Holidays Ferris wheel lighting at the Santa Monica Pier

Published on December 11, 2023

The Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel will be lit red and green with fun festive themes on Friday, December 15 to Saturday, December 30 for the holidays.

Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier’s Ferris wheel will highlight bright and shimmery colors and patterns of the holiday season including a 90-foot-tall, super-sized snowman animated to wave merrily over the Pacific Ocean, reindeer with blinking red noses, animated snowflakes, holiday emojis, plus much more.

And don’t miss Pacific Park’s 55-foot-tall multi-colored, shiny Christmas tree rising from the Santa Monica Pier to the highest point on the south facing side of the Route 66 West Coaster roller coaster.

This special lighting event will take place on the evening of Friday, December 15 to Saturday, December 30. The Ferris wheel lights can be seen from dusk until 11:35 PM each evening. Enjoy watching the light program online at pacpark.com/live.
 

WHAT:
Special Lighting of the Pacific Wheel for Holidays 2023

WHEN:
Friday, December 15 to Saturday, December 30
dusk (around 5 PM) to midnight

WHERE:
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

 

Pacific Park regularly programs the Ferris wheel to display seasonal programing and themed light designs for holidays and special occasions. The Pacific Wheel’s state-of-the-art lighting package was installed in 2016 and can display over 1.6 million different colors and animate patterns and icons in 24 frames per second. The energy efficient LEDs on the face of the Ferris wheel are powered by solar arrays inside Pacific Park. The light programs are curated and designed by Pacific Park staff. Each design is manually animated; some designs can take hours of programming. The aim is to provide fun, high-energy, and sometimes whimsical designs to entertain guests on the Santa Monica Pier and surrounding beaches.

 

---

Feature image courtesy of @kauaidreamerimages