Magical Adventures
Magical Adventures
4.5
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday
6:00 AM - 8:00 PM
About
Take a magic carpet style balloon ride over luxury homes, golf courses and scenic beaches of Del Mar with panoramic ocean views in the background. Flights also include a premium champagne toast, commemorative flight certificate, souvenir picture and light appetizers after your balloon ride. We offer a low price guarantee. We are fully insured with a perfect safety record.
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Blair M
Winnipeg, Canada40 contributions
July 2013 • Family
Our balloon-ride was actually in July, 2011 - not 2013 as indicated - but I wasn't a member of TA then so I thought I'd submit a review now even though our experience wasn't a recent one. I must say that I'm very surprised to be the first to review this activity (in Del Mar). Hopefully there will be many more.
When we went in 2011 we had a simply amazing experience. I had been planning this for 10 years. What I mean is that I had first committed in my mind to doing this 10 years previously but our children were very young then and I wanted it to be a whole-family experience so I held off, and held off over various vacations until the time seemed right to do it on our SoCal vacation that summer. It also happened to coincide with our 20th anniversary (+ 3 weeks but close enough) so the timing seemed perfect.
What made it even more special was that it was a surprise for my family, who had no inkling whatsoever that I had ever even entertained a thought about it. My wife and I had never discussed it or even talked about the prospect from a "wouldn't that be neat..." point of view. Nada. So when I drove them all to the pickup location and revealed to them what we were about to embark on (via a video I played for them on my laptop while we sat on a bench next to the parking lot), you can only imagine their reactions (hey - if you're going to ever do something like this you may as well as do it up big, right?)!
The next couple of hours (getting to watch them inflate the balloon while others from other companies also took off from the same field, assisting with the takeoff, the flight itself, and then assisting with the landing followed by the post-flight festivities and drive back to our pickup/dropoff point) were nothing short of spectacular. The views from aloft were incredible, and with all due respect to those who have flown elsewhere, I don't know if you could pick a more breathtaking place to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as this. The Del Mar coastline is spectacular; the multi-million-dollar homes and golf courses, etc., that we flew over were stunning; the view of the Pacific Ocean at sunset from above the clouds is indescribable... I could go on and on but I still would never be able to encapsulate the entire experience into a review, no matter how long I chose to make it (and better for you that I wrap it up).
I reserved a private flight rather than a shared one and this is the only way I would do it. I am very much a people-person, and love meeting new people everywhere I go, but for this occasion I did not want to be with anyone other than my family. If I knew how to pilot a balloon I would even have given Denni the day off but seeing as he was pretty essential I let him stay. :-) Just know this - it gets pretty cozy in the basket; there isn't a lot of room for moving around. But contrasted with being with numerous strangers in a larger basket I'd only do it this way, as I say.
P.S. By all means take a video camera! I am so glad I did. The video setting on your camera or phone is okay if that is all you have but not nearly as good as a dedicated videocam. So if you don't own one I would reccommend borrowing one or even buying one before your flight - it's totally worth it. Just make sure you have the strap wrapped tightly around your hand/wrist as it gets very hot under the burner and your hands may get very sweaty. My one big concern was that I was going to lose it overboard like a bar of soap.
Also - don't wear white (as I discovered) as there is potential for you to have fuel drip on you. I wore a white shirt that was ruined as a result but I count it as a meaningless loss in light of how spectacular this whole experience was.
Denni and his ground-crew were really great too. They helped to make this outing a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience (although I'm planning to go again, but don't tell my wife). :-)
When we went in 2011 we had a simply amazing experience. I had been planning this for 10 years. What I mean is that I had first committed in my mind to doing this 10 years previously but our children were very young then and I wanted it to be a whole-family experience so I held off, and held off over various vacations until the time seemed right to do it on our SoCal vacation that summer. It also happened to coincide with our 20th anniversary (+ 3 weeks but close enough) so the timing seemed perfect.
What made it even more special was that it was a surprise for my family, who had no inkling whatsoever that I had ever even entertained a thought about it. My wife and I had never discussed it or even talked about the prospect from a "wouldn't that be neat..." point of view. Nada. So when I drove them all to the pickup location and revealed to them what we were about to embark on (via a video I played for them on my laptop while we sat on a bench next to the parking lot), you can only imagine their reactions (hey - if you're going to ever do something like this you may as well as do it up big, right?)!
The next couple of hours (getting to watch them inflate the balloon while others from other companies also took off from the same field, assisting with the takeoff, the flight itself, and then assisting with the landing followed by the post-flight festivities and drive back to our pickup/dropoff point) were nothing short of spectacular. The views from aloft were incredible, and with all due respect to those who have flown elsewhere, I don't know if you could pick a more breathtaking place to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as this. The Del Mar coastline is spectacular; the multi-million-dollar homes and golf courses, etc., that we flew over were stunning; the view of the Pacific Ocean at sunset from above the clouds is indescribable... I could go on and on but I still would never be able to encapsulate the entire experience into a review, no matter how long I chose to make it (and better for you that I wrap it up).
I reserved a private flight rather than a shared one and this is the only way I would do it. I am very much a people-person, and love meeting new people everywhere I go, but for this occasion I did not want to be with anyone other than my family. If I knew how to pilot a balloon I would even have given Denni the day off but seeing as he was pretty essential I let him stay. :-) Just know this - it gets pretty cozy in the basket; there isn't a lot of room for moving around. But contrasted with being with numerous strangers in a larger basket I'd only do it this way, as I say.
P.S. By all means take a video camera! I am so glad I did. The video setting on your camera or phone is okay if that is all you have but not nearly as good as a dedicated videocam. So if you don't own one I would reccommend borrowing one or even buying one before your flight - it's totally worth it. Just make sure you have the strap wrapped tightly around your hand/wrist as it gets very hot under the burner and your hands may get very sweaty. My one big concern was that I was going to lose it overboard like a bar of soap.
Also - don't wear white (as I discovered) as there is potential for you to have fuel drip on you. I wore a white shirt that was ruined as a result but I count it as a meaningless loss in light of how spectacular this whole experience was.
Denni and his ground-crew were really great too. They helped to make this outing a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience (although I'm planning to go again, but don't tell my wife). :-)
Written 9 August 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Frank A
Haledon, NJ10 contributions
June 2016 • Family
The Ballon ride for was a excellent experience
and the owner is a try Ballon Enthusiast
with his 22 years of experience he truly knows all the landmarks
and the history of all of the places they ballon over
and the owner is a try Ballon Enthusiast
with his 22 years of experience he truly knows all the landmarks
and the history of all of the places they ballon over
Written 7 June 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TatyanaMis
Novosibirsk, Russia87 contributions
Aug 2015 • Couples
We would like to say BIG THANKS to all staff, who was providing us this great experience! The owner is great and try to make our experience fun and interesting. To be truth we have to say, that the landing was unexpected for us. But at least it was safe and fun. We would say, that I It is obvious really hard work, but it was done great! So, please, guys, who is going to ride hot air balloon, be ready to give tips (we did it =) Всем всем советуем - отличная компания, замечательный владелец, отличный персонал, который сделает ваш полет незабываемым. Как говорил наш пилот - это не Диснейленд, но ваш полет будет веселым и запоминающимся в любом случае =)))) Желаем компании процветания и много-много клиентов =)
Written 25 August 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rebecca M
Portland, Oregon, United States30 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
I booked this for an anniversary present for my husband and I. When we met for the ride we soon saw there were a ton of people for our shared basket ride, a total of 18. Wow is what another couple and us were thinking. When she called and booked it they told her around 6. We finally got to a place to take off and had to pile in the basket. My husband and I were so squished we could not turn to look around and had to stand in one spot. This was not pleasant however Phil and the scenery made it tolerable. We did have champagne at the end but no cheese platter. For the amount of money this adventure was I was disappointed that I could not turn to look around at the ocean much. The other company that flew had only around 6 in their baskets with plenty of room.
Written 7 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review. Our shared basket rides vary based on bookings. Balloon Rides are like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. You can't fly them too heavy or too light. We size our balloons based on the number of people booked for each day, the party sizes and the weights of the passengers. We never split up parties. We have 14 balloons in our fleet, all different sizes and we are the largest balloon company in California. We offer different options for your balloon flight. Shared basket rides with other people based on bookings for that day. Semi-Private flights which limit the number of people in the basket to 6 plus the pilot and Private flights, for an intimate experience just for your party.
It sounds like you wanted the Semi-Private or Private basket experience but paid for the shared basket ride. Comparing us to the "other balloon" isn't really a fair comparison without taking the price point into account. You could have certainly had a similar experience for a few pennies more. It's like comparing coach to first class on an airplane flight. Regardless, I apologize that your expectation wasn't met. We pride ourselves on over delivering our service, abiding by all regulations and being manic about safety.
The last two points are most important. We pride ourselves on safety. We abide by all regulations including requirements by the California Public Utilities Commission. Unfortunately, there are rogue operators out there who do not. To see who complies with state and federal law, you should look the company up online here:
https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=203:36:0::NO:RP:P36_CARRIER_TYPE,P36_COUNTY,P36_CARRIER_DBA,P36_CARRIER_ID,P36_CARRIER_NAME_DBA:PSG,-1,,,BALLOON
As a person in the know, this is where I would first go before sending my loved ones aloft. I would want to make sure the company I hire is safe and abiding by all the regulations designed to keep me safe. You'll see we made the cut while most of our competitors do not. Food for thought.
Written 16 December 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Hi! How much is this for a family of 4 my boys are 7 and 9 thank you!
Kristy
Written 29 March 2017
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