orlando balloon adventures

Before the crack of dawn. Before the sun itself is awake, you are meeting with the crew and your friends. Pat (the pilot) has the humanity to start the journey at a Starbucks location, before whisking you away to the launch site.Once on site, you are joined by some fellow ballooners and start setup. My father and I got to hold the balloon while it was cold packed and filled with FIRE... well, hot air from the Flame Throwing Apparatus (technical term, I'm sure). As soon as the balloon is up, everyone jumped in, got a few photos and given a few test landing bumps, and we're off and flying.Pat is very knowledgeable of the landscape and the area. He was able to tell us about the ruins of the Enchanting China (?) Theme Park, point out all of Disney and Orlando, and explain how much the landscape has changed from swamp/farms to subdivisions. He even shared a lot about himself. Pat gave us many photo opportunities too, as well as hanging a Go PRO off the side on a selfie stick. AWESOME. The landing was pretty soft and very controlled. We were greeted by the chaser immediately. After helping load the balloon and basket, we were taken out for little champagne breakfast; complete with mini muffins, mini cinnamon rolls, cookies and mimosas made with fresh juice from the farm we just landed on!Amazing trip. Worth every cent. I will definitely be flying with him again.

I am more than happy to provide feedback on the experience that my fiancé and I shared with Pat and Joel. From the beginning Joel and Pat's number one priority is safety, whether it was monitoring the weather prior to the flight or navigating the balloon. This allowed us to enjoy our experience to the fullest and not worry about the "what ifs." Pat has an incredible amount of flight experience and it was clear to see that other balloon pilots flying near to us did not. I would without a doubt recommend Orlando Balloon Adventures to anyone seeking a balloon experience! Plus, mimosa and pastries were a great finish to a very memorable trip!

On my 74th birthday, I decided it was time to check an item off my bucket list. Pat and Joel certainly made it memorable. The flight was smooth and the views spectacular. I hope to treat my grandchildren to a flight soon and it will definitely be with OBA.

Thank you Pat and crew for helping make our engagement perfect. It was a special and unique moment that we will always remember! Pat was extremely accommodating, especially considering it was Thanksgiving day. We appreciate the thoughtfulness and effort him and his team made for us. We would recommend OBA to anyone looking for a fun and one of a kind way to see and experience Orlando! As first time balloon passengers, we felt completely safe and comfortable in Pat's hands and would do it all over again in a second! Thank you again for everything. Hope our paths cross again. Wishing you all the best! From Marvin and Roxanne.

Such an enjoyable morning with Pat and Joel. They were very professional and gave us a fantastic trip, even pointing out great photo opportunities. I would love to do it again.

Absolutley fantastic experience, many thanks to Pat and Adam, great value for money, the longest flight of all the balloons on the day. The second time we have flow with OBA, and guess what, If we fly again it will definitely be with Orlando Balloon Adventures!

Prior to our scheduled flight date we were notified that we would have to cancel in the event of bad weather and were willing to take our chances. The day before we were to go up, Pat notified us that the weather conditions were not looking good. He kept in contact with us all day and into the early hours of our flight morning. Although our flight was cancelled, we were able to go up in the evening thanks to Pat and his wonderful crew. Our wedding turned out perfect. We landed just as the sun was beginning to set making for a beautiful ending to our flight. Once the balloon was loaded we had a celebratory toast with the crew and then were taken back to our cars at the hotel we were picked up from. Pat provided us with video of the experience as well as some beautiful pictures. We were very pleased with how they went out of their way to make our wedding happen at the last minute as well as how friendly and kind everyone was. We had the time of our lives and we would recommend this to anyone.

Pat The Pilot & Steve the Chase Man were awesome. The Hot Air Balloon was definitely an adventure.Six of us were in the Basket A couple in their early Eighties said It was a thrill. We met at the Radison at 192 & I-4 They took us to the launch site. The total Experience was three hours And totally worth it. Doing this was on my wife's bucket list and I'm am so glad to be a part of this. The lift off, watching the sun rise, traveling with 10 other balloons and even the landing was something we'll never forget. I would recommend you book this adventure with Pilot Pat @ Orlando Balloon Adventures. You won't be disappointed.

I was a little concerned that our balloon flight was cancelled because it was windy, but we were fitted in before our return home. We met at the hotel meeting point at 6.30 am, did some paperwork, and was then transported to our take off point. We flew for about 17 miles, by our pilot Damien, in a 24 person balloon, ending in a bumpy landing. This followed by champagne, and breakfast back at the hotel. Very exciting.

Awesome! We loved it, they are very professional and you feel very safe. Definitely something to check off your bucket list.

We just arrived home a couple of days ago from our Christmas trip to Orlando. My sister and I took my parents (65 & soon to be 69) and 11 year old nephew for a hot air balloon ride for their Christmas present. We had an amazing time with Orlando Balloon Adventures! All of the staff went above and beyond to make it fun for us. They made it especially fun for my nephew. We enjoyed the entire experience from the set up, ride and to putting the balloon away. Thank you Trevor, Steve and Pat!!!! Pat, a special thanks for accommodating us with another balloon date and setting us up with a second balloon as our original date was cancelled due to weather. We were happy that we got a chance to fly before we went home. We took many amazing pictures; it is an experience that we will never forget. "Highly" recommended.From Kerri Burlington ON Canada

My sister and I researched many balloon companies in Orlando as we wanted to take our parents on a hot air balloon ride along with my 11 year old son. We had a fantastic experience. Pat the owner bent over backwards for us to make sure we could do our balloon ride before we had to head back home to Canada. You have to call the night before your balloon ride to make sure weather conditions are good for your morning flight. Ours had to get cancelled because of windy conditions. The next available day was the day before we were to head back home. This was a concern because we didn't want to miss out. Pat made special arangenents for us and we were able to go up in the small colorful balloon that we wanted. Thank you Pat! Our pilot Trevor ( Pats bussiness partner ) was alot of fun and so was Steve also a pilot but was the balloon chaser for that day. They made it really fun for my son. Darren has cerebral palsy ( mild ). He has huge sensory issues with loud noises and was a little worried. We brought him head phones and there was no problems at all. The balloon is not that loud. It is actually quite peaceful. Thanks Trevor and Steve for letting Darren help pack the balloon up and for letting us all participate from start to finish. Thanks for the yummy breakfast and for taking the time to sit and chat with us. Thank you Pat for everything also. It was great to meet you. Highly recommend for all! Holly Barrie, ON Canada Jan 2, 2012

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting for a proposal! My fiance and I have done almost every kind of flight imaginable from hang gliding to skydiving and more and I thought this to be a fitting means for a proposal. I kept the whole thing a complete surprise and boy was she! I told her the flight was my birthday gift to myself and asked her mother to come along in the chase car just for the view. Thankfully she was willing to be up that early! She was very surprised as well! I did a private engagement flight and the chase crew (assisted by my wonderful mother and sister) held out a large banner asking the big Q. Thankfully the winds were on our side that day and we were able to fly directly over the crew and banner which happened to be parked right out front of our hotel unit where the rest of my family was. They were actuall able to step out on the balcony of the room and watch the whole thing from there! When she finally turned around to see me kneeling with the ring she let out a huge YES ( and I could finally breathe!) and we celebrated with an in flight champaigne toast! The flight it self was absolutely breathtaking. A nice change from the wind in your face adrenaline rush of jumping from a plane or the side of a mountain (although I do recommend you try those as well if you are up to the challenge!!) Everything was very slow paced and we were able to see a lot of different things while aloft. We saw a large herd of deer resting beneath some trees, a number of birds flying above and below us, and some very lovely scenery including some small lakes and untouched areas of the beatiful Florida wetlands. Take off was very easy, once the balloon was inflated and upright we climbed into the basket and off we went. It was very smooth and i barely felt like I was flying. Since you are traveling with the wind you don't really feel the wind so it almost feels as if you are aloft and the world is moving beneath you instead of you moving over the land. After 40 minutes of flight we had reached the proposal spot and then we had another 20 minutes or so of flight before landing. Our landing was assisted by the chase crew and afterwards we had a light breakfast and the traditional champaigne toast. All in all the entire expeience was wonderful. The crew and pilot were great and the flight was amazing! I would definately recommend it to anyone looking to fly in a balloon and I would most definately reccomend Orlando Balloon Adventures as the people to fly with. I have to give thanks as well to Orlando Balloon Rides who recommended me to OBA because they do not offer private flights during their peak season. Julie was very kind in referring me and although I didn't fly with them, from a customer service standpoint they were great!!

Our guide book recommended Orlando Balloon Rides, but we chose Orlando Balloon Adventures due to positive feedback and the fact they use smaller baskets.The whole experience was a pleasure with just five and the pilot Pat in our balloon. I don't want to say too much about the experience itself as I really think you have to do it to appreciate how magical it is. Suffice to say I am terrified of flying but just didn't get that sensation at all on this my first trip in a hot air balloon. The staff were just lovely and we were lucky enough to land in a place where you can pick your own oranges so we had the freshest orange juice in with our champagne. It was so nice we bought a gallon and took it back to our hotel (a gallon of orange not Champagne that is!)In the end we were glad we didn't choose Orlando Balloon Rides, I'm sure they are just fine, but they took off from the same field as us in three MASSIVE balloons with baskets carrying about 15 passengers each, plus they had a rigging problem which meant one of their balloons never managed lift off which would have disappointed me enormously after such an early start. Lucky for us Pat at Orlando Balloon Rides had no such issues but then again he is a very experienced pilot.It is an expensive treat but Pat made us aware of just some of the costs of running his business and they are incredibly high. If you can afford this, go ahead and do it. You won't forget the experience in a hurry.

We chose OBA as we had sent some general emails to a number of companies offering ballon flights. Pat was the only one to reply promptly, and so we booked a flight with them..we were not disappointed. The whole experience was fantastic, the crew friendly and all in all a top notch experience. I highly recommend OBA to anyone thinking of a balloon flight and don't just think.....Do it