Remember the Ferris wheel at the county fair? As rides go, it was pretty lame. If you were lucky, the price of a ticket would get you a kiss from your girl at the top, but aside from the great view of the livestock barn, there wasn’t much else to get excited about. Now, if it had been 200 feet tall with an awesome view of the Atlantic Ocean, that would have been a different story.
The SkyWheel in Myrtle Beach is the Ferris wheel of your dreams. It’s an adrenaline-pumping ride that you can’t afford to miss the next time you visit Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach has always had plenty going for it. The Grand Strand itself, the golf courses, the shows, the Calabash-style seafood, sandy beaches, and, of course, the star of the show, the Atlantic Ocean.
Billed as an “observation wheel” because of the stunning views from the cars, the SkyWheel has 42 air-conditioned glass cars that each seat six people and offer 360 degree views. One of the cars, the VIP Gondola, as the owners like to call it, has leather seats and a glass floor. Forget the leather seats; the glass floor alone is worth the extra price of the VIP ticket. The wheel has over a million LED lights, and the developers aren’t letting them go to waste; every night after sunset they use them to put on a light show.
This is a Ferris wheel that’s worthy of the name. Unlike the dinky little ride at the county fair, the first Ferris wheel was a skyline-hogging monster built for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The promoters were trying to one-up the Paris Exposition of 1889, which unveiled the Eiffel Tower. It was 264 feet high and carried 2,160 people at a time.
The SkyWheel is located at the northern end of the Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Twelve bucks gets you 12 minutes worth of unbelievable views. Kids 3-11, seniors and military ride for $8 and babies are free.
The SkyWheel is located at 1110 North Ocean BlvdMyrtle Beach, SC 29577, near a few of our condos you can see on the map!!
