Florida Guide > Other Activities
Hot air Balloon Ride
Why not try a hot air balloon ride next time you are in Orlando It is a thrill of a life time and you need to experience it to believe how wonderful it actually is.
Last Christmas our Daughters gave us a balloon ride to take on our visit to Orlando. I was a bit worried myself as I was not sure how safe it actually would be.
Well we duly got up early on the pee assigned day, we had to meet at 5. 45am at a hotel on Hwy 192 . When we got there it was quite dark but there seemed to be lots of people waiting to go on the ride. The man in charge took all our names ect then he said he would send a small test Balloon up to determine the wind direction, which he duly did. When we asked why had he doe that he said it would tell them were we would set off from and where we would land. When he was satisfied he loaded all the people into several vans and took us to a spot way south on Hwy27 and down to a large field. He asked everyone if they would help set up the balloons and baskets, it was good fun as it got everyone talking to each other. We unrolled the balloon its self and I was amazed at the size of it. It was then attached to the basket. The man in charge had said who would go in each basket. The baskets were several sizes and there were 5 balloons on the day we went. My Husband and my self were in a basket with 5 others and the pilot as I have a back problem the pilot put up a small step up for me to get in.
The adventure was just beginning there was a loud noise as the hot air was released into the balloon, once the pilot was satisfied that we were ok to go the basket just lifted slowly up into the sky just as the sun was coming up it was such a special moment we went soaring up high and over some swamp land we could see all the animals below and the birds high above us. It was so quiet and peaceful it was almost eerie, below we were looking at horses and deer running free. The pilot kept releasing the hot air and we would come down close to the earth then go back high up into the air.
As we came close to the houses the pilot lowered the balloon as a lady was in the garden he called out to her asking directions making us all laugh as the poor woman thought he was serious and that we were lost.
All too soon we were at the destination point and the hot air was released and we came slowly down on the ground. When we landed the pilot told people to get out in order but told me to stay in as you had to climb over the side, once everyone had got out he made the basket go on its side and I just walked out. Everyone helped to roll up the balloon and load it back onto the waiting vans we were then taken back to the hotel where we started for a champagne breakfast.
It was such a memorable experience I will never forget it and if any of you ever get chance to do a Florida Balloon ride I would certainly recommend it.
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