Deno's Wonder Wheel Park | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Deno's Wonder Wheel Park’

Photo of the Day: Spring Has Sprung in Coney Island

Posted in Amusement ride, tagged Bruce Handy, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, solar lighting, solar panel, Spring in Coney Island, Wonder Wheel on March 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Wonder Wheel on the First Night of Spring. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

In preparation for March 28th’s official opening of Coney Island’s rides, the cars–stationary and swinging– were put back on the Wonder Wheel today. Along with the open concession stands on the Boardwalk and the spinning rides in Deno’s Kiddie Park, it was the first sign of spring in Coney Island. Thanks to photographer Bruce Handy for this lovely first photo of the Wheel on the first night of spring! “I saw the wheel turning this morning, What a joy!!! Was away all day and when I got back to Coney the cars were on,” writes Bruce.

This year, the 90-year-old Wonder Wheel’s swinging cars will be lit with amber lights that will replicate the lighting scheme of the ride in the 1920s. The big difference is the lights will be powered by solar panels installed on top of the cars, according to an interview with Deno Vourderis in the Coney Island History Project’s Oral History Archive. Vourderis’s family owns the New York City landmark and also operates Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, which has 22 rides.

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It’s Still Summer…Coney Island Is Still Open

Posted in amusement park, Coney Island, tagged Brooklyn Paper, Coney Island, Coney Island is open, Daily News, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Dreamland, media coverage, media criticism, NY1 on August 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

It's still summer...Coney Island is open! Fun for All. Image © brooklynnfoto via flickr

Thanks to graphic designer and Coney Island regular “brooklynnfoto” for creating this impromptu ad for Coney Island. I discovered it on flickr along with the caption “43 rides, a host of attractions…and Nathan’s cheese fries.”

Last week ATZ posted “Coney Island is Open, Only Dreamland is Closed” in response to media coverage of the closure of Dreamland Park that left many people with the impression all of Coney Island was shutdown. Since then, we’ve been barraged by search referrals asking “is Coney Island open?” and “is Coney Island closing?”

Thumbs down to the Brooklyn Paper for doing three stories on the closing of Dreamland without even mentioning the fact that the rest of Coney Island is open for business and the attractions that remain. “Coney Island’s biggest amusement park will remain closed this weekend….” begins the Brooklyn Paper’s latest article about the closing of Dreamland. As someone who works in Coney Island I’m very concerned people will think it’s not worth a visit because “the biggest park” is closed. Notified that Dreamland (12 rides) was NOT Coney’s largest park– Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park (22 rides) has that honor– BP has yet to run a correction.

The article’s quote from an outraged visitor contains an error, too. “It’s not right to close down in the middle of the season,” said Richard Vowers of Sheepshead Bay. “It’s going to disappoint a lot of kids. My girlfriend’s son likes the helicopter ride and the train ride.”We have good news for you, Mr. Vowers. The rides mentioned -–the helicopter and the kiddie train—were never in Dreamland. These rides are in Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park which is open through mid-October and will be here for years to come!

Kiddie Helicopter Ride at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Thumbs Up to NY1 and the Daily News…
thumsb up NY1 made the same mistake of calling Dreamland “Coney Island’s largest amusement park,” but promptly ran a correction when informed of their error. The Daily News article about the closing of Dreamland quoted the park’s manager saying “Coney Island’s closed now.” But the reporter noted, “That’s not quite true: The Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, and other popular Coney attractions are still up and running.” Thank you!

For year round, up-to-date info on events and attractions, visit Coney Island Fun Guide.

Coney Island Ride Count: Veteran Ride Ops 40, Joe Sitt 10!

Posted in amusement park, Amusement ride, tagged Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Joe Sitt, Kiddie Park, rides, Thor Equities on June 4, 2009| 2 Comments »

The Wonder Wheel....Go Up...It's Great! Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

This post was written in 2009. For updated info, please see most recent ride census from April 2011: “Coney Island Has 64 Rides and 30 Weekends of Summer!”

* * * * *

Yesterday a teller at my bank said she thought Coney Island had been redeveloped into a flea market with just a few rides. Where’d she get that idea? Joe Sitt’s cartoonish “Festival by the Sea” subway posters. Some of the search terms being used to find ATZ have been “What rides are left at Coney Island?” and “Are the rides and games open at Coney Island?” When people hear that Astroland closed, they mistakenly think ALL of Coney’s rides have closed. I went around and did a ride count last weekend (May 30-31). The numbers may surprise you.

THE GOOD NEWS

Coney Island currently has a grand total of 50 operating rides, That’s right FIFTY RIDES. Pretty good for a place that’s rumored to have closed. Forty rides are owned and operated by longtime Coney ride ops Cyclone Coasters, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, McCullough’s Kiddie Park, 12th Street Amusements and Eldorado Skooters.

On real estate speculator Joe Sitt’s property, there are currently 10 rides of the “more than 25 fun-filled rides” promised by Thor Equities in an April 2 press release.

A carousel under construction on May 25 is one of 10 rides in Thor Equities "Dreamland Park." Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

Sitt’s pr team hasn’t said a word about rides lately, but the Coney Island Rumor Mill is abuzz with rumors of everything from coasters to kiddie rides being on the way. ATZ will keep you posted if and when more rides do arrive in Sittland East aka “Dreamland Amusement Park,” which is a work in progress.

If you want to see the full list of Coney Island’s 50 rides, Click here for the second part of my post, “What rides are open at Coney Island?”

STARTLING STATS

When you break down the current ride count, forty (40) rides are owned and operated by Coney’s veteran ride owners on land that is NOT owned by Joe Sitt or Thor Equities. Sitt is the largest property owner in Coney Island, with 80% of the land in the amusement district in Thor Equities investment portfolio. Yet two months after Coney’s opening day of the season, Sitt has mustered only ten (10) carnival rides for his so-called Dreamland Amusement Park. McCullough’s Kiddie Park, which occupies a tiny piece of land at the Bowery and 12th Street, has squeezed more rides onto their site than Joe Sitt has in all of Coney Island. The score is McCullough 12, Sitt 10. Or Veteran Showmen 40, Predatory Real Estate Speculator, 10. If this were a ball game, the showmen would win!

McCullough's Kiddie Park in Coney Island has 12 rides. Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

The “dozens of amusement rides” ballyhooed by Thor’s pr firm Knickerbocker SKD in their April 2 press release later dwindled to the promise of “25 rides and attractions” and “upwards of 25 rides”. Obviously Thor Equities picked the number “25” to say, see you’re not missing anything, we’re replacing the evicted Astroland’s old rides with an equal number of new rides.

The startling fact is that last year during Thor Equities “Summer of Hope” (May 22-June 2), Sitt had 52 rides on all of his Coney Island properties. This year, he has only 10. This means Coney Island is down 42 rides from last year during the same time period.

On Sitt’s property on the last weekend of May 2008:

52 rides including

Astroland – 24 rides (Palm Sunday- Sept 7)

Reithoffer Carnival – 18 rides (May 22-June 3)

Geren Rides – 10 rides (May 22- mid-July)

On Sitt’s property on the last weekend of May 2009:

“Dreamland Amusement Park” 10 rides

This year Thor has come up very short. Instead of spending huge amounts of money on the tents and advertising for his flopped Festival by the Flea, oops I mean Festival by the Sea, Sitt should have bought rides and set them up on the property, which is zoned for amusements. A batting range, go karts, bumper boats, mini-golf and other popular amusement attractions thrived here before Joe Sitt bought the property and bulldozed them in 2007 to deliberately create his empty lots and the opportunity for a zoning variance.

“What rides are open at Coney Island?”

Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park has 22 rides. In addition to the legendary Wonder Wheel and Spook-A-Rama dark ride, adult rides include the Thunderbolt, Bumper Cars and Tilt-A-Whirl. The Kiddie rides are the Dizzy Dragons, Mini Enterprise, Willie the Whale, Fire Engines, Pony Carts, Jets, Free Fall, Boats, Carousel, Flying Elephants, Jumping Motorcycles, Pirate’s Pond, Red Baron Airplanes, Big Foot Trucks, Rio Grande Train and Sea Serpent Roller Coaster.

Mangels Pony Cart Ride at Denos Kiddie Park, Coney Island. Photo © me-myself-i/ Tricia Vita via flickr

photo via me-myself-i, flickr

McCullough’s Kiddie Park has 12 kiddie rides on the Bowery at 12th Street. The rides are the Bumblebeez, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Swings, Motorcycles, Yellow Submarine, Dizzy Dragons, Himalaya, Ladybug, Frog Hopper, Circus Train and Tug Boat.

Thor Equities new “Dreamland Park” (former Astroland property) has 10 rides. Adult rides are the Himalaya, Spin Out, Ring of Fire, Scrambler, Trabant and Star Dancer. Kiddie rides are the Carousel, Dragon Wagon, Kid Country and Drive In.

The world famous Cyclone Roller Coaster is a city owned landmark and continues to be operated by the Alberts, the former owners of Astroland Park (Surf Avenue at 10th St)