SkyView Atlanta, 200-Foot Ferris Wheel, Opens In Atlanta

­­­­­­­­­­­­­SkyView Atlanta, a 200-foot tall Ferris wheel, officially opened in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday. The huge, skyscraper-sized Ferris wheel officially opened its gondolas to the public at noon after excited patrons camped out for hours to become the first on the mammoth wheel. Mayor Kasim Reed and other officials were on hand for the opening ceremony.

According the SkyView Atlanta website, the massive Ferris wheel stands 20 stories high and is equipped with 42 gondolas, each capable of holding six people at a time.

"SkyView Atlanta is going to be open pretty much 365 days out of the year," Jason Evans, a SkyView Atlanta spokesman, told CBS Atlanta. "It's going to be really fun. All the cars, all the gondolas, are climate-controlled, so it'll be cool in the summer and warm in the winter."

SkyView Atlanta is located across from the city’s Centennial Olympic Park, but it was originally part of a traveling program that visited several cities. Now, Atlanta is SkyView’s permanent home.

"SkyView was originally in Paris right across the street from the Louvre Museum," said Evans. "It was also in Switzerland for a little while, and then it was in Pensacola, Fla. Pensacola was always a temporary destination. We moved from there to here because we decided Centennial Olympic Park was the perfect place for this attraction."

SkyView Atlanta is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with prices ranging from $13.50 for adults to $8.50 for children. Discounts for seniors and military apply.