride still be 50 cents?
If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
If you ever went to such a wheel (I'm thinking London Eye now) , you'd know that they never really stop rotating so that they can _constantly_ load and unload passengers, one car at a time, each time one of the cars passes near the floor.
Are we really on Slashdot as you seem to have never heard of "pipelining" ????? ^_^
I think most people would measure how "big" it is by height, and yes, the new one will be about 3 times taller.
You're correct that the old one had greater capacity.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
I didn't know there was a smoldering "Ferris Wheel War" between the US and the UK. I'd love to see the real numbers of actual riders for the one in London. The Eye? Aye! I'd be impressed if there are that many visitors to it. I hope I'm wrong but...
Who is paying for this?
Who profits?
How many 16 ounce soft drinks will I need to take with me to stay hydrated during the 38 minute ride?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Come on New York be original build another tower, or build world's largest roller coaster...
No sense copycatting London
Get ready for a full body scan before you are allowed on this thing.
I really don't want tourists on my island.
The ferry is packed as it is with tourists in the way of peoples commutes.
The public transportation barely accommodates the people who live here. We don't have taxis or subways, so they are stuck to buses, walking (goodluck with all the hills) or taking a crappy cab service.
And there's nothing to look at here anyway. A shitty mall, dubbed "The Mall", full of teenage girls wanting to be jersey shore girls and the boys who follow, along with senior citizens during the day crowding the food court.
The main commercial roads have a bunch of businesses but nothing desirable to just look at.
The rest is just suburban mixed with urbanization roads and a deli on every corner.
Maybe that's why Bloomberg wants the "Worlds Largest Ferris Wheel" here, so people actually have something to look at when they come here off the ferry besides the 2'x2' "Staten Island" Yankee Stadium right outside the ferry terminal.
The worst street on the island crime wise is a 5 minute walk. You can't miss it, walk down Bay street towards the west and you'll see a huge house project, the street at the light. Take a nice walk up it and greet the people, ask them how their day was.
You might get a hand shake, or a handgun. Depends on your actions, because they have both waiting.
Staten Island in a nutshell. From someone who lives here, and surprisingly doesn't want to leave.
The Ferris Wheel would only be second in popularity to the Line Ride at any of the borough's fine bridges!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethgreenfield/2012/07/27/worlds-largest-ferris-wheel-the-high-roller-is-on-its-way-to-las-vegas/
Step in line
How are those 4.5 million people supposed to get to Staten Island? I realize there are three bridges and a ferry, but from what I saw this summer they seem barely adequate for current needs.
Proverbs 21:19
640 feet ought to be enough for anybody.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
"Bread and circuses will also be provided to further help destract from the decline and fall."
The New York Wheel will be an attraction unlike any other in New York City even unlike any other on the planet
I guess that's true if you don't count London or Shanghai as being on this planet...
The can have a circus around it and serve bread.
A giant Ferris wheel, good idea! That is exactly the kind of forward thinking NYC needs. But what NYC really needs is a monorail! Put the lack of affordable housing, etc issues on the back burner, we have a monorail to build.
I counted what, 38 cabins on that rendering... that means that each one will have nearly 40 people in it? That's a freaking subway car!
Bow before me, for I am root.
I'd like to see a Viking ship ride of this size. :)
Okay, since the London Eye is so popular, New York will do it one better?
Original it is not. And I liked the comment that the original, original Ferris Wheel (in Chicago I think that was) was bigger than this.
No wonder they banned large, sugary drinks. If all of those people are 'extra-beefy', they won't be able to fit as many people on it.
As a New York taxpayer - I want the option to opt out of this.
It looks like every other word on Slashdot is mixed up except edit fields and the "Slashdot" graphic at the top of the screen. Is it Dyslexia awareness week or something?
What does "little It's-you endian clod insensitive" mean anyways?
Dang, even the message preview is all messed up.
A common summer gig in the midwest is working at state fairs. Concerning carnival rides I will paraphrase my friend:
These guys have only a couple days to move from event to event. That means disassembling rides after closing time, putting it on a truck in the middle of the night, then start reassembling it at three in the morning the next day to make the nine AM opening time. All for around ten dollars an hour.
If you hear a loose bolt rattling across the floor on your next ride, it isn't your imagination.
Designed to carry 1,440 passengers at a time, it's expected to draw 4.5 million people a year to a setting that also would include a 100-shop outlet mall and a 200-room hotel.
Think about the absurdity of that for a second. Unless that hotel is putting up over 7 people on average per room, the wheel can hold more people.
Maybe we can just sleep in the wheel. If they leave it running, everyone gets a room with a view. Besides, I want to try drive-thru room service.
The problem with making the biggest is that someone just has to make something bigger then your tourist attraction loses its all-important title
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
I used to run a much smaller ferris wheel. We only had 40 cars, 8 people per car. Even so, we had to very carefully balance the weight of people to opposing cars. The entire thing had very limited torque, it only took about 1,000 lbs without an equal weight on the opposite side for us to lose control of the wheel. It would spin on it's own, eventually reaching equilibrium.
To load the whole thing, you had to load 1 set of cars "light" with just a few people, then the opposite side, then one set ahead of that, then one set behind the other set. It actually took a fair amount of training to transition from "20 cars light" to "40 cars heavy." Most of the operators were not skilled enough, and we even lost control of the wheel once when I took a day off. The entire park staff had to turn out and turn the wheel by hand (yes, I'm almost sorry I missed it).
I'm sure such a large wheel will have much more torque, but it will be interesting to see how they load it.
Can you spell "malinvestment" kids? Yeah. I knew you could....
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Given all the issues with the American economy, this is bread and circuses if there was ever one.
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-Possum Lodge Motto
I grew up on Staten Island and still visit there quite frequently. They have enough traffic already.
4.5 million new visitors to a tourist spot on the island would need some significant infrastructure improvements. They have three bridges to NJ and one to Brooklyn, causing bottleneck problems even on the best of days. I can't imagine adding a few million visitors a year expressly for an amusement park.
Though having a second mall on the island may be worth while. Just make it right off one of the highways, this time.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
IMO the money would be better spent on enhancing Archduke Ferdinand's security detail or finding a cure for polio.
Save Ferris....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Wonderfully interesting read, basically, Chicago was hosting the world fair. At the previous one, Paris unveiled the Eiffel tower. So Chicago had to go big to match that, people were scared that Chicago and the US would look like schmucks unless we could do something as good as the Eiffel Tower. Some dude named Ferris came up with this crazy idea.. There was also one of the first serial killers on the loose.
Any how, it's been over 100 years, how do we keep coming back to it, is the Ferris wheel the best attraction ever? We're out of ideas?
I say they should build a 2500' tall office building and then put a giant Ferris wheel on top and a really fast rollercoster. And maybe put the world's largest jumbotron on the side of the building, I don't know how big that is but make the building big enough for that too.. And then gambling and stripclubs on the top 10 floors of the building and only reality TV shows on the mega jumbtron. And dispensaries, it'll have the world's biggest one on one whole floor of the building.. Any thing else?
What's that? Some bizarre mixture of ferrous and ferric?
So that is where my taxes are going. They sure aren't going to this area.
The real wonder of this project is that it's on Staten Island. Let's hope they inaugurate it with a contest: First prize is a free trip to Staten Island! Second prize is TWO free trips! I grew up a few miles from where this ferris wheel would be and let me tell you, no power on Earth will turn it into an attraction. Staten Island is one of the worst places on Earth.
What a great tourist attraction!
Now if NYC needs an extra $n - how many $13(+?) toll-paying tourists will need to visit the ferris wheel daily?
Tell me again why we couldn't try terror suspects in New York City?
NO ONE is going to willingly go to Staten Island unless you're giving away free money. This has epic fail written all over it. I can only imagine the reason Der Fuhrerberg is for this is because either he or a crony will make bank when it fails.
http://www.lagoonpark.com/
Not the biggest. I haven't been there for years though. They have real (albeit not very scary) roller coasters.
This is a gondola instead of a chair lift. IOW, you are enclosed and chilling out in an AC/heated cabin.
The wheel will be built by Starneth: a Dutch company from a small village near the German border.
-- Cheers!
How many Library of Congresses could it hold whilst still hacking a Gibson per rotation relative to each ticket holder?
if i can ,i would like go to new city, new country, to see difference culture.
but, now, i need earn money firstly.
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