Salt River Fields Balloon Spooktacular

Came here with me and my girlfriend and the kids. They loved it!They loved seeing the hot air balloons inflate, and they loved all the inflatable attractions there!One even asked to come back. Sorry bud, but gotta wait till the next holiday lol

SOME People with strollers annoy me! Sorry. Ok, that's out the way. This festival could be more fun if #1 the vendors didn't run out of candy and #2 the lines weren't so long at the vendors/ballons that had candy. #3 there were more events/games than bouncy houses! It is Halloween... Fall... a Festival.... how about games of some sort of skill (potato sack racing, obstacle courses, etc!!!), things you would expect at a Fall Harvest Festival.We got there at about 5:10, so we did not experience all of the parking issues that others did. But I can imagine that it was awful considering we waited in line and there were about 15 cars in the area at the time when we were parking. The KICKER? 1 Adult and 2 kids... $50 spent without any food, w/o any real drinks! Radio disney was a bright spot. Wow, the energy of the staff was awesome. I didn't know that the radio Disney had a local staion on the AM band. I listen to satellite radio, but that is good info to know. Tethered hot air balloon rides were nice. I'm over this event. Sorry, I tried to like it, but just could not get past the fact that it is advertised as a place to trick or treat BUT the treats were in short supply. I wouldn't go back to this again.

It is absolutely amazing to be able to see the hot air balloons up close and in action. My 2 year old was absolutely amazed to see the balloons on the ground which he sees every day in the sky! It would have been great had there been a few more healthier food options. Maybe some food trucks.

Vary cool and fun. I want to come back here again. A lot to do and see. Everyone was nice and friendly. My kid had a good time. Only thing, would be cool if different candy was handed out and not the same candy at every station.

Pretty much echoing the same gripes as the other reviewers. Parking was horrid. Getting in was alright as we got there before the festival opened. Getting out was another thing all together. I drive a tall SUV, so after sitting in a line for 10 minues, I decided to off-road it to get out. The balloons were all handing out cheap candy. And the ones that werent, or werent out of candy, had lines that were very long. All in all, there wasnt a lot for kids to do - Radio Disney booth aside.The only positives were - 1) a friend of ours had her vendor booth set up there. So we got to see her. 2) I purchased a Groupon for 2-4-1 admission. Thank goodness. I dont think that I would have been happy paying full price. This year, I was going to buy another groupon/living social deal. BUT they originally only had the deals for Friday. Then they opened up the option for Saturday for Groupon only, with ticket sales being limited. By the time i went to buy the saturday groupon, it was already sold out. Guess we'll be going to Howl-O-Ween at the Phx Zoo this year instead. I have a feeling our money will be money well spent at the zoo.

Upon review of previous comments the only valid complaint is the wait to get in. This can be easily remedied by arriving early and leaving early. I arrived at 5 PM and was parked within 10 minutes. Left at 7:30 PM and was out of the lot and on the main strip within 10 minutes. Great event for photography purposes. I did not really have high expectations for this event after reading the reviews; most complaints were 'rookie mistakes' however. Would recommend. See below if you need advice on how to festival. Enjoy. A). Yes, the parking lot is dirt and gravel. This is an outdoor event, the host is trying to accommodate a large sum of people if you want to park in a paved structure or are bothered by dirt, grass, rocks, plant life and insects I advise you go to a mall or movie instead. Although frowned upon there are several nearby shopping centers, it would be less than a 10 minute walk....B). Beggars can't be choosers, if you have the audacity to complain about the quality and amount of FREE candy you or your child received the Walmart is a 5 minute drive up the road, you can get variety of high(er) quality candy at a competitive rate. C). The food was expensive, of course it is, this is a fair, everything is expensive, eat beforehand and bring your own drinks if necessary, I suggest water, as anything else may get confiscated.

I want my money back! This event is a joke.You pay admission for ... what exactly? To see 8 tethered balloons, never lifting off the ground. The website promised over 20 balloons - so much for truth in advertising. Just like others have said: the Chinese candy given out is just nasty. I have NEVER seen my daughter discard candy, but every piece she was handed (after waiting in lines, of course) was tasted and thrown. Everything here was a near-constant pay-as-you-go experience:Bottle of water: $3 + 10 mins wait in line. Hot dog: $7 + 10 mins wait in line, followed by $10 mins waiting to get the food.Jump houses: Between $1 and $4, all located in a dimly lit parking lot to the east. Car wash to get all the parking lot dust off your car: $3+This was a complete waste of time and money. Poorly executed, misleading advertising. What a rip-off by the Salt River tribe.

This is a fun festival. Lots of balloons (probably about 20), tons of food and drink vendors, bouncy castles for the kids, and a live cover band. I've been 2 years in a row and will probably be going again next year.It looks like there are a few poor reviews, however they were from earlier years (2013 and 2014). I went in 2015 and 2016 and have no complaints.

You are not safe at this event. We are very friendly people (not Karens) but I won't allow anyone to treat my wife poorly. Because one of the vendors was apparently from my home state (due to the Cajun dishes he was selling), we tried to strike up a friendly conversation. I don't mind if someone doesn't want to talk to me, but the two vendors were downright rude to me, and especially to my wife. I later told him how rude he was, and began to walk away. He charged at me with fists clenched and eyes wide open. It was clear he wanted a fight. I'm disabled and it was obvious this guy is violent. He had to be restrained by his employees and people in the crowd. I was calm, and tried to walk away from this crazy man. Without offering any reason, officer Soto of the Salt River Police appeared and asked me and my wife to leave, despite the fact that it was the vendor who was being hostile, aggressive, and was acting as if he was having a steroid rage issue. I simply couldn't understand why Soto was kicking us out, and coddling this obviously violent 6' 4" bruiser of a man. It was THE VENDOR who was being restrained and creating a scene with his anger, while it was an elderly disabled passive man and his wife who were being forced to leave. Then I found out why. It turns out the vendor was an ex-police officer. That explains it.I've requested the footage from Soto's body cam, but it's not being released. I also requested the name of the vendor, but the head of security for Salt River Field would rather shield his police brethren than the attendees at the event. I'd actually met the head of security for SRF the day before the event, and we had great rapport. He seemed like a man with common sense and character. But within less than 10 seconds I lost all respect for him, and he showed he lacked moral fiber to do the right thing.That head of security implied that because the vendor was an ex-police officer, he wouldn't lie. We all know that is as far from the truth as it can be. I support the police vehemently because of what they have to deal with day in and day out. But nobody's going to tell me cops don't lie.

I was so excited to take my kids to this event but left supper disappointed. The price didn't seem to bad for everything that the advertised but when I got there they were letting people go in without checking tickets ( they didn't scan it or asked anything) which made me wonder why I paid about $80 for 3 people. We arrived in the area at 5pm and we parked by 5:30pm because of how long the line was to get to it. The lines for the inflatable were insane, ~15min wait min for kids to go on once. Husband and I had to split on different lines so that my kids could at least get on two inflatables within 30min waits. Then it was confusing on who was given out the candy for kids until we found out it was at the balloons which also Had wait lines and most of the candy given our was tootsies (not even good type of candy). Then to order food or desert lines were so long (waited 30min) each time. We didn't even get to do the spookier trail because there was not enough time since at 9:30pm exact they stop people from getting on anything to close down. So in summary if you go expect to wait long times to do any of the activities and crappy candy all for an expensive price which they may or may not check your tickets to see if you actually paid. It was not worth it and will not be returning again.