May 24--Out in the bigger world, there's a contest going on to see who can build the biggest Ferris wheel.
Navy Pier respectfully declines to play, in part because its been drawing 8 or 9 million people a year with just a pretty big wheel, in part because one chosen strictly for size "wouldn't even fit on the pier," said Brian Murphy, chief operating officer of Navy Pier Inc. "It would take over the pier."
Chicago's lakefront tourist mecca unveils its new, taller but not absurdly tall wheel to the public Friday, bringing to near-completion phase one of a makeover of the concrete peninsula designed to make Navy Pier-going more sophisticated and comfortable -- "a more modern experience," in Murphy's words.
The new attraction, dubbed the Centennial Wheel in honor of the Lake Michigan landmark's 100th anniversary this July, offers a higher and longer but also higher-speed hoop ride than the one provided by its 148-foot predecessor. The ride is also significantly more expensive.
"The revitalization of the pier gives visitors yet more reason to experience the city," Marc Anderson, interim CEO of tourism promoter Choose Chicago, said in a statement. The upgrades include improved dining options; a less harsh, more inviting main pier walking area along the South Dock; and a new fountain and parkscape out front of the pier that will also be unveiled Friday.
And there are further changes coming in 2017 and beyond, including a new multipurpose theater space for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, continuing improvements in public spaces and retail offerings, and a five-story hotel.
But the star of the Navy Pier show isn't the beer garden out toward the east end or the big, gaudy tourism boats docked along the south like castoffs from the Onassis inheritance. It's Dutch Wheels Model DW60, the spinning metal circle that will bear new LED lighting and let people take a load off as they stare out at the lake or in at the skyline.
"With the famous (450-foot) London Eye, a change has been initiated for the giant wheel business," says the website of Dutch Wheels, the Netherlands-based company that built the new wheel (and, via a corporate predecessor, the old one). "And a giant wheel is now more and more considered a stand-alone attraction."
"The Ferris wheel's been part of Chicago since the original wheel first went up in the 1800s," said Murphy, referring to George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.'s 264-foot-tall observation wheel at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. "Navy Pier has had a wheel for 20 years now. The wheel is part of the Chicago skyline."
And it will be even more so now. But if other wheels in the world are monster trucks -- like the current size king, the 550-foot-tall High Roller in, of course, Las Vegas -- then the new Navy Pier wheel is a nice family SUV.
At 196 feet tall, 48 feet taller than the structure it replaces, the Centennial Wheel is present on the pier but not dominant, occupying roughly the same footprint as the old one, which began offering rides in 1995 and gave its last one here in September.
The old wheel -- expected to start offering rides from its new home on Branson, Mo.'s Highway 76 next month -- served up about 760,000 rides in 2014, just under 10 percent of all Navy Pier visitors (both figures were down from pier peaks). That was at $8 for an adult ticket.
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The new ride, for which tickets are already being sold online, charges $15 for an adult journey in one of 41 eight-person standard gondolas. (Off-season rates will be cheaper, and free riding is being offered in four two-hour, morning time windows this summer.) But because this is contemporary tourism, there are upgrade options that allow the well-heeled to trade extra cash for less wait time or a more exclusive experience: For $25, riders can join the Centennial Wheel's equivalent of Transportation Security Administration PreCheck, the "Fast Pass" line. For $50, people can ride in the VIP gondola, which features a glass bottom and just four riders.
There's also a new $35 day pass, which includes all you can handle of the Ferris wheel, the carousel, the Pepsi Wave Swinger, the Light Tower and the new climbing wall, which replaces the old minigolf course that gave way to support structures for the new wheel.
"This is a different wheel than the old one, and we're operating it differently," Murphy said. The old one ran continuously and slowly, with riders getting one full, seven-minute revolution, then exiting as others got on. The new one holds 180 more riders, loads six cars at a time, then stops to load six more, and so on; once the ride is fully loaded, riders get another two revolutions, a 12-minute ride in all "so a person will go over the top at least three times," Murphy said.
Speaking of over the top, the new gondolas feature padded seats, TV screens and speakers. They are enclosed, with air conditioning and heating systems.
The decision to replace the original wheel was driven in large measure by the coming centennial, Murphy said, but also by the feeling that its predecessor "was like an automobile that you've had for a long time," he said. "You have to start putting in more and more maintenance. You have to make the decision: Do I buy a new car?"
The new vehicle and its siting cost $26.5 million, about half of that for the wheel itself, privately financed by a loan to Navy Pier Inc., according to pier officials.
Like buying a new car, that price included the trade-in of the old model. Dutch Wheels then sold it to The Track Family Fun Parks in Branson, which is eager to operate "a new landmark that will forever change the Branson skyline," says a promotional video.
Being installed at a project cost of about $4 million, half of that for the wheel itself, it will serve, too, as a Navy Pier ambassador in the south, prominently billed as the wheel visitors may have ridden on in Chicago.
"We love the thought of a Ferris wheel in Branson," said Craig Wescott, president and CEO of Track Parks. "When we got word of this one, we really loved what it was. It was an icon in Chicago. We just loved that it came with a story."
sajohnson@tribpub.com
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