Lancaster Balloon Rides — Attraction in Leacock Township

I paid for a Father's Day flight for four in April of 2021. That trip, and two re-bookings, were canceled due to weather. After our last failed attempt in September, we requested a refund.

There were other flights available to try again in December. But my father is 77 and, as daring as he is, planning a December balloon flight for him is out of the question. And given his age, forecasting his health out to the next Father's Day did not seem sensible, either. Along with that, my other thinking is that, by then, it will have been a year and a year is a long time for any company to hold onto my money so, frankly, I wanted it back. We made a good faith effort to fly. It just wasn't meant to be.

Of the $1272 I originally paid, I was only refunded $1020. I wrote and asked why that is. As it turns out, this is what I get for not actually reading the agreements.

After going back into their website, simulating a new purchase and clicking the link where the agreement is kept, it does indeed say, "Rides are refundable up to 6 months after the purchase date and are subject to a 15% booking fee regardless of reason for refund."

Is $252 15% of $1272? Maybe it’s just my calculator.

Thank God I cancelled when I did, or based on the above, I may not have been refunded anything as I was coming up on my six months. What exactly happens after the six month window closes is not spelled out in their agreement. Maybe they are implying that, after six months, you either keep re-booking until you fly or they are within their rights to keep ALL your money??? I am not sure. If this is a potential concern, you should call and ask before you book.

Either way, and maybe it's just me, but I think any time a company feels that they have the right to keep portions of your purchase money for any reason, even if services are never rendered, then they should make that plain on the actual checkout page. I say that because many people fail to read website agreements. Let's face it, often times, these, "agreements," just go on and on and on and the important stuff gets buried anyway. So some of us skip it and click, Yes.

This is a failing on my part and in fairness, this company's agreement is pretty short. So I suggest that you actually DO read it because it can cost you significant money if you don't. Not reading it cost me $252.

I am giving one star because, while I shoulder some of the blame for not opening the link and reading the agreement, companies should make that particular kind of condition (once you buy, we're keeping 15% of your money pretty much no matter what), front page news on the actual checkout page BEFORE you checkout.

I am not trying to put you off flying with this company. Once you're up, it looks like a good time. Just make sure you don't mind waiting however long it takes to lift off if the weather doesn't cooperate or at least understand how much money you will end up losing if you ultimately cannot coordinate potential date changes for...

Went here for our 10th anniversary and overall had a cool once in a lifetime experience however there are some things that could have been better. First they set up late despite asking us all to get there 30 minutes early and even the check in person acknowledged it was unusual for them to be so late. She also said the wearing hat suggestion was for bald people to make them more comfortable because it gets a 'little hot'... My husband and I had the unfortunate luck of being closest to the pilot and therefore RIGHT under the burner-- it's not "just like standing close to a campfire" -- it's like holding a hair dryer on high less than a inch from your scalp for minutes on end and the burners occasionally drip hot condensate on you as well. I ended up getting a scalp burn similar to a sunburn on my head. It was not fun and I was so thankful to at least have a hood on my jacket. We obviously were not having fun and the pilot said yeah sorry folks it gets a little hot and drips on ya ...🙄 We then had a bunch of older people on their phones the majority of the ride FaceTime'g what seemed like every person they ever knew and blasting their conversations on speaker phone. Mind you, we're in a box half the size of an elevator with 10 people-- it's close quarters and being loud and obnoxious on your phone during an otherwise peaceful experience was irritating and would be easy to implement a no phone calls policy. Lastly, we buzz pretty close by and land in Amish occupied farms without advance permission or compensation and the pilots and staff don't really seem to have any sort of cultural awareness or frankly care about their disruption they are pushing upon these people-- it felt very exploitative. We spooked a bunch of horses and most of the animals seemed pretty upset about our close presence. They also ask these same kids on these farms where we land if they want to help with packing the balloon up and these kids are happy to help but are also doing some serious labor and sweating.. And not compensated. And then everyone on our trip is taking photos of these young children without asking permission of their parents who are there and being pretty intrusive and not respective of their culture (if a person isn't coming over and is standing arms crossed because you're on their land, I'm pretty sure they don't want you photographing them because of how they look as well!) --and when I explained they shouldn't be taking photos everyone seemed completely unaware-- I feel it's the responsibility of the company to explain in advance the cultural practices of the Amish and to respect them. It really was just insensitive. Overall I got to experience some amazing views-- but it came at too high of a cost, I would use a...

I would love to give a 5 star rating! Our trip was phenomenal! The sunrise balloon launch was great! We had clear skies & perfect weather. Our pilot Kyle, was very knowledgeable & gave us a very scenic & smooth ride. His ground crew was very friendly & I can't give the entire team enough kudos! Well worth the price & I will do it again!

However the reason for 4 stars, and I want to stress it had nothing to do with the pilot or his crew!!

I realize we had the largest balloon & basket combo at the festival however we had 9 people scheduled in the basket & at the last minute they added 2 more passengers. It was uncomfortably full. 11 people plus the pilot should not have been in that basket. Literally you couldn't move. To add insult to injury, the 2 that were added were quite loudly facetiming someone which just killed the serenity of the ride. Our pilot tried his best to get them to stop but they acted as though they didn't understand what he was saying but they communicated their wants and questions quite well.

The second negative was just disappointment in the overall operation of the balloon festival. Our flight included admission to the festival but ONLY on the day of the flight. Why? Sunday morning flight, we returned to the field by 8:15 am and there is NOTHING going on. The festivities only open at 11 so we left! Why couldn't we have admission included the evening prior or the day of your choice? I'm sure the vendors would have appreciated the extra sales for their establishments. It seems rather petty that we are paying $XXX for a balloon ride but you need to collect an extra $25 for ticket sales? It isn't always about the money, its about how you made your customer feel & right now I am feeling it is only about the $$ to the organizers, that the original reason the festival began has become lost.

Would I recommend this company? Maybe? I would recommend everyone who had this on their list of things they want to do, to do it. Do it, you won't regret it!

I've been researching & there are other companies out there. Maybe they are more caring about their clients experience than they...