Lancaster Balloon Rides

Excellent experience! The staff is very professional and kept communication with us before take off and after landing. They were very pleasant, took professional pictures of everyone and gave us a certificate of flight along with a wonderful toast at the end. We had a great time and will surely book again for other special occasions. The pilots are great, wonderful and made it a fun experience! Thank you US hot Air Balloon Team!

Oh my goodness! Where do I even start about this magical experience?! I recommend everyone to ride a hot air balloon at least once in their lifetime and more importantly ride with US Hot Air Balloon Team!

I scheduled my ride at the Bird in Hand, PA location during the annual Run Ride Soar event, where about 10 hot air balloon launch at the same time during sunrise. I arrived at 6:15am to see set up and see balloons blown up, signed release form, got in basket and rise off with the sun around 6:35am. I was glad the sky was not completely clear, because it was so surreal to be above the clouds. We were literally on cloud 9! And the sunrise was just breath taking! I was in a basket of 8 people plus pilot. It was not too tight at all. We covered 9 miles and were in the air for 1hr, which went by super fast! Wish it was longer :( After landing, the company van drove us back to our parking spots. We ended the ride with mimosas :D About 3 hrs from start to finish.

Pros -
- The company service 3 different locations in PA, Ex. Lancaster, Chester, and Bucks County
- For the entire 1 hr, I felt completely safe. Our pilot, Lucas has flown over 2000 rides. He made everyone felt comfortable, told us about the Amish, and kept us entertained by telling funny stories from his 10 years of flying experience.
- The certificates you receive after paying do not ever expire. If your ride is canceled due to weather, can always reschedule
- During the summer and fall, they have two ride times daily, sunrise and sunset. Sunrise is more popular, I can understand why ;)
- People with disability or in wheel chairs can ride as well!

Only Con -
- Regularly ride pricing is $219 per person or $438 per couple. I was lucky enough to win the photo contest event this summer and received two free tickets. It is a bit expensive, but it makes an amazing gift for your loved ones, and be sure to check for deals on Groupon/Living social

Tips -
- Arrive about 15 minutes early to see set up and balloon blown up
- Do Wear comfortable clothing, preferably no open toe shoes
- Schedule ride early!
- Option of cash gratitude to the crew, they are very proficient and professional from beginning to end

This is my first time on a hot air balloon. It is definitely a 5 stars flying experience. I would love to shout out to Pilot Kyle Laxton and his crew members , thanks for all the great time . If you're looking to try ballooning for the first time, this is the place to be.

When a "reservation" is NOT a reservation. This company is obviously a clearing house that takes your reservation and THEN tries to find someone to do the flight. As with previous reviewers, we made a reservation only to be told several days later that "no pilots were available." Their prices are also not particularly competitive with other flights in the area. You are clearly paying quite an overhead for a reservation system that has no visibility as to what is actually available to reserve. So beware. What appears to be a convenient reservation system is neither convenient nor an actual reservation.

This is an excellent service. Let me start off by start off by saying that the person who gave this one star has no other reviews on Yelp! and further, their description of the pilot they had does not correspond with my experience with any of the pilots or crew, who were nothing but professional and polite. I'm not sure what her deal is, whether it was an isolated incident, or whether it even happened at all, but you should not let her experience keep you away from flying with these folks.

We had an amazing flight, taking off seems to be a little haphazard as Jessica G noted, probably because of the precision with which one must balance the weight of the passengers and the lift of the balloon, but once aloft the ride is smooth and stable and I was impressed at how much control the pilot had (if not of direction, than certainly altitude). On our flight our pilot was able to direct the balloon so that we passed by one of the passengers houses only by changing elevations to catch the right currents. He had flown around 3000 times he said, but still I was impressed that he was able to make this work.

After this we went up about a mile and then flew over neighborhoods and woodlots right above the treetops. Although there was something really peaceful about being really high up, this was my favorite part. It gave you a whole new perspective on the world, but with a level of detail that you do not get when flying in a plane. Also, kids loved us. All sorts of them were running out of their houses to wave at us and watch the balloons.

Also, as the other reviewer noted, tips are customary in the industry. The US Hot Air Balloon Team is really low key about this, and nothing on their website alerted us to bring cash. You should. The crew do a lot of work (the balloon equipment weighs about 1000 pounds all in. Realizing that they work for tips after they have lugged all your crap around feels bad.

This is definitely something that you should do at least once in your life. Highly, highly recommend without reservation.

This rating is for their poor management and their refund policy, not for the flight experience since I have never successfully experienced it. The main reason I am so mad about them is that They Don't Keep Their Words.

I booked my initial flight on April, got a phone call saying they had to reschedule me since my booking was conflicted with another group, then they cancelled my booking for 3 more times because of weather, which I could understand. I just got tired of it, didn't want to try another time. Then I requested for a full refund, which should make sense. But their refund policy requires 15% fee. I guess it works for people who wants to cancel their initial flight, but not for my special case. I called them about my request, the lady answered the phone call could not decide and passed me to another gentleman, who agreed to make a special case for me and give me a full refund.

But they never did refund me the money. Called them again, and this time the man who answered the phone (who called himself the man managing refund) refused to do the full refund with strong voice, even though I told him the promise they made on the previous phone call. Beautiful!!! What can I say?

I don't really understand the one-star review that's up here right now, so I'm going to get a little long-winded describing what a positive experience I had flying with the U.S. Hot Air Balloon Team last weekend.

On the day of my flight, there were about sixteen passengers divided between two balloons. The pilot for my balloon was friendly and chatted with us while our balloon was being inflated, and a member of the crew offered to use our cameras to take pictures of each of us standing inside the still-inflating balloon. (They encourage you to fly with a camera but discourage you from taking anything else up in the air with you. You might want a hat to put a layer of clothing between your head and the propane jets, though, especially if you're tall. Leave everything else in the car.)

About half the members of the group climb into the basket while it's laying on its side, then the crew flips the basket upright and the other half climb in, so if you have any reason to think you might have difficulty climbing over the edge of the basket, let the crew know and they can make sure you're one of the people in the basket before it flips up. Once everyone is in the basket it's definitely snug, but not uncomfortable.

I felt momentarily nervous as we first started ascending, but once the balloon is in the air it moves along with the wind and so the basket is completely stable - it does not rock at all - it feels like you're standing on solid ground even though you can look over the edge at the tiny little cars and houses below.

Our pilot was friendly and extremely professional. He told us how he got into ballooning - his father was also a balloon pilot so he grew up with it - and he's been flying hot air balloons for more than 30 years. Please know that hot air balloon pilots are required to be FAA certified, just like airplane pilots - these are not kids running carnival rides but highly trained professionals.

Since the balloon goes where the wind goes, the pilot doesn't have a lot of control over what scenery you're going to get to see on any particular trip. Our flight was over Amish country and we did get to see plenty of horses and buggies from the air, but we ended up drifting over mostly houses and shopping centers, nothing exactly breathtaking, unfortunately.

Our landing was incredibly smooth, and our pilot chose to land us on a residential street, which was a blast because kids came pouring out of the houses to watch, and they were all so! excited! The pilot and crew let the kids help squeeze the last of the air out of the balloon by rolling down the length of it, and then the passengers helped the crew pack the balloon and basket back into the truck. They loaded us all into a van and gave us a ride back to our cars, where we had a champagne toast.

The experience was definitely five-stars, though there are a couple of things you should know before you get on a flight. You do have to sign a waiver that basically says you will not hold them responsible no matter what happens, including things like pilot negligence or arrest for trespassing. Also, know that it is standard practice in the hot air balloon industry to give the crew a gratuity at the end of the flight - most websites I read suggested 10% is the industry standard.

One really cool thing about the U.S. Hot Air Balloon Team that I also want to mention is that they're one of the few places you can fly in a hot air balloon if you're in a wheelchair or have other disability or mobility concerns. Their policy is "If you're comfortable, we're comfortable," and that definitely gets them an extra thumbs-up from me.

I bought two living social vouchers for this hot air balloon ride some time back, this past Easter weekend my mom came into town (to NYC) so we decided to buy a third ticket to go with her on the day before Easter and enjoy this in Lancaster PA.

I had NO idea how magical this was going to be and had anyone told me I probably would not have believed them!

The day was perfect and the staff was lovely. We took off early in the morning and saw the sunrise up in the balloon... We travelled for an hour and miles over Amish country. Kids came out of their homes to wave to us and chase the balloon through their fields while they shouted 'hi' to us and asked us if it was cold up there.

Amish country is GORGEOUS! Not a noise in the air, no AC units, no cars, no pollution... just pure air and trees, and fields perfectly tended to.

The landing was the best part! As we descended children and parents from all the near houses ran towards the balloon and then gathered around us to look at it and ask questions. The Amish and Mennonite children with their adorable outfits, and cute faces... It was all so perfect!

I would recommend this to anyone and everyone! Really something to be done in your lifetime!!!

Went early this morning with GF for a balloon ride. It was our first time on a hot air balloon, but the pilot and crew were phenomenal. They conducted the ride from start to finish in a very professional manner. Our pilot, Stan, demonstrated masterful control of the balloon. His professionalism made us beginners feel comfortable. He later informed us he has 30 years flying balloons, and approx. 3, 000 flights.
It was a beautiful day, and the flight went smoothly. We landed gently in a field in Oley. We were brought back in a van, which met us where we landed.
You must try this experience at least once in your life, and these are the guys to do it with. They were very friendly, accommodating, and just plain great guys.
Do it sometime, you won't be sorry!

I am disappointed in this place on so many levels- I purchase tickets for a Thursday night when I would be in Amish country for 2 days (one night), then I receive a barrage of e-mails asking to change the date of my afternoon rides which they say often get cancelled due to weather- I have limited time but even after declining 3 times and explaining I am not in town ,,, they keep coming. They cancelled my 6pm flight on a Thursday and I took them up on the Friday the 21st flight - cancelled for weather they said- the weather was great that morning so I don't know why it cancelled, but I had to wake up at 5 to call the weather hotline- and the view outside and the forecast was sunny with 10mph winds. I don't plan on going back to Amish country so I called to request a refund- I have to mail my tickets back to get one- what???? They have me and my son listed on a manifest but need me to write a letter and send back these paper tickets before a refund can be issued??? Last, I get back my refund less 15%... that's is a$65 fee for their cancelation ands on their website under Fine Print here is what it says

Certificates:
1. They do NOT expire and can be used any time to fly.
2. They are refundable up to 6 months from the date of purchase less 15% of the total.
3. They are transferable to anyone to use, regardless of the name printed on them.

Rain or Shine Policy:

For your safety, we do not fly in stormy weather, rain or excessive wind conditions. If a cancellation does occur, you will have three options:
1. Reschedule your balloon flight at your convenience.
2. Request a refund -- See terms & conditions
3. Use your ticket toward a balloon ride anywhere in the U.S. with any of our affiliates.

Who would expect a fee for them cancelling- this ambiguity is disingenuous, and the weather that day was fine do I'll be contacting my card to file a formal complaint Instead of "see terms and conditions- please let people know up front that:

1. Summer flights usually get cancelled in the afternoon, and we will keep 15% of your money- sounds like a great way to rip people off