The line is long, usually, and you watch as the wheel turns and people look down on the world, barely noticing you for the city, countryside, sea and clouds they can see better from way up there. There is no height restriction, so you get to go on younger than a roller coaster. It isn’t scary or thrilling or fast. But when you’re small and see the whole world from the bottom up, there is nothing more sublime than slowly gliding to the top and looking down.
The image above by Jean-Marie Hullot, is one in a great gallery of photos of Ferris wheels around Europe. Check it out on Fotopedia. Many of the wheels in that gallery feature amazing light displays, that make for magical photos when captured at night.
The Coney Island Wonder Wheel
Musician Dan Zanes wrote a great song about the Wonder Wheel, a ferris wheel at Coney Island in Brooklyn New York, which appears on both Family Dance – Dan Zanes For the Kids – Various Artists.
The Wonder Wheel isn’t just a simple ferris wheel with baskets that leisurely orbit the perimeter of the wheel. It is an eccentric ferris wheel and some of the baskets on the Coney Island Wonder Wheel sit in a undulating metal track so that as they go around sometimes they rest at the bottom of loops, and sometimes they zip down the track to the next loop. Here’s what it looks like to ride the Wonder Wheel.
The Coney Island Wonder Wheel was built in 1920 by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company. The Wonder Wheel has 24 cars that hold 6 passengers, and 16 of them move and 8 are fixed. A ticket to ride the 150 foot high Wonder Wheel will cost you $6 and it does not have a height requirement.
How to play Wonder Wheel on guitar
I don’t play guitar much anymore, but this tutorial from Dan Zanes on playing the guitar accompaniment to his song makes me want to start up again.
-Mike
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