Like most people I have a handful of fears in life. Heights tops the list. Which you might find strange if you know me because I LOVE roller coasters. Those heights don't phase me, but you'll never find me bungee jumping, or jumping from a high dive, or even calmly walking across any sort of foot bridge that is high in the air.
So why in the WORLD would I do Characters in Flight?
Well, I had a Groupon. Yep, a discount made me click "buy" and risk my life. ;-)
First - what is Characters in Flight? It's a tethered Aérophile balloon in Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. Depending on the weather it soars up to 400 feet in the air. The entire experience is about 10 minutes with the flight lasting around 6 minutes. For safety reasons, the balloon can only go up in certain weather, if the wind gets too strong, it will be closed.
And
of course our day had perfect weather, so we went straight up, all 400 feet!
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| Prices are listed in the picture: $18/ages 10+, $12/ages 3-9, under 3 is free |
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| The balloon has Disney characters all around it |
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| No backing out now, it's almost my turn! |
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| WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?! |
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| Smiling! (and totally faking it for the sake of the kid!) |
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| Here we go....! |
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| Hey! There's Epcot! |
And that's when I found myself actually enjoying this flight! The balloon operator is very calming and informs the group when to feel a couple very slight bumps while going up and down. The platform is completely caged in and very steady, I never felt like I was off balance or unsafe at any point. And I captured some fantastic pictures!
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| Downtown Disney |
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| Downtown Disney and some of the surrounding hotels |
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| Captain Jacks, Little Miss Matched and Once Upon a Toy in Downtown Disney |
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| Cirque de Soliel, Disney Quest and the House of Blues in Downtown Disney - plus, if you ever can't find a spot to park, check THAT lot! |
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| The Contemporary Hotel near the Magic Kingdom |
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| Saratoga Springs Resort |
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| Downtown Disney & Saratoga Springs Resort |
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| Downtown Disney |
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| Real smiles this time! |
Video:
Characters in Flight (53 seconds)
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| The walkway around the balloon. |
And after "risking my life" I had to check out what exactly was holding us.
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| The tether feeds from a machine off to the side, underground. |
This was a really great experience! I'm so glad we did it and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again! If you are looking for something unique to do while at Walt Disney World...or if the Groupon comes online again...I definitely would recommend this experience!
Labels: Downtown Disney, Outside the Theme Parks, Walt Disney World
