OCEAN CITY – Mayor Jay Gillian gave a teaser about the future of his amusement park near the end of his re-election announcement Sunday afternoon.
“I would like to address the one question I get asked a lot,” he said: “‘What’s going on with Wonderland?’”
After briefly explaining the troubles with getting the park refinanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, “Stay tuned for new rides and new adventures.”
Gillian added that as the park’s theme song says, “try the roller coaster ride and the giant wheel and touch the sky. You will be touching that sky and grabbing that brass ring for many more years here at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.”
Aside from mentioning his partnership with the Mita family, Gillian did not elaborate.
The mayor owns and operates the park at Sixth Street and the boardwalk, taking over the business from his father, former mayor and county freeholder Roy Gillian. The amusement business, a mainstay of the boardwalk, was started by his grandfather, David Gillian, in 1929. It was called Gillian’s Fun Deck when it opened.
There have been questions swirling about the future of Wonderland since it became public at the beginning of 2021 that the amusement park was in serious financial trouble after a bank called its mortgage and demanded repayment plus interest amounting to some $8 million in the fall of 2020.
As he told the Sentinel at the time, a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, he was about to refinance. Although the business had been experiencing financial difficulties before the pandemic, he said when COVID hit, “it just devastated me.”
At the end of March, Wonderland sent out a press release announcing that the Gillian and Mita families were “joining together to enhance Gillian’s Wonderland Pier’s guest experience,” a move that saved the business.
Two families with deep history in amusements and hospitality are partnering to create a unique experience and better serve guests of this premier destination, the release stated.
“We are thrilled that the Mita family is joining us in continuing the great tradition of Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, an Ocean City landmark,” Gillian said in the release. “We know in partnering with the Mita family that the best is yet to come.”
“Living in Ocean City for more than 40 years, Gillian’s Wonderland Pier has been a favorite place for not only my wife and I, but also our children and now grandchildren,” Eustace Mita said in the release. “We are looking forward to working alongside Jay and his family as both families are committed to providing a wholesome guest experience.”
Eustace Mita is CEO of Achristavest, LLC, a real estate company, and chairman and CEO of Icona Resorts, a luxury hotel brand with locations including Diamond Beach, Avalon and Cape May.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff