Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

[kcfissel]

We are thinking about springing for a trip to the balloon festival this October, and would like some input from folks who have been there.

We're thinking of a Fantasy RV tour as advertised by GSC.
Is the RV park that they advertise, close to the launch field, tolerable for habitation? I guess it's dry camping, so I suppose we can expect generators running constantly.
Is it still warm enough to require A/C at night at that time of year?

Any info would be helpful for planning.

Thanks.

[kcfissel]

Well, I just spoke with a delightful lady, Nichole, and she answered our questions, so we pulled the trigger, and booked with Adventure Caravans. We are #94 of 103 spots. Other than being a bit lighter in the wallet, we are on our way west. How exciting!

I guess it's about time to get into the trip planner.

[prichardson]

You may already be too late to get with an organized group for this year; but they are the way to go. Adventure & Fantasy have arrangements for electric. You are in an open field with closely spaced parking. Expect cool nights at that time of the year.

[Boband4]

Passin Thru wrote:
We used to leave NM for the balloon fest. Too many people all looking up. I do recommend you visit old town, buy some frozen Hatch Green Chili and Eat a Lota Burger with Green Chili. Otherwise take some suntan lotion because the sun will burn your face because you are at 5000 ft.

Fantastic memories, I lived there for 10 years. I have been on the field for the mass ascencions; but it can be gorgeous a little farther (about 5 miles) away. On the field can be overwhelming because the balloons are so big that the one right above you totally blocks your view of the rest of them. Best activity times are sunrise and early morning due to air temp changes as tne sun comes up. Expect long lines everywhere if you want to go out for breakfast. The special shapes balloons are guaranteed to draw lots of ooooohs and awwwws! Be on the lookout for lots of traffic probs as the balloon's chase trucks are following their balloons throughout the morning. Drivers everywhere are looking up, not watching where they are going. Balloons use a lot of propane so fill your tanks before you go, so don't have to try to get it done there. Nighttime balloon glows (balloons stay on ground but light up their burners) are best viewed from farthur away so you can see the full effect of all the balloons lighting off at once. When you are out for the day you will hear the whoooosh of a burner, look up and see a balloon right overhead. Then there is the wonderful aroma throughout the whole city of roasting green chile....but that is a different thread. Go, be prepared for traffic, have extra memory available for tons of photos, and have a great time.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 Hi, we went to the Balloon Fiesta one year and want to do it again. It was fantastic. We signed up with the Airstream club and dry camped on the grounds. I brought a quiet generator and only used it in the evening to cool our trailer. Make sure that you bring two good cameras. One evening it got very windy and blew one of my vent lids off. I borrowed a ladder and duct taped the broken vent lid back on. I now have vent covers on my trailer. Shortly after I duct taped my vent lid back in place, it rained by the bucket loads. This vent was directly over our queen bed. We were lucky that the day time weather was always great. Many people, even us, thought about leaving a day early, but very glad that we didn't. Every day is different and you should love it. We never had to buy water or have our tanks drained, but there are trucks there to do it, if you want. This is definitely something to check off of your bucket list if you have one.

[Passin_Thru]

We used to leave NM for the balloon fest. Too many people all looking up. I do recommend you visit old town, buy some frozen Hatch Green Chili and Eat a Lota Burger with Green Chili. Otherwise take some suntan lotion because the sun will burn your face because you are at 5000 ft.

[Dennis_Smith]

We went last year and was there for the entire 10 days. But we stayed at american campground down town, we had the bus package. So drove 10 miles to the mall, parked walked 100 yards got on the school bus which took 20 minutes to the field, and it dropped us off right next to the balloon field. Set up great and when we go back will be the same thing we do again. On the days we didn't do the balloon thing we didn't have to fight the traffic getting in and out of the balloon field area. We used this for both morning and evening activities. I think the bus was $8 a day.

[gmw_photos]

Not a Clue wrote:
We have signed up with Adventure Caravans for this year. We will have electric on site and water and sewer dump trucks available. Check out their website and they will have all the details. Fantasy will probably have the same.

Yes, I should have pointed out in my post above there are some sites that have hookups as I recall, they are up toward the "front". I wanted to cheap ! .... so I stayed in the back where it's all dry camping.

[Not_a_Clue]

We have signed up with Adventure Caravans for this year. We will have electric on site and water and sewer dump trucks available. Check out their website and they will have all the details. Fantasy will probably have the same.

[gmw_photos]

I would echo what has been said above. I was "camped" towards the far end, so it was a nice five to ten minute walk up to the launch area. And yes, you're basically parked in there like sardines, so it essentially becomes something of a big community party.
If you don't have a generator, ( I don't ) the biggest challenge is maintaining battery power in the camper. I used a minimal solar panel, so had to be very careful in using the water pump ( for showers ), etc. My camper is like most in that it needs that 12V battery power to keep the propane fridge running. If I were going to do it again, I'd double my battery capacity and probably quadruple my solar panel capacity.
It was fun, I got some awesome photos and had fun talking with and hanging out with neighbors.
I made res very early, and I planned and did arrive early, so it was fun being there and watching over several days, the place fill up.

[AFHauler]

We went to the balloon festival in 2013 for our 40th anniversary and loved it. Here's what we found:

• you want to stay at the festival campsite otherwise you will end up spending hours and hours in traffic and trying to park.
• the campsite is 'festival' parking, meaning the sites are very close together and no services. There are some trucks that will come to your site to empty waste tanks or fill water but I don't know what the cost was.
• a lot of generators are running but there is quiet time from 10 pm to 6 am.
• there are free shuttle buses running about every 10 minutes between the campsite and balloon site all day, starting about 5 am (I think). They dropped you off at a special ticket booth with minimal line-ups.
• the website (http://balloonfiesta.com/) has a lot of great information on it and the people who answered the phone were very knowledgable.
  

The balloons were awesome and we'd love to go again.

[PenMan]

Just so you know, I live in Albuquerque and have never camped at the Fiesta. I'm not sure if GSC uses a campground or has spaces on the Balloon Fiesta grounds but that is where you want to be located. It's getting a little late to plan for this years fiesta but if you can book a spot yourself it would probably save you a lot of money. You really want to be on the grounds for the best experience. You'll have balloons flying right over you. As far as the weather that time of year, you will probably not need any A/C at night but may need it during the day. In fact, you will definitely need a jacket to watch the evening balloon glows, etc. I lived in SC (worked in Charlotte but lived across the border) for many years and it will be a welcome change to get away from the heat and humidity. When I first moved my family from SC to NM I took my teenage sons tent camping in the mountains. It was the middle of July. I told them to bring their winter coats as it would get cold at night. They chose to ignore my advice (they were teenagers so they knew everything) and they almost froze. So if you plan to visit the mountains while you are in NM you may even want to bring a heavy coat. I hope you can get a spot as it is definitely worth the trip. Travel safe.