OCEAN CITY — There is hope to save Wonderland Pier amusement park’s century-old carousel that provided memories for generations of families who live in and visit America’s Greatest Family Resort.
Two weeks after City Councilman Tony Polcini and Mayor Jay Gillian told the public it was time to give up on the carousel, which has sat unused since Wonderland Pier closed two full years ago, the mayor had a change of heart.
At the Oct. 22 City Council meeting, Gillian said it would be too expensive to rebuild to get into working condition. At the Nov. 5 council meeting, the mayor reconsidered.
“After talking about the Wonderland carousel at a recent council meeting, I actually walked back into my office, where I have a replica of one of the horses,” Gillian said near the start of last week’s meeting. “It sort of triggered some memories started coming back … of all the time I’ve spent running and working on that ride, and, of course, of being the ring boy.
“The one thing that held me back … was because of what it’s going to cost so much to have it fixed,” he said. “It felt selfish to consider having the city be involved in preserving it. It was a little thing that had just been eating me up over the last couple of years, but I began to think let’s get some facts and go from there.”
Gillian said he reached out to Eustace Mita to ask him if that were OK.
“I want to remind everybody that he owns the ride. I think we can all agree that the most important thing is to save the carousel, no matter where it lands,” Gillian said.
He spent his life working at Wonderland Pier, taking it over from his father, former Ocean City mayor Roy Gillian. The amusement park was a fixture in the resort for nearly 60 years. The elder Gillian, who died in 2024, founded the park in 1965. His father, David — Jay’s grandfather — founded Gillian’s Fun Deck in 1930 on the boardwalk with a Ferris wheel and carousel. (Not the same one.)
In early 2021, Mita purchased the property from Jay Gillian, saving it from foreclosure by banks, then leased it back to him so he could continue running it for four more summer seasons.
Gillian announced in August 2024 that the park was no longer financially viable and that it would close in mid-October that year. On its final weekend of operation, the park was overflowing with people who came to use up their ride tickets, many of them filled with nostalgia, wanting to ride the carousel one more time and grab for the brass rings.
Since then, Mita has been trying to find a way to build an upscale hotel on the site, a project that has met with significant opposition from neighbors and citizens groups. At present, he is negotiating with City Council on what can be built on the site council has deemed “an area in need of rehabilitation.”
When Mita originally proposed the hotel, he said he would incorporate at least two of the iconic rides, the carousel built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. and the 140-foot tall Ferris wheel. This fall he announced deteriorating conditions and a collapsing retaining wall at the back of the park, which is going to force him to have the Ferris wheel demolished for safety. He made no mention about the future of the carousel.
The carousel has been sitting in the enclosed large building fronting the boardwalk, but it has not been operated since the amusement park closed. Most of the other rides are gone. In that context, Gillian said the administration is looking at options on how to keep the carousel in Ocean City. Some of the same groups that have opposed Mita’s hotel project have advocated for saving the carousel.
“There are opportunities we are looking into for potential grants, through the New Jersey Historic Trust and Green Acres,” Gillian said last week. “To do this, we need to be responsible, so we are getting estimates to see what may be possible. We’ve also started reaching out to other municipalities that have done this to see the best way to approach it.”
The mayor said he also reached out to the president of the Philadelphia Toboggan Co.
“I have known him for a long time being in the industry and he put me in touch with an expert. This gentleman apparently has four barns full of carousel parts. I talked to him over the weekend. He is a good guy. He’s going to come down and evaluate the ride,” Gillan said. “I also talked to the National Carousel Association and received the letter they sent to Helen from Save Wonderland, so all the players are involved and everybody wants to save this 100-year-old ride.”
He said he would provide an update when the city has more information.
He reminded the public the city went through the process of saving Life Saving Station 30 at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue. The station dates from 1885, was in use for decades before being turned into a private residence in 1945. A private developer wanted to demolish it in the late 1990s and build three condominiums on the site, but the developer was blocked. The city finally bought it in 2010 and it has been turned into a museum and popular attraction in the city.
“When I first became mayor, lots of people had good intentions about saving this important piece of history on their own, but the city had to step in, gather the facts, secure and match the grants, and get the job done right,” Gillian said. “Thank God we did. Because this historical treasure will be with us forever.”
He then turned his attention back to the carousel, the turmoil of closing the park and how he changed his mind.
“Everyone thinks that council and I don’t listen to the public, but before we say things in public we really have to do our homework,” he said. “These last four or five years have been emotional. As the mayor, I didn’t want my emotions to get the best of me.”
He added that after talking to the expert, “I think we have some hope there. I think anything can be done. I still have a lot of concerns on what needs to be done, but this is a start. We’re going to get somebody to actually get their hands on it, get us a report, talk to Mr. Mita, and then I can bring it to you guys and we can go from there.
“We have been through this process before, and we will start by doing the research. As always, our objective is to do the right thing for our community — by respecting our history, listening to our citizens and being fiscally responsible. I ask everyone to be patient as we move forward.”
– STORY and FILE PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
