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by Jim Futrell
Even by today’s standards, the “Wonder Wheel” at New York’s Coney Island is an engineering marvel. Built in 1920, the 150-foot-tall, 200-ton structure floats on a concrete slab set in an underwater buoyancy tank 60 feet deep that also acts to diffuse lightning that strikes the ride. But it’s not just any Ferris wheel, as 16 of its 24 cars swing from an inner to outer ring on an oval shaped track, providing a thrill unlike any other.
For most of its life, the wheel operated as an independent attraction. But today it’s the centerpiece of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, a 22-ride amusement park assembled around the wheel itself. The story of how the park came to be is a great example of the rewards of the Vourderis family’s hard work, risk taking, and embracing an opportunity where others saw none. Dennis Vourderis recently told Funworld how his father grew the business from a single food trailer and a vision.
 The American Dream
The eighth of 22 children, Denos Vourderis immigrated to the United States in the 1930s with little more than a fifth grade education. After serving in World War II, he worked as a pushcart vendor but was always drawn to Coney Island, spending hours on the beach dreaming of one day selling hot dogs along the boardwalk. The “Wonder Wheel” held a particular fascination, and Vourderis even went so far as to promise to buy it for his wife, Lula, as a wedding present—a ring so big, everyone would see how much he loved her.
In 1970, after operating the Anchor Bar at Coney Island for three years, Vourderis found a new opportunity at Ward’s Kiddie Park along the boardwalk. He convinced the owner, John Curran, his park was losing business because he did not have any food service facilities and offered to set up a trailer on a corner of the property. According to Dennis, to assuage Curran’s concerns about litter on the property, Vourderis committed to taking responsibility for keeping the park clean.
This simple gesture opened a whole new world to Vourderis, as he took increasing responsibility in Curran’s operation. Soon he was opening the park in the morning and maintaining the rides along with operating his increasingly successful food business.
In 1981 Curran wanted out and offered the operation to Vourderis—the only person he considered worthy of taking over his business—for $600,000. To most people this was not the time to be involved in Coney Island. The once grand playground was in the depths of a decades long decline. Crime was rampant, attractions were abandoned, and the public infrastructure was in tatters.
Vourderis’ wife and four children had their doubts. “People were running away from Coney Island,” remembers Dennis, who recalls his father saying, “I’m gonna fix it up and make it nice, and we’ll make money.”
The family put everything they had into the operation, and within two years the park had been transformed. The improvements caught the attention of Fred Garms, whose family was the longtime owner of the “Wonder Wheel.” Like so many others, Garms had tired of the challenges of running a business at Coney Island and knew he could entrust the ride to just one person—Denos Vourderis.
Dennis says his father was in the hospital recovering from tuberculosis when Garms showed up asking if they would like to purchase the wheel. When Dennis relayed the offer to his father, Vourderis responded, “If he sells that wheel to anyone else, I’ll kill him.”
Dennis and his mother were hesitant. It’s one thing to run a kiddie park, but a completely different thing to take on an additional $250,000 in debt to acquire a large attraction that was in dire need of an overhaul. But again, Vourderis had faith he was doing the right thing. “I don’t care. I want it. I’ll fix it. I’ll make it brand new,” Dennis recalls him saying with his trademark confidence. And this time, his son Steve supported his father’s position, although he remembers being intimidated by the task ahead.
The family went to work—again. They ran a catering business in the winter to help pay the bills, all while overhauling the “Wonder Wheel” in a makeshift workshop under the neighboring kiddie park—it had dirt floors and no utilities. “We owed so much money, we had to make it work,” says Dennis.
It All Comes Together
As restoration on the wheel progressed, another opportunity presented itself. In 1985 a fire destroyed a building adjacent to the wheel, opening the parcel for development. Vourderis jumped on the chance to expand his now-thriving business.
The additional land permitted the family to add larger rides, making the formerly disjointed holdings a complete amusement park. Peter Buxbaum, owner of the neighboring Eldorado Bumper Cars, suggested they call the facility Wonder Wheel Park.
But Dennis says his father had a slightly different idea. “As long as you put my name in front if it, I don’t care what you call it,” Dennis remembers him saying. “My father loved having his name on everything.”
In only a few years, Denos Vourderis had gone from the operator of a single food concession to the owner of a 100,000-square-foot amusement park in the heart of Coney Island. The “Wonder Wheel” he so admired had been completely restored and in 1989 was designated a city landmark. Vourderis had proven the skeptics wrong; Dennis remembers his father was fond of telling naysayers that they had “too much education and no guts.”
 Vourderis’ Legacy Continues
By the time Vourderis passed away in 1994, his vision was becoming reality as Coney Island was starting to make a comeback, with the city making infrastructure improvements and building a minor league baseball stadium. People were returning, and crime was down. In honor of his commitment to Coney Island, the city renamed West 12th Street in front of the wheel Denos Vourderis Place.
Vourderis’ sons, Steve and Dennis, continue the tradition, caring for their father’s legacy, joined by three of their combined seven children. Their skills complement one another, with Dennis handling the administrative end of the business and operations at the kiddie park, while Steve oversees maintenance and operations of the larger rides.
Today Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park is riding the wave of renewed interest in Coney Island. Thanks to the opening of Luna Park next door, attendance increased by 17 percent in a 2010 season that saw 14 million visitors come to Coney Island, four times the traffic in the early 1980s.
The wheel remains a particular source of pride. Given its age and unique structure, all parts have to be custom fabricated; as a result, the makeshift workshop of the 1980s has given way to a full-service 10,000-square-foot workshop, still located under the kiddie park. The Vourderis family does not permit Coney Island’s most enduring attraction to remain stuck in the past, however. For 2011 a solar-powered LED lighting system is being installed on each of the swinging cars.
Even Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park is not completely immune to the greater forces that have been impacting Coney Island in recent years. The city now owns the land under the kiddie land portion of the park and intends to include the parcel in the master development plan; however, the family has full control of the remaining property. The family has a lease with the city through 2020, so until then it’s business as usual. But one thing is certain: The “Wonder Wheel” will continue to be a part of Coney Island with the Vourderis family in control. “We are proud owners of a beautiful city landmark. It’s a privilege,” says Steve.
Jim Futrell has served as historian for the National Amusement Park Historical Association since 1984.Author of four books on the industry, he oversees IAAPA’s Oral History Project and serves on the IAAPA Hall of Fame and Archives Committee.
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