Florida Guide > Other Activities
A Hot Air Balloon Ride in Orlando.
What a fantastic experience!
At about 5. 30am in a Macdonald’s car park in the Champions Gate area we met with Bob Wilamoski, the pilot of our balloon. After checking the wind strength and direction, Bob drove us to a close location that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. To our surprise there were quite a few other balloon pilots already setting up their balloons for their morning flight. After offering us an insect repellent spray for our legs we watched Bob and his partner unload and prepared the balloon for take-off.
As we stood in the field in the half dark, we watched the balloon be rolled out on the ground, hooked to the basket and slowly it began to fill with air. We were amazed that the balloons interior looked so vast.
Myself, and five other members of my family and Bob climbed into the balloon, leaving one family member with Bob’s partner to take photographs and to eventually follow our journey in the chase vehicle. The balloon take off was so smooth, due to the excited chatting, we could almost didn' t realise we had left the ground. !
What a surreal feeling, floating so smoothly above the treetops as the sun rose. The view of the landscape being left behind and the other balloons one by one following was such an awesome sight. We drifted slowly over the landscape identifying different areas, lakes and wildlife such as deer and even an alligator in a lake. Bob showed his expertise as a pilot by taking us to just above tree height that we were able to pick a flower from the very top branches.
Our flight lasted for about an hour and after seeing our amazing reflection in the lake on a golf course we glided very calmly to a small road where, , without even a jolt, the basket touched the ground. The chase vehicle was waiting and the balloon was expertly and extremely quickly packed away.
We drove back to our original starting point, which to our surprise was not very far, and enjoyed champagne and some delicious pastries.
We were given a balloon shaped memory stick loaded with a photograph of our trip.
We drove back to our villa and it was still early enough that we had a full day ahead of us. The early morning start to the day was so worth it!
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