21. February 2025
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Dream Wheel NJ

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Dream Wheel NJ

29.75 USD
Dream Wheel NJ
3.6

Rating

 3.6/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great idea
  • Nice, modern Ferris wheel
  • Good view of Meadowlands area

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Too expansive
  • Too far away from Manhattan

Manhattan offers a lot of skyscraper platforms to enjoy the view of New York City. Some of them are or will be featured on Flyctory.com, based on my visit in October 2022. For example, my wife and I visited the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, the Edge NYC or the One World Observatory. A rather new and very different way to have a nice overview of the heart of New York City, however is the Dream Wheel NJ, which is offering nice views from the West of the city, from the New Jersey side, I had a visit on the same trip already mentioned.

 

Dream Wheel NJ – Location & Admission

Dream Wheel NJ is located in the American Dream shopping mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The mall is next to the large American Football Stadium (Met Life Stadium) and other sports and entertainment venues in the Meadowlands complex. There is even a rail service from central New York City, but you can also use the large parking facilities. The American Dream mall hosts several attractions, including the Angry Birds Mini Golf, Sea Life New Jersey and other spots.

At the time of writing, Dream Wheel NJ is opening from 15:00 to 21:00 on weekdays (until 22:00 on Friday), 11:00 to 22:00 Saturdays, 11:00 to 21:00 hrs on Sundays. The adult admission to the Ferris Wheel is 29.75 USD. During our visit in October 2022, we rode on a promotional fare. There are also upgrades to VIP gondolas and other increased services. Our ride was roughly 20 minutes. The entrance is on the third floor.

 

Dream Wheel NJ – The Visit

Dream Wheel NJ is based on the R80XL platform, which is also the basis for the Umadum Ferris Wheel in Munich. It is typically given with a diameter of 250 feet / 78 meters, but Dream Wheel just gives a diameter of 230 feet on their website. The wheel is not based on the ground directly, so that the total height over ground is over 300 feet. The wheel is likely produced by Chance American Wheels, who have the North America-exclusive licence to build the German-Swiss development in North America

The normal version of the air-conditioned cabin is just having a metal bench in the middle. The gold and VIP cabins come with more luxurious interior. One cabin holds up to 16 people. My wife and I were the only people in one cabin, though. There is also an info screen to give you basic information to the ride – however, there would be much more potential to do that.

Stadium and City Views

Dream Wheels NJ is selling their ride as a unique view of Manhattan. As you see on the picture, this is definitely the case and you have a great view of the New York City skyline. However, it is undoubtedly quite far away, so that from a pure view perspective, the location of the Ferris wheel is not ideal and should be closer to Hudson River. The more I enjoyed the views of the nearby sites, especially the stadium, but also the freeway traffic around. In both cases, you rather use the short side / small round side of the cabin – the wheel is more or less in parallel to the Hudson. I guess that this can be bothering in a more busy period.

 

Dream Wheel NJ – Services

The staff was nice. There is also a small gift shop. Refreshments are available in the food court of the mall.

 

Dream Wheel NJ – My View

I love the idea that you can watch the Manhattan skyline from an observation wheel in Jersey. However, the location is too distant – and the price is too high. Furthermore, the wheel is not facing in the right direction. This means that even when it became successful, too crowded cabins may be bothering. Sounds very negative – but overall I liked the ride. But I did not think too much about the value for money during my visit.

 

Flyctory.com Views from Above

Here are all postings tagged as Views from Above, dealing with any kind up-in-the-air viewpoints:

 

Travel Postings – New York

Here are all my Travel postings related to New York (city):

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