For generations, vacationers heading to Ocean City were greeted by the towering “Giant Wheel,” a sight visible from miles away. This 140-foot-tall ride signaled their approach to the Jersey Shore town, known as “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” renowned for its family-friendly beaches, seagulls, sea shells, and a bustling boardwalk filled with pizza, ice cream, and cotton candy.
At the heart of it all stood Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, an amusement park part of a nearly century-long tradition of family-friendly attractions run by the family of Ocean City’s mayor. On Sunday night, however, the rides became silent as the park closed down, a casualty of financial struggles exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lingering effects of Superstorm Sandy.
The Gillian family has operated amusement attractions on the Ocean City Boardwalk for 94 years, with the latest iteration, Wonderland, opening in 1965.
“I tried my best to sustain Wonderland for as long as possible, through increasingly difficult challenges each year,” Mayor Jay Gillian wrote in August when he announced the park’s closure. “It’s been my life, my legacy, and my family. But it’s no longer a viable business.” Gillian did not respond to multiple requests for comment over the past week.
Among those at the park for its final day was Sheryl Gross, accompanied by her two children and five grandchildren. “I’ve been coming here forever,” she shared. “My daughter is 43, and I’ve been visiting since she was two years old in a stroller. Now I’m here with my grandchildren.” Gross reminisced about decades of journeying from Gloucester Township in southern New Jersey to create joyous family memories at Wonderland. “Just the excitement on their faces when they get on the rides,” she said. “It really made it feel family-friendly. A lot of that is going to be lost now.”
Sunday saw long lines for the Giant Wheel, the log flume, and other popular rides, as visitors used the last of the ride tickets they had purchased earlier in the year, believing Wonderland would continue indefinitely.
A local non-profit group, Friends of OCNJ History and Culture, is attempting to save the amusement park by raising funds, potentially to facilitate a sale to a new owner more willing to keep it operational with financial aid. Bill Merritt, one of the group’s leaders, noted they have raised over $1 million to help meet what could be a $20-million price tag for the property. “Ocean City will be fundamentally different without this attraction,” Merritt said. “This town relies on being family-friendly. The park has rides targeted at kids; it’s called ‘Wonderland’ for a reason.”
Icona Resorts, the property’s current owner, had previously proposed a $150-million, 325-room luxury hotel elsewhere on Ocean City’s boardwalk, but the city rejected those plans. The company’s CEO, Eustace Mita, stated earlier this year that he would take at least until the end of the year to propose a new use for the amusement park property. Mita had purchased the property in 2021 after the Gillian family was in danger of defaulting on bank loans.
During a community meeting last month, Mayor Gillian explained that Wonderland could not recover from the financial impacts of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the pandemic in 2020, and an increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage that doubled payroll costs, leaving him $4 million in debt. Mita provided funds to prevent a sheriff’s sale of the property and gave the mayor three years to turn the business around—a deadline that expired this year. Mita did not respond to requests for comment.
Merritt and others deeply lament the potential loss of Wonderland. “You look at it with your heart, and you say ‘You’re losing all the cherished memories and all the history; how can you let that go?’” Merritt expressed. “And then you look at it with your head and you say, ‘They are the reason this town is profitable; how can you let that go?’”