On Thursday night I had the opportunity to check out the Capital Wheel at National Harbor before it opened to the public. I attended with Kendra from When’s My Vacation. It was an absolute perfect night. It was warm, with a nice breeze and the most beautiful sunset!Kendra and I had an amazing time taking lots of pictures. The Capital Wheel is located on the waterfront by the boat docks. It is 180 feet tall. When we were driving over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge it was clearly visible and almost as tall as some of the hotels and building.
The Capital Wheel looks small from far away, but once you get close, it really is huge! There are 42 climate-controlled Gondolas, which fit up to 8 people. The entire wheel can fit up to 332 people at a time!
I love this picture of me and Kendra!
It was neat watching the sun set behind the Capital Wheel. While we waited for it to get dark, we enjoyed some live music, concessions by Wolfgang Puck Catering (the hummus was really tasty), and conversations with other attendees of the Preview Event.
It was neat watching the planes preparing to land at Reagan National Airport. It looks so cool with the sunset and the Capital Wheel. I’m sure it would be a great view for the people in the plane, as well.
The Capital Wheel has 1.6 million fully programmable LED lights. We got to see a Red, White, and Blue light show in honor of military families and USO.
Some military families are the first to ride the Capital Wheel
Riding the Capital Wheel was a blast. I was a bit nervous for all of 5 seconds, but then enjoyed the trip and the amazing views. It was hard to pinpoint the monuments in DC in the dark, but you could certainly see everything lit up and it was beautiful.
The ride lasted about 15 minutes and rotated 4-5 times. It was enough time to enjoy ourselves and see the views from all sides. There were four people in our Gondola and it was a very comfortable number without feeling squished.
I absolutely loved riding the Capital Wheel at night, but would also love to ride it during the day to fully see the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, and surrounding areas.
I highly recommend that everyone should take a visit out to National Harbor and to take a ride on the Capital Wheel. Pair it with lunch or dinner and you have a fun day or night out on the town! Adult tickets are $15, and Children (ages 3-11) are $11.25, payable by debit or credit only.
Adventures By Katie
[…] Thursday, I went to National Harbor with Kendra for a Capital Wheel preview event. I fully intended to track my walking, but cell service was spotty and my battery was […]