Me and my husband were finally able to get some time off from our work and we made plans to spend the short amount of time experiencing something we have never done before. Looking for some short weekend getaways, I stumbled upon the Utopia Of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. An oasis class ship that is set to do it's inaugural sail on July 19. It is the second largest cruise ship in the world next to it's sister, the Icon of the seas. What better way to experience and be introduced to the cruise life than being able to sail on a new ship. So in June 2024, we booked a reservation on what will be known as the World's biggest weekend, the Utopia of the Seas. The booking process was a breeze, choose your available dates, pick a room and pay. Can't be anymore straightforward than that. We chose our sail dates of August 9 to August 12, booked a balcony room with ocean view. For t...
The Annual Gulf Shores Hot Air Balloon festival is being held this year in Foley, Alabama, at the popular OWA park. It's currently happening as of this post. From May 12th to 14th. Free admission to the public. Expecting to have more than 40 hot air baloons taking flight at dawn hours and also dusk, weather permitting of course. Festival Open with food vendors, arts and craft vendors and retail vendors.
Ample parking spaces, including those for handicapped and VIP areas. Last day for the event is tomorrow. Here's the schedule for tomorrow's event: (source:https://gulfcoastballoonfestival.com/schedule/)
11:00 am – 2:00 pm – Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo**
11:30 am – 11:45 am – Legends Sneak Peek and National Anthem*
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm – PCI Tribal Performance*
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Mario Mena*
2:00 – 4:00 pm – Interactive Hot Air Balloon Display (wind and weather permitting)
2:30 pm – 2:45 pm – Legends Sneak Peek*
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm – Hot Air Balloon Pilots **
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – DJ Music*
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm – Kirk Jay*
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Miss Alabama, Lauren Bradford**
7:30 pm – Tethered Rides, Balloon Glow and Mass Ascension begin (weather and wind permitting)
7:00 pm – 10:30 pm – Velcro Pygmies*
Check out my short video compilation of the balloons glowing
Beautiful Night With the Balloons Glowing
I dropped by the evening of Thursday just to have a look of what it's going to be like. Saw a few balloons glowing and on display. I did not really stay that long. Just a brisk walk through the area and headed back home.
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Early Friday got up early just to see what the event is going to start off like. Plenty of concession stands and tons of visitors lined up to get into the park. Not a balloon in sight tho. We missed the flight time by a few hours, it was scheduled at 6-8am. Decided to just take some pictures, mostly of myself lol and went off to spend the day exploring Alabama. Honestly speaking, I was hoping it would like a lot like the Albuquerque Balloon festival I went to once, It was not. I was expecting hot air balloons to fill up the sky all day. Did not really meet my expectations. I'm pretty sure it's still an awesome event to be at if you like live music, seeing people, eating great food. I did not stick around long enough to see how the rest of the days event turned out to be.
Since I just live nearby, I will definitely be checking out the mass ascension at 7:30 pm! See you there!
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