A Ferris Wheel’s Day Off

➽ ABOVE: You don’t have to wait until next year’s State Fair to ride this wheel. The 180-foot Grandscape Wheel is open year-round in The Colony. // BELOW RIGHT: This classic Ferris wheel inside the Scheels sporting goods store is a close neighbor to the Grandscape Wheel and only costs $1 to ride.

A holiday day trip to Grandscape and beyond

WORDS ELIZABETH SMITH

WHEN LOOKING FOR WAYS TO ENTERTAIN THE WHOLE FAMILY and out-oftown guests for the holidays, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just look up at this new, permanent attraction now open at Grandscape in The Colony. The latest addition to the ever-expanding entertainment district is the Grandscape Wheel, a 180-foot-tall Ferris wheel—nay, observation wheel—with 42 glass gondolas designed for riders to experience panoramic views of the North Texas prairie below.

It’s got the feel of the famed London Eye and other mega-sized Ferris wheels around the world. Each gondola is fully-enclosed, air-conditioned and even wheelchair accessible, which means it’s comfortable and open to all ages and abilities to slide in for an unforgettable ride. Thanks to COVID-19 safety protocols, every family gets their own private gondola, seating up to eight people at a time. (For a more intimate experience, ask for the luxury gondola with a glass-bottom floor and four Ferrari-style leather seats from which to take in the sights.)

But it won’t cost you a pretty penny to try it out. Regular tickets run about $16 for adults, $12 for children, and free for 3 and younger, available at grandscapewheel.com. The wheel is open year-round from Wednesday through Sunday. If your height-averse kids struggle to understand the appeal, offer to take them up at sunset for the most gorgeous views that shift every moment of rotation, or go after dark when the Grandscape district and the wheel itself are literally lit up like Christmas.

You’ll get the best “Santa’s sleigh-eye view” during some of the entertainment district’s holiday events, such as the Grinchmas Family Festival on Saturday, Dec. 11, when the Grinch hosts kids activities and meet and greets, followed by a movie-watching party on the lawn in front of the concert stage.

To make the absolute most of your daytrip to Grandscape, check out Jurassic World (jurassicworldexhibition.com), now extended through January 2, the Andretti go-kart racing or interestingly enough, the other Ferris wheel at Grandscape. You’ll find a smaller, 65-footer inside the multi-story sporting goods store Scheels. This less-vertigo-inducing ride, available anytime during store hours, costs only $1 and is open to everyone at least 36 inches tall.

In the event that this news prompts your more adventurous kids to declare they want to “ride every Ferris wheel in the city!” (true words that have actually been spoken), check out Radiance! Frozen in Frisco (radiancechristmas.com), open through New Year’s Day. This year, Radiance! has expanded from a drive-thru light show to a full-on Christmas carnival with ice skating, ice hill tubing, snowball toss, even bumper cars on ice and, towering over it all, an 85-foot Ferris wheel. Get the $14.99 fast pass option for more treats and perks in addition to regular admission, which starts at $29.99 for adults and $19.99 for children—a small price to pay for the memories to rotate in your head all year.