Santa Monica Pier's Pacific Park Celebrates 25th Anniversary

SANTA MONICA, CA — Pacific Park is celebrating its 25-year anniversary at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday.

The two-acre amusement park opened May 26, 1996, and has entertained more than 25 million guests. It was the first amusement park to open at the pier since the 1930s.

Here are some other fun facts about the park:

• Provided more than 60 million rides on its 12 classic boardwalk attractions
• Awarded more than 4.75 million pieces of plush and prizes at the midway games
• Spun more than 1.1 million pieces of cotton candy
• Scooped more than 105,000 gallons of ice cream
• Brewed over a perky 1.6 million cups of coffee

The park is LA's only admission-free amusement park and has 12 amusement rides, 14 midway games, an oceanfront food plaza and beachside shopping.

In addition to the Pacific Wheel solar-powered Ferris wheel, Pacific Park’s signature rides include The West Coaster, a steel roller coaster that races 55 feet above the Santa Monica Bay; and Inkie’s Air Lift Balloon Ride, the high-flying, family-sharing kids’ ride.

Here are some highlights from the park's history:

• 1998: Pacific Park and Southern California Edison Technology Solutions created the world’s first and still only solar-powered Ferris wheel.
• 2006: Pacific Park’s solar-powered Ferris wheel was named “Best of America” by the editors of Reader’s Digest magazine.
• 2008: Pacific Park introduced an all-new $1.5 million Ferris wheel featuring more than 160,000 energy-efficient LED lights. Pacific Park sold the previous Ferris wheel on eBay to benefit the Special Olympics of Southern California.
• 2012: Los Angeles Police Officer Gus Martinez set the Guinness World Records title of 25 hours on a Ferris wheel at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier.
• 2013: Pacific Park’s Ferris wheel was selected by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the “World’s Coolest Ferris Wheels.”
• 2015: Yahoo! Travel announced its “The Best Amusement Park in Every State” with Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier taking top honors in California.
• 2016: In light of its 20th Birthday celebration, Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier introduced a new Ferris wheel lighting package in 2016. Standing 130 feet above the Pacific Ocean, the nearly $1 million lighting system allows the Park to display dynamic, unique, and brilliant light programs every evening.
• 2018: Top competitive eaters competed in the first-ever Pacific Park World Taco-Eating Championship. The inaugural event took place on “National Taco Day” and set a new world record as the #1-Ranked Competitive Eater In The World Joey Chestnut ate 62 Pacific Park street-style carnita tacos in 8 minutes to claim the Major League Eating title.
• 2019: Netflix takes over the Santa Monica Pier with their “Stranger Things” premier celebration. Fans of the show were invited to walk through an immersive 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, experience complete with 1980s bands, theming from the show, and specially curated treats and prizes.
• 2020: Pacific Park honored doctors, nurses, medical staff and healthcare workers for more than 300 nights on the Pacific Wheel during the once-in-a-lifetime COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The park closed for more than 13 months due to the pandemic. Ride operations and the park reopened April 2 under the Los Angeles County health guidelines and at limited capacity.

"While we are extremely proud to celebrate the Park’s anniversary, we could not have imagined being at this point in Pacific Park’s 25-year operation and presence on the Santa Monica Pier," Jeff Klocke, Vice President and General Manager at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, said in a statement.

"This has been a very long journey," Klocke said. "We have strived to navigate the pandemic safely with the wellbeing of everyone associated with the park. I welcome everyone back and appreciate seeing guests in the park as they enjoy an amusement ride, playing a midway game or sharing a funnel cake. And it is spectacular to watch the world-famous solar-powered Ferris wheel turn again against the backdrop of the setting sun, Santa Monica Coastline and Pacific Ocean."

Guests can now purchase ride tickets in advance of their visit and a single entrance to the ride area is on the east side of the park to help monitor the number of people who enter.

Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier is located at 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica. For additional information and hours of operation, call 310-260-8744, or visit the website: www.pacpark.com.

Check out this highlight video from Pacific Park:

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