Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier Celebrates World Wish Month

Published on April 14, 2025

The Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel will be lit blue and white on Tuesday, April 29 in recognition of World Wish Day 2025, along with a portion of Ferris wheel ticket sales donated to Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles.

Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier celebrates World Wish Month with a special lighting of the Pacific Wheel on April 29, World Wish Day.

This special light program on the Ferris wheel features blue and white, the colors of Make-A-Wish, that evoke positivity and child-like wonder. In addition, a dollar donation will be made to Make-A-Wish from each Ferris wheel ticket sold on April 29, 2025.

This special lighting event will take place on the evening of Tuesday, April 29. The Ferris wheel lights can be seen from dusk until 11:35 PM each evening. Enjoy watching the light program online at www.pacpark.com/live.

WHAT:
Special Lighting of the Pacific Wheel for World Wish Day 2025

WHEN:
Tuesday, April 29
dusk (around 7 – 8 PM) to midnight

WHERE:
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

Learn more about Make-A-Wish, volunteer, and donate here: https://wish.org/la

See the lights from home at www.pacpark.com/live.

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.

World Wish Month

World Wish Month is a month-long celebration specifically highlighting the many types of WishMakers it takes to make a child’s life-changing wish come true. It truly takes a village to bring joy to critically ill children in Los Angeles. A WishMaker is anyone who has an impact on a wish child, a volunteer, donor, or attend an event. WishMakers create hope and strength they need to fight their toughest battles.

Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles

Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Their belief in the power and impact of a wish is what guides and inspires them to grant the wish of every eligible child. Make-A-Wish® Greater Los Angeles has been granting wishes to local LA children for over 40 years.

In LA, Make-A-Wish have granted over 10,000 wishes to local children fighting critical illnesses since being founded in 1983.

The Pacific Wheel

Did you know the Pacific Wheel is the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel? It gives visitors a panoramic view of the Southern California coastline from more than 130 feet above the Santa Monica Pier. Pacific Park regularly programs the Ferris wheel to display themed light designs for holidays and special occasions.

The 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. Fitted with more than 174,000 energy-efficient LED lights, the wheel displays stunning computer-generated lighting entertainment in the evenings.

Pacific Park staff curates and designs these light programs and animates them manually; some designs can take hours of programming. The results are fun, high-energy, and sometimes whimsical designs that entertain guests on the Santa Monica Pier and surrounding beaches.

 

---

Feature image courtesy of @pacpark