New Ride Coming To Navy Pier

Navy Pier will be getting a new Ferris wheel in 2016. But this ride will be bigger and even more unique for the Stateline. Here's why.

The new 196-foot wheel will fit into the space that will be vacated by the existing wheel that was installed in 1995. It will hold up to 180 more passengers per ride in temperature-controlled gondolas, so it can be used year-round according to ABC7 Chicago.

The new wheel, which will be 49 feet taller than the existing Ferris wheel, is being financed by a loan and no public money will be used toward its purchase.

Navy Pier officials say they spent six months looking for a new wheel. They ultimately chose the DW60 from Dutch Wheels, the Netherlands-based company that built the Pier's current wheel.

The DW60 will be the first and only one of its kind in the U.S. with similar wheels currently in operation in Hong Kong and Baku, Azerbaijan. The wheel features two-sided cars that allow for easy loading and unloading, seat up to 10 passengers in each gondola, and it can withstand winds of 115 miles per hour.

Ferris wheel operations will be closed for construction during the off-season months beginning in late September 2015 and re-opening in summer of 2016.

Start making those summer road trip plans now.