GALVESTON, Texas – While the planned grand opening won't happen this weekend, families can still enjoy the all-new Pleasure Pier at its soft opening this weekend.
The newest tourist attraction was supposed have its grand opening this Memorial Day weekend, but crews were still putting on the finishing touches Thursday.
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The pier will feature family-oriented attractions, such as a 36-foot wide double-decker carousel, 100 foot tall Ferris wheel and a steel roller coaster with a 100 foot vertical climb. There will also be food vendors and shops.
The Pleasure Pier originally opened in May 1948 and was the largest of its kind in the country. It was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961.
The pier will hold between 6,000 and 7,000 people and more than 600 jobs will be created, officials said.
There will be no shortages of seafood restaurants to eat at along the waterfront, however the Bubbaa Gump Shrimp Company is going to be the main spot to chow down on the pier. Restaurant-goers think having the restaurant on the pier is going to work out swimmingly.
"Our first store was in Monterey, Calif.,and we've been trying to get to Texas ever since," General Manager Jonathan Wascom said.
The restaurant chain opened in 1996, two years after its namesake movie "Forrest Gump" was released. Its specialties? Isn't it obvious?
"Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp gumbo, shrimp tempura, they got coconut shrimp, they got pineapple shrimp, they got marmalade to go with the shrimp," restaurant patron John Perez said.