Giant Wheel
​1972

Giant Wheel is Cedar Point's ferris wheel ride. 

The 1950's was a really bad time for Cedar Point. After all, it almost closed. After formulating a plan to become the "Disneyland of the Midwest", Cedar Point would add rides that would make the park popular. In 1963 the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad took guests on a journey back to the days of the Wild West. Blue Streak became the first major roller coaster built in decades when it opened in 1964. In 1965 Space Spiral opened as the first ride in the world to go over 300 feet. Pirate Ride sent riders back to the days when pirates ram-sacked the high seas. Frontier Town opened in 1967. Frontier Town was expanded in 1969 to include Cedar Creek Mine Ride. In 1970 Cedar Point Celebrated its 100th anniversary with the Million Dollar Midway. Frontier Trail opened in 1971. 

With all these new additions, 1972 would bring many attentions to add to Cedar Point's line up. 

1972 would be another big year for Cedar Point. The park would add 3 new attractions, Matterhorn, Jumbo Jet and Giant Wheel. 

These new additions would give all member of the family another ride they could ride. 

Giant Wheel was located in an area at the end of Frontier Trail. The ride was behind the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad's station. 

Giant Wheel was located in the middle of the park. It gave a great view of the entire park. 

In 1995 Cedar Point celebrated it's 150th anniversary with a new show. As part of the show a giant screen was placed in front of the Giant Wheel. The screen was ugly and seemed out of place. 

On July 22, 1999, Cedar Point announced it was building Millennium Force for the 2000 season. The ride would be built on Frontier Trail and would displace Giant Wheel. 

Cedar Point closed for the season on Sunday, October 10, 1999. When the park closed Giant Wheel was taken apart carefully. On the Beach Midway, Kid Arthur's Court was removed and site prep began so Giant Wheel could be moved to its new location. 

After the ride was taken apart it was restored. The ride received an overhaul that was hard to complete without taking the entire ride apart. 

Giant Wheel was put back together in the spring of 2000. The ride wold be painted and given a new control system.

The ride had not been competly taken apart since it was built in 1972.

Giant Wheel reopened in its new location on Saturday, May 13, 2000.

Giant Wheel is located on the beach, between Gatekeeper and Wicked Twister. 

Giant Wheel takes riders up 145 feet. From the top of the wheel riders get a great view of Cedar Point, as well as the Cedar Point Beach.

The new location for the ride is much better then the old one. The ride is easy for guests to find and the ride isn't hid by an ugly screen. 

Giant Wheel is a massive ferris wheel. There are many different types of ferris wheels and they are made by many different people. Over the years the ferris wheel has become a classic amusement park ride. 


Giant Wheel was built by Anton Schwarzkopf of Germany. Schwarzkopf only built two of these rides. The first one went to Cedar Point and the second one opened in 1974 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. 

Ride Facts: 
Manufacture: Anton Schwarzkopf
Opened: 1972
Height: 145 Feet
Diameter: 128 feet
​
Giant Wheel cost 1 million dollars to build in 1972. In 2020, that would be $6,726,028.71 in 2022's money.

Giant Wheel is a great ride for the entire family to enjoy together. 

Giant Wheel Gets New Lights

When Giant Wheel opened, the ride had 7,996 light bulbs on the ride. The lights would need replaced regularly. Each night the ride would have mant burnt out bulbs replaced. 

For the 2012 season Cedar Point would add Luminosity, Cedar Point's night the show that would run nightly from 2012 to 2017.

As part of Luminosity, Cedar Point wold light up the Main Midway at night with new lights. The park also added new LED to 3 rides: Millennium Force (2000), Giant Wheel (1972), and Power tower (1998)

Cedar Point wanted Power Tower, Millennium Force, and Giant Wheel to pop out at night as the rides are highly visible from Celebration Plaza. 

As part of the makeover Giant Wheel received a new fresh coat of paint. 

Giant Wheel's new LED light package looks really nice! It really brightened up the ride at night!

This upgrade really helped bring the ride up to modern standards. 

The new paint also made the ride look nicer during the day. 

Ride Experience

The ride experience on Giant Wheel begins when riders get in line for the ride. The line is located directly in front of the ride. 

The line is usually long for Giant Wheel. It usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes. The longest the line get is like around 45 minutes to an hour. 

Riders board cabins on Giant Wheel at the bottom. Each car holds up to 6 people. 

Giant Wheel has 36 cars so the ride can hold 216 riders per cycle. 

Each rider is held into place with a seatbelt. 

Giant Wheel's cars are 6 different colors: light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, yellow and red. 

Giant Wheel moves in a counter-clockwise circle 

The Giant Wheel cabins are loaded by colors. Each section makes its away around the wheel and stops in every position so guests can exit and new guests get on. 

Once all the colors have been loaded, the ride cycle begins. 

Giant Wheel takes its riders around 3 times. When the ride is moving riders get a great view of the front of Cedar Point and Lake Erie.  Giant Wheel is a great ride to get views of the park. 

Giant Wheel then starts unloading riders in the same order the they were loaded. The ride stops until your cabin reaches the bottom of the ride. 

Riders exit Giant Wheel to the back of the ride facing the Cedar Point Beach. 

Giant Wheel was very popular at Cedar Point. After Giant Wheel Cedar Point would add: Cedar Point Cinema (1975-2001), Corkscrew (1976), Troika (1976), Witches’ Wheel (1977-2018), Gemini (1978), Gemini Chilrden’s Area (1979-2013), Wave Swinger (1979), WildCat (1979-2011), Oceana (1980), Ocean Motion (1981), Kid Arthur’s Court (1982-2005), White Water Landing (1982-2005), Demon Drop (1983-2009), Avalanche Run (1985-1989), Berenstain Bear Country (1985-1998), Thunder Canyon (1986), Iron Dragon (1987), Soak City Water Park (1988-2016), Magnum XL-200 (1989), Disaster Transport (1990-2012), Mean Streak (1991-2016), Challenge Park (1992-2016), Snake River Falls (1993-2024), Kiddy Kingdom (1993), Raptor (1994), Cedar Point’s 125th Anniversary Celebration (1995), RipCord (1996-2016), Mantis (1996-2014), Chaos (1997-2011), Swan Boats (1997-2003), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Lighthouse Point (2001), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Good Time Theatre (2002-2014), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), Castaway Bay Resort (2004), maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot the Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), Dinosaurs Alive! On Adventure Island (2012-2018), GateKeeper (2013), New Gemini Midway (2014), Rougarou (2015), Valravn (2016), Cedar Point Shores Waterpark (2017), Steel Vengeance (2018), Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island (2019-2022), Cedar Point’s 150th Anniversary Celebration (2021), Snake River Expedition (2021-2023), The Boardwalk (2023), Top Thrill 2 (2024), and Siren’s Curse (2025)


​All of these attractions have helped make Cedar Point what it is today.

Giant Wheel is a great ride the entire family can enjoy together!

Riders must be: 48" tall to ride alone OR be accompanied by a supervising companion. to ride Giant Wheel.  Hand held infants and single riders are not permitted.

Photos by:J ake Hamons, Andrew Borgen, COASTER-net ,The Lost Coaster,Russ Hauden, COASTER-net, Ron Hintze, Ray Osburn and Cedar Point.

Last Updated: 05/01/2025