Sea Glass Carousel

Even though we have a lovely carousel in our neighborhood, New York has a wealth of other carousels and we enjoy making special trips to visit some of the more unique ones. Topping this list is the Sea Glass Carousel nestled in The Battery, a large park at the very southern tip of Manhattan. The carousel, which opened in summer 2015, aims to simulate the experience of being a fish in an aquarium, allowing you to sit inside one of 30 huge fish that twirl and glide in and around one another while light and music aim to help create an immersive underwater atmosphere.

The theme of the carousel is meant as a tribute to the first iteration of the New York Aquarium, located at The Battery from 1896-1941 (now found out at Coney Island). The theme starts with the building housing the carousel and continues from there: an elaborate construction in glass and steel designed to recall a chambered nautilus shelters a school of fish outfitted with LED lights to simulate bioluminescence. The body of each fish contains a seat for a single rider or, in the case of small children, and adult and a child, situated so you almost become a part of the fish rather than riding on it, as you might with a more traditional carousel. The fun begins when musics starts and the school of fish are set in motion. Each individual fish moves up and down, spins both on its own and as a part of a group of other fish, while at the same time the entire carousel is also spinning in a circular fashion. In the end it really does a feel a bit like your fish is weaving in and out of the rest of the group, and coupled with the accompanying lights and music, the entire experience is unlike any other carousel I’ve ever seen or ridden. It’s difficult to imagine the ride being anything but pure magic for a child, and I can attest that even adults will enjoy being transported away from the city and below the sea.

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