Since we had two nights, nonrefundable, at the Holiday Inn Express Balloon Park, we stayed for a second day. The HIE is very conveniently located, within walking distance of the Park (about 1 mile through residential streets), but they offer a free shuttle.
The route is through residential streets to an entrance used only by buses so you don't get hung up in the very slowly moving clump of cars heading for parking. They run the shuttle continuously and we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for the van to show up and take us there or back.
A note on logistics for the Balloon Fiesta: They had crowds of about 100K every day. There's a morning ascension and an evening glow, so twice a day they fill the parking lots and then empty them out. The show is short -- approximately 2 hours.
Here's our experience:
On Friday we arrived (from Santa Fe) and got into the parking line about 6am. We were parked ($15) and walked to balloons by about 6:30am. The walk was about half a mile, maybe more.
The Dawn Patrol was up when we got there, and the regular balloons were beginning to fill as we arrived. At 7am the flag flying balloon rose and someone sang the National Anthem. Many more balloons followed, with the last ascension about 8:15am.
A number of Special Shape balloons did not fly, but remained inflated as static displays until about 9am. By that time the competition balloons were finishing their loop and attempting to sling their hoops onto the poles.
We walked through the vendor tents, had a donut or two, and returned to our car by about 10:15am, and the parking lot was about 10% filled at that point.
We returned (this time via the hotel shuttle) about 5:30pm, bought dinner from one of the food tents (nothing special, typical state fair kind of food) and at 6pm the Glowdeo began. It ended shortly after 7pm, and we stayed for the fireworks which began at 8pm and lasted 15 minutes. We shuttled back to the hotel.
Saturday we got up early, not as early as Friday, but still before HIE had their 6:30 breakfast service available. We took the shuttle (running since 4:30am) to the Park. The Dawn Patrol was already up and the regular balloons were filling.
At 7am the flag arose, the National Anthem was sung. The flag was carried by a balloon sponsored by a Mexican beer. I guess hot air balloons are not fazed by a border wall.
Here's how they get a balloon into the air. First they lay it out with the gondola on its side. The fire up a gasoline powered industrial fan that blows air into the bag. You can see two helpers holding the throat open.
Once the bag is inflated the pilot lights off the burners and heats us the air in the envelope.
In just a minute or two, the balloon rises to a standing position. Lots of helpers hang on the edges of the basket to keep it earthbound until it's time to lift off.
Arabella flew on Saturday after spending Friday grounded.
The newspaper said 567 balloons were present, with 97 of them Special Shapes. My guess was that at least 300 flew on both Friday and Saturday.
The Wells Fargo Wagon didn't fly during our visits, but it did inflate all four times Here's the ground crew wrestling it back down when the deflated it Saturday morning.
Another zebra continuing the black/white theme.
An example of the state fair food offered along the midway. There were no rides except a few simple things for small children.
The Balloon Fiesta does a great job of getting 100K people in and out in a couple of hours. The standard Disney mantra applies here also -- the three most important things for the Balloon Fiesta are "Arrive early, arrive early, arrive early."
The route is through residential streets to an entrance used only by buses so you don't get hung up in the very slowly moving clump of cars heading for parking. They run the shuttle continuously and we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for the van to show up and take us there or back.
A note on logistics for the Balloon Fiesta: They had crowds of about 100K every day. There's a morning ascension and an evening glow, so twice a day they fill the parking lots and then empty them out. The show is short -- approximately 2 hours.
Here's our experience:
On Friday we arrived (from Santa Fe) and got into the parking line about 6am. We were parked ($15) and walked to balloons by about 6:30am. The walk was about half a mile, maybe more.
The Dawn Patrol was up when we got there, and the regular balloons were beginning to fill as we arrived. At 7am the flag flying balloon rose and someone sang the National Anthem. Many more balloons followed, with the last ascension about 8:15am.
A number of Special Shape balloons did not fly, but remained inflated as static displays until about 9am. By that time the competition balloons were finishing their loop and attempting to sling their hoops onto the poles.
We walked through the vendor tents, had a donut or two, and returned to our car by about 10:15am, and the parking lot was about 10% filled at that point.
We returned (this time via the hotel shuttle) about 5:30pm, bought dinner from one of the food tents (nothing special, typical state fair kind of food) and at 6pm the Glowdeo began. It ended shortly after 7pm, and we stayed for the fireworks which began at 8pm and lasted 15 minutes. We shuttled back to the hotel.
Saturday we got up early, not as early as Friday, but still before HIE had their 6:30 breakfast service available. We took the shuttle (running since 4:30am) to the Park. The Dawn Patrol was already up and the regular balloons were filling.
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