Summer is Here!

On July 1, we headed over to the Great Park to try and ride the balloon again. Unfortunately all the reservations were taken and standby didn't look good (no standbyes got on that night).

They added a lot of landscaping, playground, and a carousel since the last time we were there. The balloon has internal illumination, so it glows at night, very pretty, though my iPod camera doesn't do night shots very well. The worker said we had to get there before the flights started in order to get a reservation.

The Great Park Balloon

Photo by grantwe

Yesterday we went on the Great Park Balloon at the under-construction Orange County Great Park. Unfortunately our camera is broken, so I had to grab a few from flickr. It was a sunny day with a slight breeze. Alex loved it, even though he could barely see over the railings. We went up to 280 feet, though the balloon operator said on a calm day they can go up to 500. I was more than fine with 280 feet.

It is a huge balloon with a steel donut shaped basket that can hold around 30 people. There is netting along the sides you can't fall out, though you could accidentaly drop a camera or cell phone. The balloon is anchored by a steel tether that attaches to the center of the balloon. This is how they control how high the balloon goes. See the picture below.



Photo by grantwe

post by David