By Nick Gale, WLS News

(CHICAGO)  It was the final go-around Sunday night for the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier and crews started taking it down today.

It’s being replaced with a taller wheel that will stand  196-feet when it debuts in 2016.

Jen Kramer, director of special events for Navy Pier, tells the Big John Howell Show on WLS that the new wheel coincides with Navy Pier’s 100th anniversary.Listen to the John Howell Show podcast here.

“It certainly has been an icon on the Chicago skyline for [20] years and we just felt it fitting that it was time to make a slight upgrade and certainly welcome lots of [Chicago area residents] and international guests back with a bigger and better wheel next year,” Kramer said.

Kramer says say the new ride will last 12 minutes where the old ride was seven minutes in length. The new ride will also feature several safety enhancements. Some 30,000 people lined up over the weekend for a last ride

@ 2015 WLS News