Balloon Depot — Local services in Snohomish

Wasn't to happy about this experience. As I didn't get to experience it. My husband got this for our 15th anniversary. He was over the moon excited for the trip.

While we both understood that weather could play a roll in this. We went up, spent the money on a room for a night, babysitters for our kids etc.

Arrived at the meet sight at around 6:30ish. We were the first there. While they give a decent description in emails on where to go... you still end up wondering if you're in the right spot. No signage. Nothing. Especially when on Google maps the house they say to avoid has the marker as being "balloon depot".

Anyways. The first chase van with balloon in tow show up. They start their routine. Unlocking buildings, the port potty etc.

Wasn't until about 7:20 that they really started taking the weather into consideration. They were sending helium balloons off to monitor speed, height, distance ect. Guess that's how they determine the wind speed/direction. They sent up a total of four helium balloons from about 7:20 to 8.

They decided that the wind was not favorable and decided to call our flight. They also had mentioned that they hadn't been able to do any sunset flights yet this year. There was a party there that had originally booked a flight for April to fly over the tulip festival. They had rescheduled 5 times and had tried to make it happen with no avail.

They offered a voucher to contact them to attempt another flight. Or refund. As someone was trying to book a date for another flight one of the pilots mentioned that they were booked out for the next month. So that pushed us almost into the end of August into September when the weather is even more questionable. So we decided for a refund.

Took the gentleman some time to get his phone to work in order to process this refund. Which I found to be a bit of a red flag.

Now... not to mention right as they called our flight, maybe 3-5 miles away Seattle Ballooning another company near by had two balloons going up. So was it the weather or did they just not want to fly that day? We'll never know.

Bank shows I received my refund and I ended up booking a new flight with Seattle Ballooning.

They seemed nice. They seemed to have nice equipment. But a handful of redflags to me. But that's just me. Couldn't understand why one company could fly and not another. And in such close proximity to one another. Spent a lot of time and money on this trip for it not to happen. Was very...

You’ve no doubt noticed that this business has garnered a cumulative 4.6 rating or somewhere thereabouts. Let me be the first to tell you that is bullshit—this is a five-star company. Read the negative reviews—so many of them have something to do with their experience being postponed due to weather. You should know that the steering wheel, the gas, and the brakes on a balloon are all controlled by Mother Nature. If your experience gets postponed because of weather, it’s because a competent pilot has decided to place your safety above his profit. The very fact that a flight has been canceled due to subpar weather conditions should be an automatic five stars—these people are looking out for you.

Ok, with that said, let me say what a life-changing experience this was for my wife and me. The balloon ride was awesome, like nothing you’ve ever seen or experienced (unless you’ve done it before). But what I wasn’t prepared for was the precision and care of the Balloon Depot team. Our pilot was meticulous about walking us through safety procedures and preparing us for the what-ifs. I knew the view would be nice, but the added, unanticipated comfort of knowing our pilot and supporting staff were fully competent, caring, thorough, and meticulous about their business and approach was next-level. The peaceful journey was ensured by the knowledge that the people in charge knew very well what they were doing.

If you are on the fence, get off the fence. You will never miss the money, you will forever have the memory, and these guys are the Blue Angels of Balloons. You will not find...

My wife and I decided to take our daughter and son in-law on a balloon ride for their birthdays last weekend on 9-11-16, I looked up online and called a couple places and things didn't work out, this was the week before so I knew I was taking a chance, then I called Balloon Depot and talked to Jay, he said he would take us up, we agreed that the weather was iffy for that day, so he said to call him the morning of and see how it is, so I watched the weather that week and seen it was getting nicer, it was a day that was to be cooler but the night before was to be warmer than the nights before. I wanted to surprise the kids so I didn't tell them anything, that's hard to get them up on a Sunday morning and pick them up by 5 am for a 2 hour drive, then I didn't want them to know so I waited too call Jay until 6:30 he was starting to wonder if we were coming but it worked out great for us, they didn't know until we showed up. We had an awesome ride what I really enjoyed was helping go out and set up the balloon before the ride and taking it down after, I am a hand's on person so I liked learning. We all had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting and talking to the other couples with us, their were 8 of us and Jay in our balloon and their were 3 balloons that went up that morning. When we got back and put the balloons away we had a champagne toast and really good pastry, then a couple of the pilots told us the history of using the balloons then gave us certificates. It was well...