This might be a dumb question but are the Ferris wheel "permanently" temporarily closed?
I don't think I've ever seen it spin before. Are there more than a couple of Ferris Wheels in the city and are any of any of them in operation?
Posted by XTruefinale
37 Comments
Pretty sure they closed it during covid and recently announced it would reopen
The Fail-wheel story is a long saga:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Star
Yeah the Melbourne star was poorly made and rushed development resulting its history of opening, failing inspections and getting shut down time after time.
I’ve only seen it running once and the tickets were too expensive for what it’s worth
The Melbourne Star in Docklands is supposed to reopen sometime this year after being sold and being refurbished.
[Melbourne Star Wheel Returning in 2026 – $11M Revival for Docklands Icon](https://discovermelbourne.au/star-wheel-reopening-2026/)
Ferris Wheeler’s Decade Off
I used to call it the Melbourne Circle because it can’t be a wheel if it doesn’t turn.
Worth noting that even when it was open it was hard to actually see it spinning. It’s very large and from memory it’s about a 30 minute round trip. So unless you’re close up to it you’ve got to be paying close attention to actually see it spin.
Scrap it for Coke cans
I used to live in one of the apartments above the the shopping arcade where the wheel is. We bought the apartment during the COVID lockdowns and to start with they were still lighting up the wheel at night (which was so pretty from our living room), but then they stopped doing even that.
Once or twice during the two years we still lived there after that we saw the wheel move, but I figure it was just maintenance. Will be good to see it light up again.
The one that doesn’t turn? Shouldn’t they have ladders or something?
You won’t have seen it spin before, because even when it was operating it rotated very slowly, due to the size. It took about an hour to go around. It has been out of operation for years now though, no idea what the plans for it.
I loved that as recently as last September, there were signs saying it was “temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 panademic”
Such a great view…of absolutely nothing of note.
Reopening this year. It was an observation wheel to rival the London Eye but it was really expensive and closed during Covid. New owners bought it last year and it’ll re-open sometime this year.
I went on it for my birthday back when it was running. I remember how it swayed and rocked in the wind with those eerie sounds. View wasnt great, a lot of rail road tracks and shipping containers if I recall.
The Southern Star Observation wheel, used to operate, I went on it with my Partner at Dusk when it was in operation, before the Covid Pandemic, they had recorded voice overs at intervals and explained a lot of the city’s history
Sadly, I believe that the Owner’s couldn’t continue operating because of the lack of tourism after the Covid Restrictions
Also considering now Costco has moved locations, there’s less foot traffic as well
It’s had a lot of trouble all through it’s journey, I hope one day it can re-open with new funding
I thought it was supposed to be dismantled by now
I swear that wheel has been closed longer than its been open.
There is a smaller one near the convention centre that operates in evenings and weekends https://www.skylinemelbourne.com.au
It’s reopening this year, I actually saw it spinning around a month ago, there were a bunch of people wearing high vis in an office room at the base of it as it turned. Haven’t seen it spin since, but one of the pods is black and it’s been in different locations every time I’ve seen it since. Things are happening.
So good, they built it twice.
Terrible wheel that has had so many mechanical problems it will never be a successful part of Melbourne
That whole area is a dud .
With beautiful views of Melbourne’s western suburbs.
I lived in Docklands during the construction of the wheel. The whole community thought it was a bad idea from the start. Was also there the night that it broke and started swinging like a pendulum! All the local residents were out at 11pm at night watching this giant wheel swing fast from side to side with the strong winds. Worksafe was putting up barriers to stop residents from entering the area. It ended up being under repair for years until it reopened and then closing abruptly again.
It’s the Melbourne Squint.
It gets brought to life every 5-10 years and then quickly dies. I think you could consider its more of a sculpture than an Ferris Wheel. You can admire it and that’s about it. Its had every fault known to mankind, so its blighted now. Wanna buy it?
My first jobs as a qualified boilermaker in 2011 was welding the second set of new spokes for this monstrosity together working for BMC.
Made good money, I think the rate as a casual welder was $48 an hour at the time, $68 on afternoon shift.
Have heard whispers the new owners want to relocate it to Southbank, no idea where it would go but have heard from several sources
Not only I’ve never been on the wheel after 12 years in Melbourne, but I don’t believe I even know anyone that has.
Rode it once. Great views of costco and railyards.
Former Melbourne Star employee, who was part of the reopening team in late 2013. The “flight” took 30 minutes to do a full circle, however we often had it set to run a little faster ie. 25 minutes, in order to board more passengers.
There were a few proposals on board, but in order to have a cabin to yourself, you had to pay quite a lot extra ($500+), many people got angry and abusive over this because they didn’t realise that each cabin held 20 people, and we would load 20 per cabin during busy periods.
They built this in the dumbest location. On one side you can only see harbour containers and the freeway, on the other side you can see the city skyline, with a painfully much better located Rialto and Eureka Tower.
I remember the voice over said something like “We can’t see it from here, but behind the city lies the MCG, Australia’s largest stadium.”
And has anyone ever seen that yellow piece of artwork hanging over the freeway on the way to the airport? Like a big yellow fry? You guessed it, the commentator mentions that as a Melbournian stunning piece of art. The wheel was a joke.
The Melbourne brown eye.
Great view of the arse end of the city featuring the bolte, tollways, the docks, refineries and more.
KIIS Wheel on St Kilda beach is operational until about 9pm each night, next to the pier where the fairy penguins come in and the yacht club
https://ibb.co/TxSV3mMp
I rode it once in 2016, it was pretty cool.
There was hardly anyone else on it.
They decided to make it with cheap, terrible Chinese steel. It’s backfired horribly, because of course it has.