Sun Wheel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the symbol sometimes referred to as the "Sun wheel", see Sun cross.
| Sun Wheel | |||
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| Disney's California Adventure | |||
| Land | Paradise Pier | ||
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering, Intamin AG | ||
| Attraction type | Ferris Wheel | ||
| Theme | Coney Island Wonder Wheel | ||
| Opening date | February 8, 2001 | ||
| Vehicle type | Gondola | ||
| Ride duration | 9 minutes | ||
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The Sun Wheel is a Ferris wheel with 48.8 meters diameter at Disney's California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The attraction's name comes from the sun face theme at the center of the wheel and was inspired by Coney Island's 1927 Wonder Wheel.
[edit] Description
The variation from the standard Ferris Wheel is that the 16 orange and purple gondolas are able to ride on interior rails so that they slide inward and outward with the gravitational force during the wheel's rotational movement. This provides for a quite a disorienting and intense experience. Motion sickness bags are even provided in each of the gondolas due to the disorienting nature of the ride. The 8 red gondolas which are on the outside of the wheel remain stationary. Guests may choose to ride either the swinging gondolas or the stationary ones upon entering the queue.
[edit] Renovation
Disney's California Adventure is currently undergoing a $1.1 billion (US) renovation, including a re-theming the Sun Wheel into Mickey's Fun Wheel. The ride will not be completely removed or changed, but they will remove the sun from the attraction and replacing it with a giant Mickey Mouse face. Also new LED lighting effects will be added as well as some additional Victorian theming.
