After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, the 2021 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta returned with a bang an inflation in 2021.
This was something Shae and I really wanted to experience, so despite having spent a few months in New Mexico earlier this year, we returned for another 6 weeks from mid-September to mid-October. We spent the first few weeks in Santa Fe, Farmington and Gallup, then moved on to Albuquerque in time for the Balloon Fiesta.
Shae’s mom and stepdad joined us for the first part of it, then her dad and stepmom joined us for the second part. We went to both the Mass Ascension in the morning and the Night Glow in the evening, so here’s what the whole experience was like and some tips in case you want to visit in the future.
How To Get To The International Balloon Fiesta
Parking
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is held at Balloon Fiesta Park. There’s some parking on-site which is where we parked on the very first morning. We got there at about 4:30am which is why we were able to park relatively close by.
We returned that evening for the Night Glow, but weren’t able to park as close. The city and police do a great job of directing you where you need to go once each parking lot becomes full. They have a lot of parking lots available near Balloon Fiesta park, so you shouldn’t ever be too far from the park.
Parking was $20 each time we visited, so it was $20 for morning sessions and $20 for evening sessions. That can therefore add up, although it could still be worthwhile if there’s a group of you visiting in the same vehicle. Parking was cash-only, so be sure to have that on you.
Parking Tip – 1
Seeing as there’s no guarantee that you’ll be parking where you expect, when you arrive take a photo of the parking lot. Your phone should record details of its location/GPS co-ordinates, so later on if you forget where you parked, you can bring up that information on your phone and get directions back there.
Parking Tip – 2
As an alternative, you can download the International Balloon Fiesta app. Not only does that help you keep track of the running order of activities each day and everything else you might need to know, it has a feature where you can mark where you parked which essentially does the same thing I mentioned above.
Shuttle Bus
We hadn’t originally planned to park at the Balloon Fiesta. We’d booked a stay at the Hyatt Place Albuquerque/Uptown (here’s my review) as it was only a few minutes from a Park & Ride where we could leave our car and take a shuttle bus.
In 2021, these were the Park & Ride round-trip ticket prices. Note that these had to be bought online – you couldn’t show up at the Park & Ride lots and buy tickets.
Purchased in advance (10% service charge added on top):
- Adults (13-61) – $22
- Seniors (62+) – $20
- Children (6-12) – $10
- Children (5 and under) – Free
Purchases made after midnight for morning sessions on the day of, or afternoon for evening sessions on the day of (10% service charge added on top):
- Adults (13-61) – $25
- Seniors (62+) – $25
- Children (6-12) – $12
- Children (5 and under) – Free
The prices listed above included entry to the Balloon Fiesta which cost $15 per session for anyone over the age of 12. That means you’d be looking at $5-$10 per person round-trip for the shuttle bus ride itself depending on when you paid for the tickets. That’s a reasonable price, but the convenience of driving ourselves and paying $20 for parking won out.
How Much Are International Balloon Fiesta Tickets?
As mentioned above, tickets to the 2021 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta cost $15 per person over 12 years old per session. That means that if you want to attend both the Mass Ascension in the morning and the Night Glow in the evening, you’re looking at a cost of $30 per person unless you stay at Balloon Fiesta Park all day.
You can buy tickets online before you arrive, but be aware that it can take a few hours for them to arrive in your email. We bought ours just before we arrived, not realizing this would happen. However, they still let us in with the email confirmation. You can also buy Balloon Fiesta tickets at the gate – it’s only Park & Ride packages you can’t buy in-person.
One of the nice things about buying tickets online is that you don’t have to specify a date or whether you’ll be visiting for a morning or evening session. When you buy a ticket, it’s good for any session on any day of the International Balloon Fiesta. It’s great having that kind of flexibility in case there’s bad weather or something else comes up and you want to visit on a different day instead.
Morning Session – Dawn Patrol & Mass Ascension
The Balloon Fiesta has two main sessions – one in the morning and one in the evening. The morning session features the Mass Ascension where hundreds of balloons go up and, if you’re there early enough, you’ll also get to see the Dawn Patrol.
Dawn Patrol
We showed up on the opening day (Saturday October 2) at 4:30am. Well, that’s when we got to the parking lot; there was a bit of a line to get in, but it moved quickly and so we got inside Balloon Fiesta Park by 5am.
There were, in theory, security gates to get in, but this seemed more like security theatre than actually protecting anyone from anything. They seemed to be more focused on getting everyone through, so they just waved everyone through the metal detectors regardless of whether or not you had anything metallic on you.
Concession stands were open and serving food and drinks.
We’d brought along a picnic blanket and a couple of lawn chairs to have somewhere to sit, so we set them up next to a balloon which was laid out on the ground ready to be inflated.
They were due to start inflating balloons for the Dawn Patrol at 5:45am ready for launching at 6am. I don’t know if they were running a little behind or if they delayed things a little due to weather conditions, but they started inflating the balloons just before 6:15am.
The Dawn Patrol balloonists use lighting systems that enable them to fly in the dark, continuing to fly until it’s light enough to identify landing sites.
I counted 11 balloons participating in the Dawn Patrol on the opening morning. Other balloonists taking off during the Mass Ascension later in the morning appreciate the Dawn Patrol going first as it helps them see weather conditions and get a better idea of how strong the wind is that morning.
At about 6:30am the Dawn Patrol started taking off.
One of the best parts of the Dawn Patrol is that they launch while it’s still dark. That means the balloons really light up the sky when their burners are going.
Dawn Patrol/Mass Ascension Clothing Tip
Be sure to either wear warm clothing or bring some with you if you’ll be arriving early in the morning. Even if it feels somewhat mild when you leave your hotel or Airbnb, it’ll be colder at Balloon Fiesta Park as it’s out in the open and there’s more of a breeze. I wore flip-flops as it didn’t feel too cold when we left and I thought we’d be there all day when it got warmer. That was a mistake!
Sitting/Standing Tip
Balloon Fiesta Park is massive and you’re free to sit or stand pretty much anywhere provided balloonists aren’t wanting to set up right where you’re sitting/standing.
Just be careful when walking along not to walk over ropes. You’ll see ropes every so often as they’re used to hold the hot air balloons in place once they’re inflated. Some are attached to the top of the balloon, so if it suddenly starts rising as you’re stepping over it, you could trip up or get a painful jolt to the groin.
Mass Ascension
Once the Dawn Patrol was underway, other hot air balloons started inflating ready for the Mass Ascension. Before that began though, it was time for the National Anthem.
A couple of balloons took off carrying the Star Spangled Banner beneath them, with Robert Garcia singing the National Anthem.
Towards the end of the National Anthem there was a flyover performed by Chili Flight – a flying squad from New Mexico. Here’s a full video of it:
From there on out, the Mass Ascension was pretty much a free-for-all with balloons taking off constantly all over the place.
If you want to go up in a hot air balloon from within Balloon Fiesta Park during the Mass Ascension, your only option is to take a flight with Rainbow Ryders. Those rides are expensive though, so on another morning we took a balloon flight with a different company. That was done at the same time as the mass ascension, but we took off from a few miles away.
I think Rainbow Ryders charged something like $800 per person for a flight during the Mass Ascension, although I could be wrong about that. Our hot air balloon flight from a few miles away was about 1/3 of that cost.
Seeing as you’re free to wander around Balloon Fiesta Park, we took the opportunity to check out all the other balloons and watch some of them get inflated.
Here are some of the most fun designs, as well as some of the corporate-sponsored balloons that were there.
Food At The 2021 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta – Morning Ascension
Towards the end of the Mass Ascension we were starting to get hungry, so we wandered off to different concession stands to get something to eat.
I was interested in getting some ribbon fries, but when getting ribbon fries at other events in the past the portion size had been fairly small. As a result, I also ordered a turkey leg.
It turns out I needn’t have ordered the turkey leg as the serving of ribbon fries was enormous. They had three optional toppings – bacon, green chilis and queso. I don’t care for cheese and so passed on the queso, but happily accepted the bacon and green chilis.
Here’s how it was served. I put the turkey leg next to the ribbon fries to give a sense of scale – the turkey leg itself was pretty big, so that hopefully shows how massive the serving of ribbon fries was.
Food Tips
1) The concession stand I went to had a sign advertising $2 hot dogs. Those were sold out by the time I got there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a very limited number of hot dogs available. That way the sign draws in customers who, having waited in line for a while, decide to buy something more expensive instead rather than having wait in line elsewhere. Or maybe I’m just cynical!
2) Some of the stands accepted credit cards, but others were cash-only. It’s therefore worth having a stash of cash on you if you’re not bringing food and drinks in with you.
Daytime Activities
After the Mass Ascension had finished, that was pretty much it for the Balloon Fiesta until the evening. There was a band playing and I think there might have been occasional activities going on like chainsaw wood carving, but that’s about it.
It’s therefore worth expecting for everything to be done by about 9am-10am. If you get up at 3am like we had, having the Mass Ascension finish so early turns out to be a good thing as it means you can head back to your hotel or Airbnb to take a snooze if needed.
Night Glow
We returned that evening for the Night Glow. Unlike the Dawn Patrol and Mass Ascension in the morning where hundreds of hot air balloons take off, the evening sessions don’t have any balloons taking off. That’s because it would be unsafe as pilots wouldn’t be able to see where they need to land.
That doesn’t mean the evening session isn’t any fun though. We arrived at about 5:30pm, with the Night Glow itself not starting until about 7pm once it started getting dark.
In the meantime, we took advantage of the food and drink options available. Our first stop was the Chocolate Chip Cookie Company for a tub of soft, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies – a solid choice.
We then made our way to the Captain Morgan zone to get some drinks. There was a fairly long line, but we eventually got our drinks and managed to snag an empty table and got chatting to Amelia and Eric who were visiting from Arkansas.
The Captain Morgan zone was right next where balloons were being inflated, so we were able to keep track of their progress.
It started getting dark pretty quickly, so we made our way out of the enclosed area and headed over to the balloons to enjoy the Night Glow.
Although pilots can’t fly their hot air balloons in the evening, they still inflate them in the evening. During the Night Glow there’s a countdown every couple of minutes and then all the pilots light up their balloons for about 15 seconds at a time.
It sounds a little weird if you’re not there, but seeing that many hot air balloons light up at night was strangely fascinating and kind of magical. Here’s a video from just one of the many times they lit up their balloons.
Firework Displays
The Night Glow went on from about 7pm-7:30pm. The night session ends with a firework display, so before that started we headed over to the restrooms.
While waiting in line we spotted something in the sky. Chili Flight – who’d done the flyover during the National Anthem in the morning – had parachutists descending while setting off fireworks.
This was a crazy thing to watch. It would make me nervous enough jumping out of a plane, let alone jumping out of a plane with fireworks strapped to me. Even more so if I wasn’t the first one out of the plane seeing as I could potentially be floating down in the path of someone else’s fireworks!
It was that craziness that made it fun to watch – here’s a video of it.
About 45 minutes later (at 8:20pm or so) the closing fireworks display started. We were excited for it because it was a firework display set to music. We loved Thunder Over Louisville in Kentucky – a 30 minute firework display set to music – when we attended that a couple of years ago, so we had high hopes for what Albuquerque had to offer at the International Balloon Fiesta.
Oh man, it was awful. Seriously abysmal. The fireworks themselves were fine, but it was set to the most morose soundtrack of country music. I can’t stand country music and so that didn’t help matters, but they could at least have had country music that was upbeat rather than what they offered. Even something performed by Staind would’ve been more cheerful.
That wasn’t even the worst part. After about 9 minutes, the fireworks display randomly and abruptly ended. Normally when a fireworks display ends, people clap and cheer.
Not this time. This was the quietest end of a fireworks display I’ve ever experienced. Here’s the full display with some sarcastic commentary from me and Shae along the way – you have been warned as to how awful the music paired with the fireworks was!
It seemed like there was some kind of mistake with the grand finale of the fireworks display. After the display’s weird ending, we packed up our stuff and headed towards the exit of Balloon Fiesta Park. As we headed in the direction, there was suddenly a huge fireworks display that started. This lasted for about a minute and was presumably the grand finale being set off about five minutes too late!
Fireworks Tip
Bring along some headphones to play your own music to go along with their fireworks display 😉
Hotel Tip
We stayed at the Hyatt Place Albuquerque/Uptown as it was only 5,000 points per night versus something like $300 per night if we’d paid cash. Hyatt has just started implementing peak pricing for stays booked using points but even so, that means that this property – and the two other Hyatt properties in Albuquerque – still only cost 6,500 points per night during the Balloon Fiesta.
That’s still incredibly good value considering you can buy 6,500 points for ~$156 even when there’s not a sale on Hyatt points. When there is a sale on Hyatt points, you could pick up 6,500 points for closer to $125 per night – far cheaper than what you’d pay in cash for any hotels during the Balloon Fiesta.
n.b. If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, those can be transferred to Hyatt on a 1:1 basis (in increments of 1,000 points).
Final Thoughts
We had a lot of fun at the 2021 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We’d recommend making the effort to attend both the Dawn Patrol/Mass Ascension in the morning and a Night Glow in the evening.
Something to be aware of is that windy weather can have an impact on events. There were at least two Night Glows during the 2021 Balloon Fiesta where not much happened because it wasn’t safe for balloons to be inflated. If you’ll be in Albuquerque for more than one night, it’d be best to try going to both morning and evening sessions early on during your stay. That way if there are any kind of cancellations or reduced activities, you’ll hopefully be able to get the full experience on another day. It’d be a shame to leave it until the end of your trip, only to have the weather play havoc with your plans.
Our original plan had been to do the Dawn Patrol/Mass Ascension on one day and the Night Glow on a different day as we figured it’d be a super-long day otherwise. However, there isn’t really anything to do during the day at the Balloon Fiesta, so you have about 6-8 hours of downtime where you can get some rest if you do want to head back to Balloon Fiesta Park on the same day for the evening session. We therefore did both sessions on the same day, with a nap in between.
Traffic in Albuquerque wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we expected. Because people seemed to leave the park at different times, there wasn’t a ludicrously long line of cars to leave the parking lots. Parking and traffic was managed very well by the city and police which was a pleasant surprise as we’d anticipated sitting in traffic for ages.
Wow-beautiful! Thank you for showing us.
Thanks!