Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Anniversary Ferris Wheel Now Open
Brookfield, Ill. — Today, March 15, Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Anniversary Ferris Wheel opened to guests. In celebration of 2024 being the Zoo’s 90th year, the attraction will be open through Dec. 31, 2024.
The towering 110-foot Ferris wheel offers guests unique bird’s-eye views of the park’s gardens, animal habitats, and Chicago skyline. The massive 125-ton Ferris wheel, located just east of the Zoo’s newly landscaped Roosevelt Fountain, features 24 gondolas that each seat up to six people. During evening hours and events, it will illuminate brightly with 350,000 multicolored LED lights. A ride on the attraction is between 7 and 8 minutes long. Riders need to be at least 3 feet tall with a supervised adult or 32 inches talll with no supervision. The cost is $8 per person (Zoo members pay 6).
The attraction took a year to manufacture in the Netherlands by Lamberink B.V. It was shipped in seven 40-foot containers to the United States, which took about a month. The Kissel Entertainment Company of Okeana, Ohio, installed it at the Zoo.
The original Ferris wheel, and engineering marvel for its time, was designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., and was unveiled as the popular centerpiece during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago’s World Fair. It measured 264 feet high, rotated on a 71-ton, 45½-foot axle, and featured 36 gondolas, with a total capacity of 2,160.
# # #
Photos (credit: Jim Schulz/Brookfield Zoo Chicago)
2376, 2652, 2852, 2900, and 2961: Brookfield Zoo Chicgo's Anniversary Ferris Wheel features 24 gondolas that each seat up to six people. The attraction will be at the Zoo through Dec. 31, 2024.
About Brookfield Zoo Chicago
Celebrating 90 years as a global leader in animal well-being and conservation, Brookfield Zoo Chicago inspires conservation leadership by igniting emotional connections for people with wildlife and nature, locally and globally. The Zoo is a private nonprofit organization that operates on 235 acres of land owned by the Forest Preserves of Cook County and is home to more than 3,500 animals representing over 500 species, including many of Earth’s most endangered. Brookfield Zoo Chicago was the first zoo in the world to be awarded the Humane Certified™ certification mark for the care and welfare of its animals, is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and ArbNet. For more information, visit www.brookfieldzoo.org.