‘Whirling Wonder' opens at Morgan's Wonderland

Handicap accessible Ferris wheel outfitted with 1,860 LED lights

SAN ANTONIO – Morgan’s Wonderland’s newest attraction opened Friday and it is already a big hit with the crowd.

"It was awesome! It was a lot of fun. You should come out and ride it with us," said rider Heather Bragg.

“Whirling Wonder” is a 12-gondola Ferris wheel that reaches 5 1/2 stories high and can hold 40-50 riders at a time. Due to it being strategically placed in the center of the park, it also allows patrons to take in a view of Morgan's Wonderland.

But what makes this Italian-made Ferris wheel special is that it has a wheelchair accessible pod.

"What I think it says is that everyone can join together and play," said Gordon Hartman, the founder of Morgan’s Wonderland and chairman of The Gordon Hartman Family Foundation.

While the “Whirling Wonder” has already had improvements added such as safety bars, staff said there is still more to come. The park plans to add at least one more handicap accessible gondola to the ride, but in the meantime, Morgan’s Wonderland has already test fit two wheelchairs to accommodate guests whose wheelchairs may be a bit wider than others.

"We’re going to live, learn, and listen to our guests as they come in to see what they want and what wheelchairs they are going towards as far as the sizing so we can go in and have a custom pod made-instead of going from 28 inches and going to 32 inches," said Ron Morander, general manager of Morgan’s Wonderland.

"The beauty of that is, when we add things like this at Morgan’s Wonderland, people in other cities, in Texas and across the nation, and literally around the world are adding certain parts and pieces that we have here at Morgan’s Wonderland in their parks," Hartman said.

Morgan's Wonderland is continuing to expand. Next year it will open “Inspiration Island Water Park,”