DH and I were planning to attend the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque on October 9, but he just broke his foot a week or so ago and is in a soft cast. He is supposed to stay off of it as much as possible. He thinks we should still try to attend, but from the website it looks to me like there is no way to avoid having to walk some pretty long distances given the size of the grounds and where the parking lots are. We live on the east coast and have never attended so I don't have a great sense of what the options are, although I have looked at the website. Our primary interest in attending is photography. Are there any good vantage points in the area or is there somewhere near the grounds where we could get decent photographs without him having to walk long distances?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ow, your poor husband!

If you take the Park and Ride bus, you don't have to walk as far. It drops you off pretty close to the field.

Lee Ann

Can/will he use a wheel chair? While LeeAnn said about the park and ride bus dropping you near the entrance, there is still alot of walking to be done if you want to get up close to see the balloons. The field is grass, if it rains just before you go, it can be pretty soggy and I doubt a wheelchair will work well on the field in that case. You can just sit close to where you enter, at tables near the food concession stands and see the launching of the balloons. That is pretty good, not as good as being on the field.

Then there is the chance to buy VIP "Gondola Club" tickets, which will give you a bit nicer viewing with bathrooms nearby and food right there. They don't come cheap $100 per person, for the first session and $60 for each additional session, per person.

http://www.balloonfiesta.com/guest-g...ackage-pricing

Park and Ride also doesn't not operate every day, so if you are thinking of doing that - check and be sure it's running on the day you plan to go.

Thanks for the suggestions. We'll look into the Park and Ride locations -- I read the other thread about the VIP tickets and it didn't sound like much for the money.

I agree about the VIP tkts - way too much $$

I found this on the website:

Is the Park handicap accessible?

Yes. We have handicap parking on a hard surface close to entrance gates available for the regular parking fee every time you park as well as scooters and wheelchairs available to rent. There are also shuttles that run the length of the park"

For handicap parking you need a temporary placard to hang off the rear view mirror. The forms you can either print or pick up at DMV office and have the doctor sign it. After that your husband should go there in person (I think they give papers and mail the actual placard)

While that is true in public parking, I think that since this is a private operation, a real handicap placard may not be needed. Is it obvious that DH is "hanicapped?" That may work in this case.

My mom attended a few years ago after having broken her foot. My best recommendation is to get a temporary handicapped parking sticker from your home state and bring it with you--that's what mom did and it worked out fine. Although we had to fight the normal traffic to get in (early, early is much better than 30 minutes before scheduled launch when gridlock is the rule!), handicapped parking was VERY close to the field. There are a few paved pathways next to and across the ballon field on which a wheelchair could move. Previous poster is correct, however, in that it would be hard to get a wheelchair through the grassy area of the field. Although there are a couple of spots to the east of the field that are somewhat raised and from which you could have an overview of events, there's nothing quite like being in the middle of the balloons as they are "going cold" and "going hot" and then lifting off--the sounds and sights are absolutely unique and being part of the mass of humanity watching and waving as they launch is part of the fun. There are a lot of people but equally as many smiles--it's impossible to have a frown on your face while watching things as happy as balloons! My husband is a professional aerial photographer and although we have some wonderful pictures from the air, our best shots are from the ground in the middle of the ballons. (Mass Ascencions, Special Shapes Mass Ascensions and Key Grab usually offer the best opportunities for pictures. The Balloon Glow (the special shapes Glowdeo less so) is wonderful for pictures, too, if your camera can take low light pictures--when they call an "All Burn" the whole night lights up!) Best of luck and let's hope for good weather--current predictions are not too optimistic!

Thanks for the tips, I am looking into a temporary handicapped placard. We are getting very excited about next weekend!

lisa, the fiesta has been great so far! Great weather for launches in a.m. and some rain, but it's been at night.

Your DH should be fine, I saw lots of folks in wheelchairs and they were having a grand time!