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New York Plans World's Largest Ferris Wheel

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-build-it-they-will-ride dept.

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."

3 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. My biggest fear by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  2. 1,440 People on it at one time ??? by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

  3. Interesting to note. by Daryen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.