Morey's Pier now serving breakfast - on the Ferris wheel

WILDWOOD - It's not exactly in the sky.

And they haven't really reinvented the wheel when it comes to having meals in odd places.

But a new attraction called "Breakfast in the Sky," debuting Friday about 16 stories up in a Ferris wheel (the Giant Wheel at Morey's Pier, at Schellenger Avenue and the boardwalk to be precise), is a spectacularly unusual place to dine.

For $75 per gondola for one or two riders - and $35 each for two additional guests - you can see greater Wildwood, clear down the coast to Cape May. And maybe even catch a glimpse of a few dolphins as you dine on gourmet fare, like shrimp and lobster omelets, smoked salmon, steak and eggs, or Belgian waffles. The menu even includes a down-Jersey option: a locally grown BLT with a fried egg on sourdough bread with herb mayo.

Casually dressed engineers secure riders in cars before lowering in a specially made, fold-down table.

The waitstaff then sets the table with a white linen tablecloth, heavy silver wrapped in a cloth napkin, and a weighted basket of condiments. Juice and coffee are brought to the table, along with a basket of pastries, croissants, and toast.

China plates covered with warmers appear swiftly, containing whichever selections were made from the seven-item menu when the reservation was booked.

Then diners are whisked upward to enjoy their breakfast in place at the top of the wheel. Only 16 of the wheel's 40 cars are used for the breakfast experience, which departs between 8:30 and 10:15 a.m. Fridays through Mondays. Regular service resumes when breakfast is over.

"It's been a dream of ours for a long time," said Jack Morey, who runs the three-pier amusement company with his brother, Will.

Their late father, Wilbert, came up with the sky-high breakfast concept while on vacation at a golf resort more than a dozen years ago. Jack Morey says it's the only amusement of its kind he's heard of employing a Ferris wheel. A "Dinner in the Sky" experience during a summer festival in Toronto in 2008 hoisted 22 diners at a time aboard a giant table via a massive industrial crane.

"My father talked about doing something like this in 1997. We came back from our trip, we talked about taking what we had to offer and turning it into an attraction that people could embrace when they visit here," Morey said after Thursday's inaugural run, which was open to reporters and Morey's friends and family members.

If early bookings are any indication, visitors are embracing the idea. The company began taking reservations in June, and bookings are already tight. Breakfast will be served through Aug. 23.

If all 16 cars are booked to capacity, 64 people can ride and eat at once.

Morey's executive chef, Walter Jurusz, brought in last summer to update and refine menu offerings in the restaurants and food stands on Morey's Piers, said creating the "Breakfast in the Sky" menu and creating the dining experience had been challenging.

Prevailing winds 160 feet above the boardwalk meant that everything from the heavy metal bread basket to the lidded jar to dispose of used sugar packets had to be well-planned, he said.

"It's a fabulous idea," Jurusz said. "But a lot of thought has gone into creating the whole experience, not just from my end of it but from the entire Morey organization . . . the carpenters, the engineers, the creative teams, it's taken everyone to put this together."

The chef recalled a Goldilocks-like experience in choosing the coffee mugs.

"I have five different mugs sitting on my desk right now. One was too big; one was too small; one was too light," Jurusz said. "It took awhile to get it just right."