RIP Sunwheel :( Who else is Sad

[DahliaRW]

Actually, it's not scheduled for refurb until the 29th. They moved it. We are happy, never been on it and we'll be there on the 26th!

 

[Sherry E]

The SunWheel of Death will not be missed by my family. LOL I will ONLY ride the stationary cars. I've ridden twice, no one in our family cares about riding it but we do love the big sun in the center. We went in Dec for DD8's b-day, she wanted to ride it soooooooooooooooo bad in a swinging car. Her big sister (DD19) took her and their sister (DD12) and DD19's DBF. My DBF and I rode in the stationary car, we loaded at the same time (on purposes, their line was so much longer) and they were right behind us. I have NEVER heard my girls scream so loudly, they were soooooooooooo freaked out by the swinging!! lol I was cracking up, they were too until they would swing and then they screamed as loud as they could again. LOL It was too funny!! DD19 had a headache when they got off from the girls screaming.

I like DCA and the pier, it's supposed to be reminiscent of an old boardwalk and it has that feel. I'm very sad they are changing it!

Are they actually revamping the whole Paradise Pier area? I thought they were leaving most of those rides intact, minus a couple of them, and keeping that boardwalk theme to that land. I definitely think they should keep that boardwalk/pier theme to that land, but just Disney-fy the rest of the park.

 

[~Brandy~]

Swinging gondolas of DEATH.

This is exactly how I feel about the Sunwheel.

 

[jencav5]

Are they actually revamping the whole Paradise Pier area? I thought they were leaving most of those rides intact, minus a couple of them, and keeping that boardwalk theme to that land. I definitely think they should keep that boardwalk/pier theme to that land, but just Disney-fy the rest of the park.

It will still be a pier, but it is going to be a Victorian themed pier, like the outside of the new TSMM. They are removing Pizza Oom Mow Mow, Burger Invasion, the Orange Stinger & I think the Maliboomer.

 

[disneychrista]

Funny how everyone says the swinging gondallas are so scary. I have only been on it once (my kids are chickens) but I thought "oh is that it?" when I went on it.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

So if Disney is re-theming DCA, does that mean the Paradise Pier Hotel will get a makeover, too? It's tied to the California/boardwalk area of the park. Just wondering...

 

[ACDSNY]

My young nieces always love the Sun Wheel, but my adult DD end up sitting on the floor begging to get off. My DH is mean and likes to keep it rocking. The ride is pure evil!

 

[keegro94]

whats next? are they going to change the orange stinger into a donald duck head instead of an orange? lol.

 

[CrazyDuck]

whats next? are they going to change the orange stinger into a donald duck head instead of an orange? lol.

I couls see them attaching gigantic ears to make it look like a mickey head too!

 

[beware_i_dazzle]

So if Disney is re-theming DCA, does that mean the Paradise Pier Hotel will get a makeover, too? It's tied to the California/boardwalk area of the park. Just wondering...

it was PP before CA came into existence although it has had a couple of name changes but its not actually in the park so I highly doubt they will make changes

 

[Sleepless Knight]

whats next? are they going to change the orange stinger into a donald duck head instead of an orange? lol.

At least it would be better themed.

The rumor mill says that it will become the Silly Symphonies Swing and themed to the first Mickey Mouse color cartoon The Band Concert.

 

[renderman7]

omg.. how can so many people dislike a wonderful ride. i love the sun wheel, and to me it will always be the sun wheel, mickeys face on it or not. i truely can not see how a giant mickey head though fits into the theming a victorian paradise pier..

also why remove the mailboomer.. thats a great ride.. if they are taking away any rides it should be the golden zypher.. its not even golden..

and i beleive the orange zinger is being rethemed as well.

either way i love the sun wheel and maliboomer and i am shocked to see the treatment of them.

 

[Sherry E]

omg.. how can so many people dislike a wonderful ride. i love the sun wheel, and to me it will always be the sun wheel, mickeys face on it or not. i truely can not see how a giant mickey head though fits into the theming a victorian paradise pier..

also why remove the mailboomer.. thats a great ride.. if they are taking away any rides it should be the golden zypher.. its not even golden..

and i beleive the orange zinger is being rethemed as well.

either way i love the sun wheel and maliboomer and i am shocked to see the treatment of them.

You are right - I hadn't thought of that before. The giant Mickey head will NOT fit into the Victorian theme of the pier area. It would fit in with the Disney theme but not Victorian. California Screamin' will not mesh with that either. I thnk they were better off with the more current seaside pier theme than a Victorian one, but who knows? Maybe it will all flow when it is finished? I hope they are not just grasping at straws to change the park and end up making another billion dollar mistake.

 

[DoomBugger]

Funny how everyone says the swinging gondallas are so scary. I have only been on it once (my kids are chickens) but I thought "oh is that it?" when I went on it.

I used to wonder why Disney didn't build better thrill rides but with all the people completely terrified of a ferris wheel as evidenced by this sites numerous threads about this hysterical fear I now realize different!

I think the time and money spent on the marginal change of theming on this attraction is wasteful. Disney should put that money towards the People Mover track rebuilding fund project!

 

[perlster]

I've seen a report (on another site) of a visitor seeing it still operating yesterday. September 29 was mentioned as the start of work on it, but I did not see that on the disneyland.com list of closed attractions.

 

[jensenba]

I have a quick question. I have only been on the sun-wheel once. It was a couple of years ago. We were only allowed to do a loading round and then had to get off. On other ferris wheels you do a loading round, go around once, then an unloading round. Is just doing a loading round normal procedure or did we get gipped. I haven't been on it since. I had fun on the swinging gondolas, but the fact that the ride was so short, I haven't been back on it. So did I just get gipped (the line was extremely short so I know it wasn't due to crowds) or is that normal procuedure for that ride?

 

[DahliaRW]

I've seen a report (on another site) of a visitor seeing it still operating yesterday. September 29 was mentioned as the start of work on it, but I did not see that on the disneyland.com list of closed attractions.

2 days ago when I checked (the entertainment schedule at disneyland.com) it was listed as being down on the 29th. Now it's not listed at all. So I'd guess they postponed it! We were just happy it'd be open the first couple of days we were there!

 

[Mugglemama]

is everybody sure that they are changing the name of california adventure? it just seems really stupid (to me) for them to change the name of a major theme park after what, 7 years in operation? i know this sometimes occurs when theme parks change owners, but that's not the case here.

it's like when coke went to "new coke" but we all learned quickly that new coke was not as good as classic coke and they eventually had to dump new coke and bring back classic coke because new coke was one of the dumbest ideas ever???!!!

(sorry...when it comes to disneyland and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE...unless they're simply adding more rides, i just don't like change. )

 

[DoomBugger]

is everybody sure that they are changing the name of california adventure? it just seems really stupid (to me) for them to change the name of a major theme park after what, 7 years in operation? i know this sometimes occurs when theme parks change owners, but that's not the case here.

it's like when coke went to "new coke" but we all learned quickly that new coke was not as good as classic coke and they eventually had to dump new coke and bring back classic coke because new coke was one of the dumbest ideas ever???!!!

(sorry...when it comes to disneyland and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE...unless they're simply adding more rides, i just don't like change. )

You are in luck then as they will not be changing the name of the park and they will be essentially adding new rides with the upcoming waves of new additions and expansions planned.

It is not unheard of for a Disney park to change names even if the ownership is not altered; the MGM studios was recently changed in FL.

I believe Disneyland Paris was called EuroDisney at first and even our beloved Disneyland is now technically Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort.

 

[Sherry E]

You are in luck then as they will not be changing the name of the park and they will be essentially adding new rides with the upcoming waves of new additions and expansions planned.

It is not unheard of for a Disney park to change names even if the ownership is not altered; the MGM studios was recently changed in FL.

I believe Disneyland Paris was called EuroDisney at first and even our beloved Disneyland is now technically Disneyland Park at Disneyland Resort.

Are you sure, DoomBugger? I definitely read in a couple of articles that a name change is very likely going to be phased in over the next few years. It may not be a drastic name change, could be subtle, but different, from what I read. And when I heard that, I thought to myself, "Well, they changed Disney MGM and they changed EuroDisney, so it is not unheard of." So unless that plan has been changed in the last couple of months, then the last I read was that a name change of some sort is on the horizon eventually...which would make sense because they are trying to make it less about California specifically and more about Disney, right? So if that is still the plan, then a name change would make sense. In fact, aren't they eventually getting rid of the California letters at the entrance to the park? That was in the article I read too. It is just that this is not going to all happen overnight. It will take a few years for everything to subtly unfold.