Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

They have fake reviews& are publishing fake photos when there are no balloons on site Dont waste your journey!!!!
Apr 8th, 2023

A festival that has caused the death of horses and refused to take accountability. Should be ashamed of themselves, I will never support this and will support people to actively campaign against them. DO NOT SUPPORT.
Mar 13th, 2023

Feb 11th, 2023

Great annual event in Bristol.
Nov 16th, 2022

The website warned that the disabled car park was on uneven ground, understatement of the year! The roped off main walkway slopes off very steeply to one side and the terrain was basically a ploughed field with lumps of concrete and the spikes of old metal fence posts ( sharp enough to puncture wheelchair or scooter tyres) sticking out. Although we had a shop mobility type scooter which is relatively high to the ground compared to some micro scooters it still grounded in places and even where there was a metal walkway it was short of the path so the scooter went down the dip - we were rescued on both occasions by helpful locals who lifted the scooter with mum on it back onto slightly better ground. Thank you to those heroes. Even on the lowest speed the controls were wrenched out of peoples hands by the uneven ground an accident waiting to happen - surely in the 40 years this has been running it should have been possible to remove the metal spikes and make the disabled parking and disabled access to the site less of an assault course. Many people turned up with manual wheelchairs attempted to pull them backwards over the not inconsiderable distance to the entrance then decided it was not worth risking and went home. Micro scooters we saw were basically carried in as they couldn't cope with the terrain. Whole event was huge disappointment nothing to see or do, no tethered balloons or events, as advertised, in the tiny arena and a choice of sitting on the side where all the barbecues were, being gassed by the fumes or sitting somewhere else and breathing in the diesel fumes from the multitude of diesel generators on the overpriced food stalls. We paid 11 to park and 25 for a scooter. on arrival at early afternoon they were already saying nothing would fly and there were no tethered balloons or anything other than food stalls and fun fair. By 11am on day one the few toilets (only one of which was suitable for disabled but not marked disabled so queued ages in the scrum for the loos and kept losing out to desperate able bodied people who moved quicker) had run out of chemicals to flush them god knows what they were like after that there were one gents mobile block and about 15 portaloos for the thousands of people who were there. Also what is declared in terms and conditions but not prominently is that if you leave the site you have to pay 11 to get back in the day parking does not let you back on same ticket which is a rip off i think. My elderly mum having enjoyed the southampton balloon festival back in the day when it was good has always wanted to visit the bristol event as it is billed as bigger and better..... tiny compared to southampton which was only on the common nothing between launches no tethered balloons as advertised no stands other than food or fun fair no right turn to get back onto the motorway to come home because they close the road off for people to get in so you're forced through the town centre on the way out - the one that the website tells you to avoid adding another 40mins to the journey while you wait for the swing bridge to allow traffic through. In the main area there were several post holes about 4"x4" and 18" deep with small children running around again accident waiting to happen.. Never again
Apr 30th, 2023