Recently went to the Arizona Balloon Classic at Wildhorse Pass in Chandler Weather was better this time around than the previous time I attended Enjoyed seeing the balloons getting set up and glowing together after it got dark Only downfall was most of the food trucks were credit card only, but getting out of the parking lot took 25 minutes. You went in circles and there was no signs set up to help you get back to the main road. Definitely looking forward to the next event read more

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There were no hot air balloons at the hot air balloon festival. Need I say more? Well, I may not need to, but I want to. The gates opened late. The person who showed up to open the gates late, still had not trained the volunteers on how to scan our tickets so we had to wait for her to do that before they actually allowed us in. The vendors were open, but it took us less than 30 minutes to see them all. We ordered some (over-priced) snacks and drinks, and sat at a bench to discuss how ripped-off we all felt for about 15 mins. Not one ballon? Not one vendor offering information on balloon rides? No tethered balloons just looking pretty? We asked about the balloons on the way out and were told they would be there "maybe between 3 and 6 pm." We also found out that the tethered balloon rides would probably start at 6 pm, and only on one specific balloon. So, if I wanted to wait another 5 hours I might be able to see a ballon, and I could stand in line with who knows how many other people, who had also waited for hours, for the opportunity to pay someone an additional 30.00 for a tethered ride. We decided to just end our misery early and just leave. My family spent 100.00 to get through those gates, and there wasn't one balloon to see. read more

Good moring. This event was an atticipated, exciting opportunity for my family of 6 adults and 4 children to experience balloons. My family gathered from north phoenix to queen creek and spent over $275.00. So disappointed-no checking of tickeds to enter, no balloon on display for family, especially little ones to see. Nothing what a waisted of time and money of a beautiful day. The food was good especially burritos and and french toast strips. However, traveling from Queen Creek to Glendale not worth it. There should be more clairity. read more

DONT WASTE YOUR BREATH. The Only Balloons to see are on the t-shirts when you walk in the gate. .$18 per head gets you a visit to a glorified food court. NO BALLOONS. WHERE DID THEY GET THE PICS ON THE WEBSITE.? we stood in line 25 min. We get to the gate. NO BALLOONS You can ask any of the volunteers. They hadn't seen one either. One told us that A balloon was there before 9 oclock. We spoke to a vendor who told us he was at his booth since 9. NO BALLOONS....WHAT A MISREPRESENTED DISAPPOINTMENT. There were 6 of us. Adults @ 18 per head they are making money on a scam. We rented a VRBO so that we could see them light up. What a lie. Sunday morning as we were leaving we saw 3 balloons at a distance. They were not landing at Goodyear. An Expensive totally exasperating event. read more

yep, as others stated. Got there at noon. Just a big circle of venders and food trucks. NOT ONE BALLOON!!!!!!!!! The BMX riders were cool. Great Grand enjoyed the bounce houses. Fantastic Indian Fry Bread. BUT not ONE BALLLOON, huh? read more

You have to give a rating in order to review. Ugh! Zero stars says more than 1. Makes a stronger point. In my opinion, it's a complete money grab for the one setting it up. Never saw true employees, just "volunteers" Pay to park, pay to get through gate, and then no balloons? Don't waste your money. Go to Gilbert Glow or New Mexico. read more

Paid $33 for a ticket to yesterday's "balloon festival." Showed up at noon and there were no balloons. Just a parking lot with food vendors... The heck! read more

There were no Hot Air Balloons at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. ZERO. NO balloons, NO tethered rides, NO photos, NO up-close encounters. In the 20 minutes we stayed the parking lot emptied by half. Complete waste of money and a stain on Goodyear. read more

It was a bad joke! not one balloon! Tried to get our money back but they would not refund it. It was all false advertising on the internet. Never going again. read more

A big meh. We are just leaving now. The four remaining balloons had done their "final blow" by 7:10pm. There were more or less about 10 balloons in total, but most had already been deflated and packed away...even though they had only started inflating when we got there around 6. First, the parking costs $5...for a four hour event, it seems a little steep. I would suggest parking nearby and walking if there is public parking available elsewhere. The plus is, though, there is a free golf cart that will take you to the entrance. At the front, you pay for tickets. For adults and kids over 13, it costs $15 each. When you walk in, there are a lot food trucks to your right. Funny enough, there are more food trucks than there are hot air balloons. There was a good variety of food, and the prices were as expected. Ps: they don't sell alcohol. There were also a good amount of vendor tents. Lastly, there was an area with inflatable jump houses and obstacles for children. A wristband for unlimited "rides" costs $10 or a single ticket cost $1. Actually, this is a great deal for the kids. I wish I could've joined! I'm not sure if they're going to do it bigger on Saturday, but I don't think it's worth it - especially if you don't have kids. I've gone to another that was in a different location before, and i remember it being it was much bigger. Here's my tip, save your money. read more

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A few beautiful pictures of the Night Glow attire Arizona Balloon Classic. We enjoyed a nice evening, front row seating. Plenty of food vendors from sweets to complete meals. Plenty of tables to enjoy your purchase. All had something different to offer. We went to see the balloon glow Saturday night. There was about 10-15 from what I counted. I found a nice spot on the grass, but enjoyed the evening talking to people that sat around us. Music filled the air from 5he stage that was perfectly placed so Great coverage with Police officers when I was walking around we seen more than a fair share. Thank you for that. Golf carts were in the parking lots giving seniors rides to the main gate. Will go back again. See you in 2018 read more

Arizona Balloon Classic - Night Glow at the Arizona Balloon Classic - Festivals Near Me - Goodyear, Arizona

The event is advertised as "up to 30 balloons," which is misleading. For the balloon glow, I pictured... well, 30! It was about half that. Still, for us it was worth it. The quality of food from the many food trucks was surprisingly good, with enough to keep my picky family happy. The $10 wrist band for unlimited bouncy house & giant slide access was worth the steep price to keep my video game addicted kids occupied. We had a good time, and will probably return, next year. Our only complaint is the shortage of bathrooms. The event organizers need to multiply the available port-o-potties by 10, at least. I'm not exaggerating. The lines were crazy. The people in our party drinking beer were in a situation. Advice: Arrive before 4:00 for shorter food lines. Do your drinking early, so you can pee before the bathroom lines long. If you are full to bursting, you can leave the venue and go to the stadium bathrooms. Bring $5 for parking Tell them if you are military or a veteran. Our entire family got in for free. If you are expecting high excitement, don't go. If you love a laid-back, sit (or stand) & watch attitude, then go! Bring a chair if you hate standing. There are lots of places to settle in. read more

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So badly organized, all of it. Spent way too much money to see 6 balloons blown up, this it. Lots of vendors but it was so dark you couldn't barely see what they had to offer, very limited bathrooms for a large crowd. It was all together just not a great experience for the price. Saw more balloons in the sky in North Phx on our drive to the festival, true story. That should have been a huge red flag... read more

I wish I had checked other reviews here before I took hubby and grands out to this total waste of money and time. Driving in, we saw ONE balloon, and it left before we got there. We didn't pay for parking, BUT, the advertised entrance fee for seniors was $15. We got to the ticket EZ Up and was told now it's $18. Huh?? Sure enough, someone wrote $18 in pen on a sticky note and put it over the posted $15. I wish to heck I would've turned around right then and ushered everyone back to the car. If I had known there were NO BALLOONS anywhere to be seen, I definitely would have just left. We paid $18 each to walk around a big, dusty field, past greasy-smelling food trucks and stall after stall of over-priced, cheap crap to buy. Even the grandkids said they wanted to go home. We will NEVER go back to this event, no matter how nice it looked on the local evening news. They hold this travesty of a money-grab every year?? More power to them. read more

We saw the wave of hot air balloons go up at 7:45. After that there was nothing. Paid $20 for the event and $10 to park. Lots of food vendors, but not much to do with hot air balloons. Very disappointed. read more

Ballon festival with out ballon's and also 30 to get inn never again, we also pay 800 to participate on our food truck they never told us how many food vender will be there and on top of that they said that it will be expecting 20k people, and we see only like 3 k what a waste of time and money then on top of that the person who was in charge of the festival she is no answering any emails and calls, never again big scammers ever:( read more

Stay away, I've literally made a Yelp account with the hope it will help others reconsider going to this "event". I wish I saw all the other reviews before buying a ticket. I had paid for a ticket and balloon ride over a month ago, and when arriving at the festival, they were turning everyone away as there was no parking. No alternative option was provided. Clearly they grossly oversold the tickets, which is further compounded as you can't select a specific day to attend. This has really soured my trip to Arizona. read more

Not great You have to be here exactly when the doors open . After 8ish there will not be any balloon in site . Not even as a display . Only vendors. In the after noon the ride are limited Don't expect the rides that are listed on the schedule. read more

This was really a disappointment. We arrived around 6:00pm Friday and there was plenty of parking. There was a wide variety of food vendors, but the food was extremely pricey for what you got. There was supposed to be a balloon glow at 7:30pm (the event we really wanted to see). We watched as the small number of balloons (maybe 12 at peak) started to inflate, then some were deflated well before 7:30, so by the time the balloon glow time rolled around, maybe 9 were actually inflated. And while the crowd waited around and watched, 7:30 came and went without the balloons actually glowing. Then all the balloons started going down and the crowd left. Incredibly anticlimactic. It did not seem particularly well-organized. If you are going to advertise a balloon glow, the least you can do is have all of the balloons up and glowing at the appointed time. read more

I can not even begin to describe by disappointment with this so called "festival". There were only 6 ballons that had been filled by 8pm. We had to leave. I'm not counting the the 4 or 5 mini balloons they had blowing in the corner, not suitable for adults. The price tag for this was such a waste. It was really disappointing because we made the 45 minute drive to attend and explore. There were several vendors. With out them it would have been a total bust! This organization should.take pointers from the Halloween Hot Air Balloon Festival. read more

My wife and I were up at 5:30AM to make sure we got to the 7:00Am start of the festival. We were excited to see the ballons and learned right away that the wind was blowing towards downtown Phoenix and the balloons could not fly until the wind changed. We were also concerned with the number of balloons there. I don't believe there was more than 6-8 ballons. We came back later and there were no balloons there. We don't know if they finally got off the ground or just left. The one thing that was operating were the food vendors. Dozens of them! This event could be more aptly named the Arizona Food Vendor Classic. read more

Would give zero stars because of absolutely No Signage. Walking around freezing without having a clue where to go. Never went up in the tethered balloon like we paid for. Complete rip off and waste of time. Poorly. Once I've event for newcomers. Shameful if this same person actually did a superbowl! Will never pay for this garbage again. Greasy Mexican food made us sick to our stomachs. Totally not worth the time or money spent. Paid to park paid to go up yet did not do so because every balloon went up with people in it. So they stole our money. Goodyear cops were there letting them rip off all these people. Would not go back to Goodyear just because of this event. Crappy city ,crappy cops didn't stop any crime! Screw Goodyear. Screw this rip off event. Very shameful the way it was setup for new people. Felt left out and ripped off. read more

This was a complete disaster. The website doesn't tell the truth about what is going to happen or not happen. When you get there you do not find out what is going to happen till you are in the event and after you paid $10 for parking. The parking attendants know the facts but don't tell you and take your money. No balloon activity today at all...The site says they will have the balloons up candle style...Uh, no they won't and don't..Trying to get a refund but not hopeful... Just another example of the condition and depravity of our country that stems from the leadership at the top. Pure corruption. read more

Huge let down and nothing like advertised! Not worth the time, money, or $20 parking fee... Very few vendors and only 12 vendors. I highly recommend finding something better to do which shouldn't be hard. read more

This was my first ballon festival so glad a friend invited us. I had seen them inflated and then go off before, but I had not been so close as I was able to get tonight. This is a great family event lots to eat and lots to do for kids and adults. The balloons are the main event but they have a great selection of food trucks and venders. I tried the Montana Barbecue with a brisket sandwich. The brisket had been marinated in southern comfort wrapped in bacon and then smoked. It was hot and had a great taste. My understanding is they also have a local restaurant in Prescott AZ. There were so many good smells and choices of food I am sure all with find something that will make their mouth water. My wife and friend had a great time at the T Mobil booth playing an enlarged blocks of pink Jenga. This just one of the many venders promoting their products and giving away free prizes. They had a zip line kids play area on one end ballon rides and music stage just to name a few of the high lights going on. Don't forget to bring your own chairs and possible a blanket depending on how cold the night or morning is. Good family event read more

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WAAAY overpriced! $20 per adult for what?! A few hot air balloons, pricey truck food, a drunk d-bag asking for donations for a kids lawnmower ride, the time shares salesmen harassing you as you walk by, and some God awful 80s coverband. Get real! Their Facebook ad was very misleading, which is what sucked us in. Wish I would have checked the Yelp reviews first! I guess you just can't trust Facebook anymore. This event sucked azz! read more

As a vendor I am super disappointed in this festival. They ask a large vendor fee for a small audience. I am a henna artiSt and they booked another henna artist on the other side. Definitely not a big enough festival for 2 of the same. They did this to other vendors as well. They don't care about the businesses or the people they are just there to make money. Also the balloons start at 7am and they expect at the vendor to be set up at that time. So ridiculous. Don't support this event. read more

"Beer Garden"??? There was one vendor selling cans of Bud Light and Blue Moon. The main stage act was a guy singing while he played bass over a synthesizer. The ad said 30 balloons. There were 9. We went in the afternoon and wondered why we paid for a ticket to by overpriced food truck lunch and talk to time share vendors and a guy selling MAGA hats. Came back for the evening "glow" and got nicked for another $5 to park even though we were told our original parking payment that day was good for returning. This event did not measure up to it's description and was way way overpriced for what it was. read more

Okay where do I start it was hubby's birthday weekend and we decided to drive into Phoenix for the weekend get a hotel room and go to the Arizona Balloon Classic visit the casinos have a nice dinner spend the whole weekend there and then drive up to Prescott after on Sunday. Saturday morning was the early morning rides for the balloons you had to be at the Airfield at 7 a.m. to watch the balloons leave in the morning for their morning ride. Well we stayed out much too late the night before at the casinos and going out for dinner and having a great time that we did not wake up in time and woke up at 10 a.m. after breakfast we decided to head down to the Arizona Balloon Classic for the day and stay there all day until the evening night glow, but when we get to the ballpark where they were having the Balloon Fest we did not see any balloons on display whatsoever in fact as we were driving on the freeway to the Balloon Fest we saw trucks and trailers hauling balloons away from the area. As we drove up got closer and saw how dead the area looked with only canopies and people and portable toilets we thought was going on here it look more like a food festival than it did a hot air balloon festival. Needless to say there was a long line about a 5 minute wait just to pull into the parking lot to find out that they were charging $5 for parking. We asked the parking attendant if there were any hot air balloons because we did not see any as we were pulling up yeah, he said that they did a morning write a morning ride then they just recently came back an hour ago and they took all the balloons down and took him back to the shop so they can replenish them and bring them back for tonight's night glow. But they expect you to pay the $5 parking plus the $15 entry free to go in to see hot air balloons which aren't even there it was just food trucks and it's stayed where band was supposed to be playing there was no band playing. So we decided to just turn around and head up to State Farm Stadium because they had a free RV show at we decided to go to. That was more like it. Later that night we decided to drive back to the Airfield to see about the hot air balloons and lo lo and behold there was only five hot air balloons doing the night glow we looked and saw a solid from across the street at the QT not worth the $15 to get in and not worth the $5 parking this was a bust save your money do not go to this event next year. read more

A fun family event! We got there around five and I was initially skeptical. Not many balloons to see but live music and plenty of vendors. Kids went in the bounce houses and played games - this is included with the price of admission. The evening glow made it worth the cost of admission! You can walk close as the balloons are inflated and made to glow. There was around 20 balloons; too many to count easily. Great photos opportunities. It is critical to time your arrival; the balloons are not at the festival all day. read more

Arizona Balloon Classic - AZ Balloon Classic evening glow - Festivals Near Me - Goodyear, Arizona

They Literally stole money. $25 for tickets. No balloons to see whatsoever. Only there for 10 minutes and they would not refund the tickets. Children were utterly disappointed read more

No Hot Air Ballon festival ... Really. We went at 11:00 and so did Cars with plenty of kids... Only to find out ALL OF the balloons are in the early AM. And return SOMETIME IN THE EVENING .. Many cars like ours turned around as there were a few tents and some food trucks ... That's It... Very disappointing .. If your going to have a ballon Fest from 8 To 10. Them have at least a Ballon there ... Nothing was said about No Ballon's at$25.00 and$5.00 to park .. Not even a Tethered as advertised ballon was at the show... Then again ... WHAT SHOW ??? read more

First balloon event I've ever attended. So much fun to watch the balloons being laid out then gradually filled, then slowly rising into the air. Found out about event too late to get to ride in one, though. Parking cost $5 but worth it since close to the field. read more

Had a lot of fun at the Arizona Balloon Classic. Arrived bright and early to watch the balloons lift off. Got some terrible hot chocolate (aka warm milk) at one of the vendors but got our money back so it was all good. Got some better (and cheaper) hot chocolate from another vendor. Returned in the evening for the balloon glow. There were far more people and we had to park pretty far away but it still didn't feel crowded, which was a pleasant surprise. Got some mini donuts, flavored sodas, a bacon wrapped hot dog, and chocolate dipped cheesecake, which was delicious! Enjoyed walking around and seeing the balloons. read more

Showed up at 11:00 AM and was turned away because there were NO balloons and was told they wouldn't be back until 6:30 PM. I messaged multiple times, they saw the messages on Facebook, no response. Really sad that this event was so incredibly not as advertised, and even sadder that the people responsible for running the event are clearly not taking responsibility. I am still waiting on a response and a refund for an event that for me and many others, was nonexistent. read more

Sorry but we can't recommend this event which is very sad because it has great potential. Clearly the company running it is poorly organized and unable to communicate even the most basic of instructions to their staff and their volunteers. We bought their "Classic Pass" which included tee shirts (oops they forgot to tell the vendor so they are shipping them), food samples from a celebrity chef (oops he didn't show so they got the food trucks to participate but you had to stand in line to find if they were participating and most weren't) and you had to have a punch card but they didn't tell the volunteers this so we spent an hour trying to figure how to get the food and drink included in the Classic Pass. Then the "big event" The Glow was a joke because it was supposed to start at 6:30 and the balloonists inflated and waited for the call and it never came. By 7 pm the call to glow still hadn't happened so the balloons started deflating. We were very disappointed. So why two stars - the balloons were beautiful and there were 15 (even though they promised as many as 30) so the event was still pretty cool. read more

Terrific event. Advertised cost was $15 per person but you could get discount tickets online. Additionally, they offered discounts for veterans and seniors. Access into and out of Goodyear Ballpark was easy. The setup was excellent. The balloons were in a big grassy field on the west side of the venue, non-food vendors and the music stage were on the north side of a big parking lot, the kids zone was on the east side and food vendors were on the south side. In the middle of all of this were ramps for a BMX stunt show. The total area was huge and because of the smart layout, there was plenty of space for everything and we did not feel one bit crowded even though there were a lot of people there. The kids zone was amazing, probably the best one we've been to for these types of events. There were about 10 bounce houses/slides, which meant plenty of age-appropriate opportunities for kids to have fun without the overcrowding that's typical when only a few are available. Our three-year old grandson easily moved from one bounce house to another and had a blast. The band was excellent. They played a wide variety of music and frequently got audience participation. The food options were varied and plentiful. Roughly 30 food trucks with just about anything you desired for dinner or dessert. The BMX show was impressive. The young men put on quite a show. Finally, the balloons. Rides were offered during the late afternoon by a few balloons and as the sun began to set, roughly 10 inflated and began to glow to music when it became dark. They lit up the night for about an hour and a short fireworks show capped off this wonderful day. Our group of seven adults and a three-year old all had a great time and will definitely go again next year. read more