Above the Clouds Hot Air Balloon Rides — Attraction in Town of Wallkill

WARNING: DO NOT BOOK if you live in NYC OR are visiting the area OR have work in the morning and or children/other responsibilities to take care of.

I bought two tickets last year for $750 because it was my elderly mother's lifelong dream. It was a huge expense for me but my mom was here on a rare visit to the country. Shortly after I bought the tickets, she injured herself and wasn't able to fly. The owners would not even consider a refund EVEN THOUGH WE BOUGHT THE TICKETS JUST OVER A WEEK PRIOR, stating "you don't get refunds on concert and basketball game tickets."...well, with concert/game tickets, there are dozens of websites where you can resell if you need to.

Every resale website requires an event date and a recognizable business/location to sell tickets--this experience doesn't qualify. No one in our networks or on sites like Craigslist would buy the tickets despite weeks of trying because of the expense.

WARNING: YOU WILL NOT GET A REFUND AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESELL THESE TICKETS IF YOU NEED TO.

We tried to reschedule when my mom's injury was marginally better but either we had or they had to cancel 2-3 times in the days before because of weather conditions. I totally understand weather is out their control so I'm only noting this so potential customers understand that if you are traveling from somewhere not near the tiny town in Central New York they fly from, you WILL LOSE MONEY IF THEY CANCEL LAST MINUTE. WE ONCE HAD TO CANCEL 30 MINUTES BEFORE WE WERE SETTING OUT TO TRAVEL TO THE FLIGHT because despite prediction of bad weather, they would not confirm cancellation until later in the night.

THEY ONLY PROMISE TO CONFIRM WHETHER THEY FLY BY 8PM THE NIGHT BEFORE THE 5:15AM FLIGHT!

This means that if you don't have a car, you'll spend minimum $200 on travel (THREE HOURS FROM NYC ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT/2 HOURS BY CAR W/ TRAFFIC), minimum $300 on an overnight hotel stay near the flight.

WARNING: THE ACTUAL COST OF THE EXPERIENCE IS EASILY $1000+ for two people.

We tried to reschedule again this year when the weather got nice.

WARNING: THEY CANCELED THREE WEEKENDS IN A ROW THIS MONTH.

-If you had booked your tickets this month and booked an overnight hotel each time, you would have lost $1000 minimum.

-If you have small children at home, you would have paid for an overnight babysitter three times.

-If you work and can’t schedule for a weekday, you would have missed three days of work.

Throughout the booking experience, they were deeply condescending, passive aggressive, and sometimes venomous when given the slightness polite pushback. Note: after I said I’m posting this review, their tone did such a 180 to so pleasant and accommodating to try to get us rebooked, it was actually unnerving—they tried to gaslight me into thinking all the scheduling issues were my fault (even though they canceled four times), and I’ve no doubt that they switched up so they could say they made “every effort was made to accommodate us.”

I can’t speak to the quality of the experience—my warning is about the experience of booking with this inflexible company should weather go bad (which it does frequently) and the logistical nightmare and loss of money if something goes wrong or you’re not near their small town--$1000+ is a lot of money to gamble...

There are lots of things you could spend your time thinking about when shopping for a company to fly you in a hot air balloon, like how many balloons they've crashed, how many people have jumped to their death from the basket or how many intoxicated pilots have showed up to the air field ready to fly. However, if you hire Above The Clouds, Inc., I guarantee you'll spend more time seeing, smelling and listening to the breathtaking Hudson Valley scenery at sunrise and less time worrying about fatalities because safety is this crew's main priority. Safety is evident in everything they do from the way they lay out the balloons to safely inflate them with the burner, assigning passengers to baskets by weight, specific positioning of passengers in the basket and calculating windage, speed and distance for both take off and landing. Deana squares you away with very thorough, organized registration, flexible payment and voucher expiration dates in lieu of weather cancellations), and hospitality details like hot morning beverages, breakfast cake and pre-flight bathroom visitation. She made all of us feel very welcome, and the post-flight keepsake pictures she gave all of us were just the icing on the cake. Above the Clouds, Inc., in my business opinion, is one in which I will consistently cast my consumer vote for because they really, really impressed me all around in the areas of safety, flight, administration and hospitality. And no, I don't work for them, nor am I getting a kick back here. I'm just a very difficult person to please, and not only did Above the Clouds, Inc., please me, but also I felt like I just had a red carpet experience. Not a step out of line, and even the landing was soft! A big shout out to our pilot, Tim, who educated us during the flight and the drive back to the airfield in addition to giving me a live Facebook video for my fans. And remember, the basket is not an open circle where you will be able to walk around while in flight; it's partitioned off like a U-shape around the burner, so you'll be stationary in your spot for the duration with little room to move. If you can be without it for 50 minutes, leave it in your car, but do take your camera because the views of the colorful sights and sounds of the Hudson Valley at sunrise are remarkable! My sincerest thanks to Chris Healy, Deana, Tim and all the crew I didn't get the chance to meet face to face. You all made my first hot air balloon ride a red-carpet experience, and I am so grateful for your services...

I really hope I can convey just how wonderful this experience was through a review. I'll start with the ease of booking through Deana. She is SO personable that you can't wait to meet her after you've booked, then when you do meet her, you truly want to be friends with her! She is honest, direct, and charming as ever! Deana makes a killer apple bread in the fall too! That was a nice surprise! I wasn't expecting the coffee and homemade cake which were delicious!!!!!

They have a cute little red barn that you gather in prior to your flight where you can use the restroom and eat the delicious treats. This is nice since mornings are a bit brisk... and dark!

Watching this 5 star crew set up and inflate the envelopes of the balloons is an experience in and of itself. Everyone is so professional and efficient! They work together like a well oiled machine. During this time, Deana takes pictures of you in front of this whole process. It happened that bc our reservation was for a longer flight, we were able to drive with the crew to the landing site of the first group that launched! This was unexpected and so, so cool!!! We felt like we were part of the crew! As the balloon is preparing to land, the crew runs over, catches the tether string and pulls the balloon to the ground, then jump on to stabilize it to make the exchange of people! Such a rush!!! These guys bust their butts and work so hard to make all of the transitions so seamless!

In the balloon w Chris, was the icing on the cake! I don't know exactly what I was expecting to feel in the basket, but i felt so secure and the ride was as smooth as can be! He was super knowledgeable of all of the land we were traveling over. Chris answered all questions we asked, no matter how silly or obvious they were. He made nice conversation, but not too much you couldn't enjoy the flight. Best of all, he got us back to the ground safely and with a gentle landing! As in the French tradition, we popped our bubbly and reminisced over our successful flight!

These people do it right! Without a doubt book them for an unforgettable experience!!! You won't be...