Grape Escape Balloon Adventures — Local services in Temecula

-My first experience on a Hot Air Balloon-AM-

For those that are afraid of heights, I can relate. Overall, I was only scared for the first five minutes since its normal to psyche yourself out. When you're getting into the basket and the hot air balloon starts ascending, you will start to think, 'Holy crap, am I really doing this?!!' No Sweat....just take a few breaths and before you know it, you're in the sky enjoying a beautiful morning view. The balloon was steady enough to evaporate my fear.

In the basket, it's segregated into sections. If you have a big balloon, there will be four sections where four people can fit into each section. Our guide had the center section to himself in order to fly the balloon, total of five sections.

Recommended Attire: Long pants and a light sweater (the heat from the hot air balloon will keep you warm; it's like having a heat lamp right above you).

Do bring a jacket and leave it in the van because you'll need it for the champagne picnic afterwards. Outdoor, back at Vineyard.

Bring sunglasses, unless you want to squint in all your photos!

Shoes: Closed toe that you don't mind getting dirty; the takeoff area is usually in a field with plenty of dirt.

They have various balloon and basket sizes. If you want privacy, it is available. In our group this morning, there was a couple with their own private balloon. After we all landed, we learned that there was a proposal on that private balloon, so romantic! Luckily, the girl said yes and we all celebrated with them at our champagne picnic afterwards. I didn't get a price for the private balloon, but for general admission is $145.

The picnic included some fruits (grape, oranges, and bananas) and wrapped pastries that seemed too sweet to me. Picnic also included champagne or mimosas. We were also handed some discounted wine tasting tickets for the Great Escape and Robert Rezoni, bonus!

Overall, I had a great time. My favorite part of this experience was overseeing the other hot air balloons with the fog rolling back,...

Everything about our expierence was wonderful. The service and staff were BEYOND nice. After arriving we drove a bit around town because the pilot and his staff were checking weather and wind conditions. We did not mind that one bit. The balloon ride itself was super smooth and relaxing, not what I was expecting. The landing was quite bumpy but I personally thought it was super fun. Brace for impact. I don't think anyone is hungry this early in the morning so the simple muffins and Danish are perfect. The champagne they serve after the ride during the intimate celebration is made by Europa winery and it is delicious. The mimosas offered are simple and delicious. I would recommend this company to family and friends and would use them again in the future. I think it is important to comment on the fact that we were not charged until after the ride and had a choice credit card or cash. Even though I made the reservation on my card I was able to pay cash. I think this is really great. The reason they do not charge until after the fact is because due to weather and wind conditions The ride can be canceled and so they avoid a lot of fuss having to refund people. Thanks guys for the...

We went hit air ballooning maybe 15 years ago and decided to do this again as a Xmas present for my dad. We met up at 6:30am at Europa Village, 16 of us were assigned to Balloon Master Bill’s group and he drove us to the launch site. We watched the balloon get inflated and floated along at different altitudes, catching the wind gusts. Bill was awesome - very funny and professional , took our pics and explained all the sites below and around us. Bill is obviously super experienced (he said he had the honor of flying John Glenn and Mitt Romney) - so you can trust him! We were in the air over an hour due to the wind taking us farther and not having a safe place to land. My dad, sis and I were super impressed by the experience we had and the HUGE amount of work involved in launching and landing this massive 13 story balloon. Bill and his team were fantastic! At the end we had mimosas, a lovely toast, a little history lesson on hot air ballooning and a personalized certificate. Highly recommend A...