Eccentric Wheels
Eccentric wheels (sometimes called sliding wheels or coaster wheels) differ from conventional Ferris wheels in that some or all of the passenger cars are not fixed directly to the rim of the wheel, but instead slide on rails between the hub and the rim as the wheel rotates.
The two most famous eccentric wheels are Mickey's Fun Wheel (previously Sun Wheel), at Disney California Adventure Park, US, and Wonder Wheel, at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, Coney Island, US. The former is a replica of the latter. There is a second replica in Yokahama, Japan.
Mickey's Fun Wheel is 48.8 metres (160 ft) tall and has 24 fully enclosed passenger cars, each able to carry 6 passengers. 16 of the cars slide inward and outward as the wheel rotates, the remainder are fixed to the rim. There are separate boarding queues for sliding and fixed cars, so that passengers may choose between the two. Inspired by Coney Island's 1920 Wonder Wheel, it was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and Waagner Biro, completed in 2001 as the Sun Wheel, and later refurbished and reopened in 2009 as Mickey's Fun Wheel.
Wonder Wheel was built in 1920, is 45.7 metres (150 ft) tall, and can carry 144 people.
Read more about this topic: Ferris Wheel
Famous quotes containing the words eccentric and/or wheels:
“In a cabinet of natural history, we become sensible of a certain occult recognition and sympathy in regard to the most unwieldy and eccentric forms of beast, fish, and insect.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I compare her
to a fallen leaf.
The noiseless wheels of my car
rush with a crackling sound over
dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)