The Seattle Great Wheel is a 53-meter tall giant

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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. At an overall height of , it was the tallest Ferris wheel on the

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when it opened in June 2012.

Opening day

The inauguration ceremony and opening to the public took place on June 29, 2012. Participants in the ceremony, which commenced at 2:30 p.m., included the

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with a presentation of colors, Seattle mayor

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who delivered a speech, and the

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cheerleaders, spirit team, and marching band who provided entertainment. Approximately 200 people lined up for the first ride on the wheel.

Construction and design

Seattle was the third city in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

to offer a wheel of this design, following the

Niagara SkyWheel Niagara SkyWheel is a tall Ferris wheel in the middle of Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Niagara SkyWheel is a Ronald Bussink Professional Rides designed R60 Giant Wheel, manufactured by Chance Rides and supplied by Chance Morg ...

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(which is also tall), and the larger

Myrtle Beach SkyWheel The Myrtle Beach Skywheel is a observation wheel located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, that opened May 20, 2011. At the time of its opening was the second-tallest extant Ferris wheel in North America, after the Texas Star in Dallas, and the ...

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, which stands tall. The Seattle wheel is the only one of the three to be built over water. The Seattle Great Wheel has 42 climate-controlled gondolas, each able to carry up to eight passengers (except the luxury

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gondola, which had red leather seats and a glass floor, and seats four), giving a maximum capacity of 332. The 12-minute, three-revolution ride extends out over

. File:Seattle Great Wheel, Seattle, Washington, Estados Unidos, 2017-09-02, DD 16.jpg, Long exposure photo of Great Wheel lights at night File:Seattle evening pano.jpg, Seattle skyline and Great Wheel near twilight

In popular culture

* The Seattle Great Wheel was featured in the climax for the film ''

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''. * The Seattle Great Wheel is a prominent landmark in the 2020

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

game ''

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''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 establishments in Washington (state) Amusement rides introduced in 2012 Buildings and structures in Seattle Central Waterfront, Seattle Ferris wheels in the United States Tourist attractions in Seattle