The attraction to Coney Island is reopening after losing a year of the virus

The Wonder Wheel began to turn around and the Storm began to work as the Coney Island Amusement Parks reopened on Friday after a coronavirus epidemic closed the New York City summer playground last year.

After 529 days closed, “a very emotional day. We wanted a good distribution, ”said Alessandro Zamperla, president of Luna Park – the home of the Storm – at the opening ceremony.

“It was very difficult, but now is the day to celebrate, the day we meet and we want to encourage people to come here, to really be able to have fun,” said Zamperla, whose company Central Amusement International Inc. It has six new youth attractions coming online this year, according to its website.

Attracts will open on weekends earlier, reduced power and other ways to monitor the epidemic.

Former crews got their first ride on Wonder Wheel, which turned out to be a hundred last year. It had been closed for a hundred years, but Dennis Vourderis, a member of the family that runs Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, is just looking forward.

Visitors enjoy a ride on Luna Park on the first day of the newly opened Coney Island parks in the Coney Island area of ​​Brooklyn, New York

Visitors enjoy a ride to Luna Park on the first day of the opening of Coney Island Parks, New York, April 9, 2021. Brendan Mcdermaid / Reuters

“It’s a great honor for us to be able to bring happiness to the lives of many New Yorkers … so we can get in, have fun, smile and, which they haven’t done for a while,” Vourderis said at the opening ceremony, where government, state and city officials enjoyed riding, hot dogs and summer fun.

Senate Majority Leader – a native of Brooklyn – Chuck Schumer remembers riding his bicycle to the football board as a boy. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would happily wake up at 3:40 a.m. to reopen. City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said he planned to ride the typhoon for the first time since his teenage years.

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the reopening “one of the best days of the year.”

“Coney Island is back, passengers are coming back now New York City will be back. You can hear it, ”said the mayor before taking the hurricane itself