20th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta: A Weekend of Everything that Flies

by - February 24, 2016


This is actually my first time to go into a hot air balloon fiesta. And probably my last time too. So.. I was with friends. We drove all the way from Manila to Clark to witness this hot air balloon thingy. For introductions, I thought this fiesta was just all about hot air balloon until I read the entire program flow. They also features different objects that fly. They have skydiving, paragliding, they even have aircraft radio control aerobatics show (whatever this is). 

Since we bought our tickets online, no need to go through the long queue of the tickets. There's a separate entrance for those who bought their tickets online. There are a lot of concessionaires inside so you wouldn't have to go outside just for food. Just be mindful of the liquids you take in 'coz you wouldn't want to go in and out of the portable CRs, I tell you. There are also mini booths for the kids to enjoy. Photo ops with a camel? Why not! With a horse? sure! You can even have your photo taken with army tanks.


We went inside at around 6 AM and the sun is still setting.




This is actually a fun activity if it's not that hot or there are shades available for the people. Because after all the hot air balloons flew, even there's a program flow, it became boring... and super hot because it's already 10 am and Mr. Sun is up and about. We tried to roam around and the place is too crowded already. Maybe it's better if they could control the number of people and accommodate limited number of people only so it wouldn't be so crowded. We could see long queues for portable CRs which is also not a good thing because I'd rather dehydrate myself than use one of those already smelly "comfort rooms" slash toilet.  



We left the area before lunch and went to SM Clark to make ourselves refreshed and to pass time. It's also better to go somewhere else rather than toast yourself under the scorching sun in the hot air balloon grounds. We played bulliards for an hour, ate lunch, and a little chitchat at Caffe Bene.


Around 4 PM, we went back to Clark Freeport Zone but we got inside at around 5:30 PM? Traffic going inside is too time consuming. 





So after a long day, we went home after the Hot Air balloon glow segment which is kinda funny because we thought the hot air balloons would fly again. But what happened is it just looks like a dancing lights from the hot air balloons. Glad I was with friends to make this experience fun even for me, the event itself is not fun.


Don't get me wrong, I think this Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is a good idea. But maybe they could improve it more because they should also consider the temperature during lunch time, the number of people going in and out of the grounds, as well as how would they uplift the mood of the people because for me, it is really boring. It is a good experience for first timers but I doubt that if ever you experienced this you would like to come back next year (if there's an event like this happening again next year).
 
It would be better if they planned it according to the attendee's perspective. But all in all, I think it was a successful event. This is just my opinion. Not gonna go back again. Not with that smelly portable CRs. Lol.


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2 comments

  1. To ride a hot air balloon is in my bucket list, have heard already about this hot air balloon fiesta in Clark and i thought that if i will not be able to succeed taking a hot air balloon ride in Turkey, might as well experience it in the Philippines. haha!

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  2. Anonymous4/12/2016

    I went there before a few years back. I have to agree, after the hot air balloon was gone, you're left doing nothing in the middle of the heat. We were lucky that we were able to find an aircon tent (we paid for buffet to get in), but still. Experiencing it once was enough. Haha!

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