page_title: Intamin
section_title: Ferris wheels
hierarchical_section_title: Intamin / Products and technologies / Amusement rides / Ferris wheels
caption_attribution_description: English: Sky Whirl, a triple Ferris wheel at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, in 2000
context_page_description: Intamin Worldwide is a designing and manufacturing company in Wollerau, Switzerland. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a portmanteau for "international amusement installations". The company has offices throughout the world including three in Europe, three in Asia and two in the United States.
  Intamin is a major player in the amusement park attractions industry, supplying 17 different styles of roller coasters, 7 different vertical rides, 8 different water rides, 5 different immersive rides, 7 different swing rides and 5 different observation attractions. The company has installed a total of 163 coasters in several countries around the globe. Intamin designed and built the first river rapids ride known as Thunder River based on the idea supplied by Bill Crandall, a past General Manager at the now defunct AstroWorld. Intamin also marketed the first Freefall experience and the first drop tower.
context_section_description: Intamin brokered a number of rides that were manufactured by Waagner-Biro. These included a series of rides for Marriott Corporation, each comprising a vertical column supporting multiple horizontal arms, with each arm supporting a Ferris wheel. The first was Giant Wheel which operated at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania from 1973 until 2004. Similar Intamin supplied Waagner-Biro wheels included Zodiac (Kings Island, Mason, Ohio) and Scorpion (Parque de la Ciudad, Buenos Aires, Argentina). All are now defunct.
  Sky Whirl, the world's first triple Ferris wheel, which debuted at both Marriott's Great America parks (now Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois, and California's Great America, Santa Clara) in 1976, was also manufactured by Waagner-Biro and brokered by Intamin. Also known as a triple Ferris wheel, Triple Giant Wheel, or Triple Tree Wheel, it was 33 metres (108 ft) in height. The Santa Clara ride, renamed Triple Wheel in post-Marriott years, closed on 1 September 1997. The Gurnee ride closed in 2000.
  The Orlando Eye, which opened in April 2015, was designed and built by Intamin.
caption: Sky Whirl, a triple wheel at Six Flags Great America
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