Plano Balloon Festival - High on Nothing but Disappointment!

Well ladies and gentlemen,

Let me be the first to apologize for giving you any “HIGH HOPES” with my post about the Plano Balloon Festival. Now I'm crossing my fingers that some of you had a good time?!? Because all it was was a bunch of HOT AIR for me....and I wish I could say literally......but I didn't even see one balloon.

I planned to go on Saturday with my hubby and 7 month old, but a nap ran late, husband's jog went 20 minutes over and by the time we were in the car it was only a few minutes until the 6pm Balloon Launch. We wouldn't have made the drive from McKinney in time, so we decided to go on Sunday instead.

Upon arriving to the general vicinity on Sunday, we were surprised to find only $5 and $10 parking, and both of them seemed quite far from the event. It was disappointing to see all the empty college parking lots blocked off, which were much closer to the event. The empty spaces, seemed to be laughing at us, quite the cruel joke. It was hot, so we found an apartment complex that had open parking about the same distance away.

Can I mention there were no sidewalks to push our stroller? We had to get creative on the grassy areas.

After what seemed a mile or more in the sweltering heat, we made it to the admission tent, $10 for two adults, even though there was only a few hours left in the festival. Oh, well. Now, another great long walk to the actual area where the balloons were supposed to be kept.

Hmm, no balloons. As we waiting for the 5:30pm parachute exhibition, we strolled around the vendor area. Seemed to be the same booths over and over, just duplicated in different rows. Annoying. No shade, except for one little covered picnic table with water misters which we huddled under with our infant. 

Hubby ran to get us a lemonade to share – ching ching – FIVE DOLLARS please. I'm really not a whiner, but this lemonade tasted like crystal light with a dollop of sunscreen in it. Hard to drink, really.

We never saw any parachutes, or planes over head, and right about when the balloon launch was scheduled, an announcement came over the P.A.saying the event was cancelled due to impending weather. Hmm, looks like blue skies – same as when we got here. And yet, you let us hang out, spend money on crappy lemonade and only tell us the event was CANCELLED when it was “TIME TO LAUNCH”.

We were wondering why we didn't see any balloons on the field getting prepped to go. Not one the entire time. Needless to say, this Plano Balloon Festival was a waste of my time.

Guess who was missing in action as we walked back to our cars? The volunteers who we paid our $10 admission to less than an hour prior. Coincidence? I think not. I would have asked for a refund.

Overall Rating: SAD FACE x10