Arizona Balloon Safaris — Local services in Black Canyon City

Went on a friday for my birthday, was my first hot air balloon ride. Long story short, had an amazing time, would highly recomend.

Now, short story long, the pilot took his time judging winds and finding an appropriate launch site, which may seem boring or tedious to some, but is comforting and professional, considering the task at hand. Watching the crew un-pack and set up the balloon was exciting. To see one of these gentle giants come alive, up close and personal, and sometimes hands on, was almost worth the money alone. Ballon held about 20 people plus pilot, but the basket was nicely sized and divided into 8 sections. The balloon ride was nice and warm, despite reaching an altitude of just shy of 2500ft, given all the hot air above your head. The flight was approx 30-40 min (iirc), and beside the occasional bursts of flames from the burner, was wonderfully quiet...very peaceful.

The landing... this is where the paitence of finding wind spead and direction early paid off big. The pilot was able to navigate the balloon to his chosen landing site with an extremely high level of accuracy...deff within 20 yards of an intended spot. Landing was a small but firm bump forward, similar to hitting your brakes slightly in your car.

Amazing flight, and amazing experience. The crew did an amazing job 👏 thank you guys. If I had the extra money I would be back tomorrow. When the day comes where I do another ride, it will without a doubt...

It was my first balloon ride. The flight operator & the crew were courteous & decent at their job. Randy in fact kept us amused throughout the ride. Though at times he was little too talkative :) But no objections. He was doing his job the best.

The ride experience underwhelmed me. At $130 per head, i feel the ride is a little costly. More so because we didn't have a lot of space to move around. 10 of us, scattered in 4 "couple compartments". And we had to share a compartment with another couple. I think it should've been strictly limited to 8 persons. Also, the gas flame was bothersome at times.

Pick up experience was good. They waited for 5-10 minutes. That helps when you have to be there by 6 AM !

The champagne breakfast post-ride was much-needed. I could appreciate it more if it didn't have so many sugary stuff. But not to underrate it, they did well to provide us breakfast.

Randy didn't have to ceremonize the safe landing , by having us kneel down to sing balloon flight song ( don't emember what it was) , followed by kissing the drinks glass. Too melodramatic.

Not to blame Randy, but the location of the ride isn''t that picturesque too. Above the Sonoran desert - no charm. But that's the price we pay for being in the...

This was a birthday gift to my boyfriend. It was an absolute blast. More fun than I expected. Our driver Earl had some funny stories to keep us laughing while we searched for the perfect launch spot. While they set up the balloon they let us see inside of it before filling it to take us into flight. It was so huge and awesome to look at. It is the largest envelope in Arizona , I actually think he said in the U.S. but can't rememeber. Randy , our pilot was very talkative and shared his knowledge of Ballooning and the Arizona Desert below us. He told us step by step what we need to do for take off and landing making everythig very comforting. We had a very normal bump landing where we were greeted with a delicious breakfast. I love how all the staff were more than willing to take your cameras and capture moments for you. . On our way back Earl had the greatest story about himself and when he started. To this day when I don't want someone to do something I say "NO EARL DON'T DO IT." and because I have showed the video to everyone I know, they know what i mean.. Sill get laughs from that.. Not laughing at you Buddy , laughing with you. Thanks to all of you....