Characters in Flight

[joyboy]

Just read info on the balloon ride at DTD. Any info from those who have tried it?

 

[Robo]

Just read info on the balloon ride at DTD. Any info from those who have tried it?

Info HERE. Lots of photos HERE.

Winds can keep the balloon from launching, so don't by tickets until you're ready to board.


Location shown below-

 

[smileycrissy]

I haven't been on it, it kind of scares me. However I would suggest trying to time your ride when one of the fireworks shows is starting. I imagines its a fantastic view.

 

[Bradsdadg]

We were at DTD on what we thought was a nice day, but they weren't flying...Maybe we will try again next year...

 

[BradyBz12]

We did this the weekend of Nov 14-15, 2009 - Festival of the Masters was going on so DTD was pretty busy. We walked up, bought our tix and got on the 2nd ride after that. Although the line behind us formed pretty quickly. Rides are only about 10 minutes long though, so even if the line looks long, it might not be a super long wait.

Also something to keep in mind, if it's a bit breezy, but not windy enough to actually stop flights, they will load fewer people on the balloon to compensate. Also depending on wind speed, they may not go up as high as the full 400'.

So timing is key to get the best possible right. Ideally you want to pick a clear day with little to now breeze at all.

Here are some pics from our flight...

Contemporary in the distance. You can't see the castle because it is behind it...

Epcot...

Saratoga Springs...

One last tidbit. If you save your receipt, you can come back at any time, and as long as the receipt is still readable, you'll get 20% off your next flight.

 

[Turtle31]

Here is an out-take from my 11 day trip report last year that covers our Characters in Flight Experience

I tell my family that I do not want to leave downtown disney until we have rode the Characters in Flight Balloon. My DS (10) starts to act up, saying he is to hot and he can't walk and looks like he is going to cry. I realize something is going on .... I ask him "What in the world happened to all the energy we had in that lego store?" He then quietly admits to me that he is terrified of the balloon !! I talk to him for a couple minutes and realize he thinks it is going to float off into the sky like the balloons we see at the Albuequerque Balloon Festival I then explain that the balloon is tied up and we just float up and down - no big deal.
We finally get over to the balloon area. The cost is about 56.00 for the four of us. I have 400.00 free dollars on our Disney Reward card so I use this to pay for the ride.

Before we get on the balloon we are given a few safety instructions. It is time to go. Our balloon tour guide was really nice and funny too. We go up 400 feet. It is a little hazy but we still get a good view of the area.

Saratoga Springs:

The balloon guide pointed out all the Disney Parks. He said you can only see the very tip of one of the turrets of the Magic Kingdom Castle. He said "We keep submitting requests for them to move that crazy triangle shaped building." ( he was talking about the contemporary) But he said for some reason, Disney was not responding to requests.
Then as we started to descend he told everyone to start screaming like crazy so that the people below waiting to board would be scared !! When we landed he told the people waiting that his ride was better than the Hollywood tower of terror !!
The ride was nice, but obviously it is something that you would only do once IMHO, and it was a little easier to spend the 56.00 dollars since it was reward money.

 

[kaligal]

I really enjoyed the pics from you guys who went up and took them. Thanks!

 

[MrsSilvaStrat]

I did this on our Dec 09 trip and loved it! Can't wait to do it again in Nov!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We went in the afternoon last year. I would like to go back at night and do it again!

 

[DizzDoll]

THank you for sharing your pictures - they're fantastic! We'll definitely have to try this next August. After all, when in Disney....

 

[I<3stitch626]

I went with my best friends family back in June/July and we did it our last night. It was pretty cool seeing all of the lights, but hard to get good pictures in the dark. I would definantly reccommend seeing it during the day and night, however. I'm looking forward to going up during the day my next trip
Not going to lie, I was a little nervous tho. I'm not completely comfortable with heights in that aspect. Give me a rollar coaster and i'm fine, but lingering in a balloon that high kinda freaks me out. And the cm telling us to distribute our weight evenly so the balloon stays level didn't help me out to much haha. But it was worth it

 

[jazz0007]

I thought it was definately well worth the $$ to experience this at least once. We did it at night and it was beautiful!!! Our pilot was very funny and made our trip fun!