Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier is a pleasure pier in

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Opened in the summer of 2012, it has 1 roller coaster, 15 rides, carnival games and souvenir shops.

History

The new Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier was built out over the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

waters. It had its "soft" opening on May 25, 2012. The new pier complex is located where the original Pleasure Pier stood from 1943 until 1961, when it was destroyed by

Hurricane Carla Hurricane Carla ranks as the most intense U.S. tropical cyclone landfall on the Hurricane Severity Index. It was the ninth most intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. The third named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Carla d ...

. The original Pleasure Pier featured rides, an arcade, an aquarium, concessions, a large ball room, named the Marine Ballroom, and fishing at the end of the pier. It was also the site of the USS Flagship Hotel, an over-the-water hotel built in 1965 that was demolished after

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

in 2008. Before the renovation there had been almost no maintenance in over 70 years, resulting in the pier having exposed reinforcing steel with accelerated corrosion and concrete spalling at piles, beams, joists, and reflective overhead flat plates. Because of this, extensive structural concrete restoration was needed. Repairs were eventually completed using shotcrete struck and finished in alignment with pre-existing materials making up the pier. The pier was a filming location for the 2021 comedy-drama Red Rocket. The pier was also featured in the 2022 animated comedy

Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe ''Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe'' is a 2022 American adult animated science fiction comedy film directed by John Rice and Albert Calleros and written by Mike Judge, Lew Morton, Guy Maxtone-Graham and Ian Maxtone-Graham. It is the second ...

Attractions

Features at the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier include: *

Iron Shark Iron Shark is a steel roller coaster at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. The Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter roller coaster opened to the public on June 1, 2012. Iron Shark was the first Euro-Fighter coaster in Texas. The ride was installed by Ri ...

— a steel

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...

constructed by

Gerstlauer Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany. History In 1982, Hubert Gerstlauer, a former employee of the Anton Schwarzkopf-o ...

, a tall coaster offering four inversions with a back section cantilevering over the water. *Sky Shooter — airborne shot ride. *

Texas Star Flyer Texas Star Flyer is a Funtime Star Flyer operating at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. The ride opened to the public on July 27, 2012. The ride was installed by Ride Entertainment Group, who handles all of Funtime's operations in North ...

— swinging riders over the water 230 feet above the Gulf. *Galaxy Wheel — a 100-foot-tall

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

, featuring programmable LED lights. * Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant.

Current Attractions

References

External links

Official Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier website
* {{Galveston, Texas Amusement parks in Texas Piers in Texas Landry's Restaurants, Inc. amusement parks Buildings and structures in Galveston, Texas Galveston Bay Area Greater Houston 2012 establishments in Texas Tourist attractions in Galveston, Texas Amusement parks opened in 2012

History

Attractions

Current Attractions

See also

References

External links