The Zamperla Balloon Race is a tilting, circular motion

amusement park ride An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

manufactured by Antonio

Zamperla Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found in ...

S.p.A. The ride makes its way up a structure, and at a certain height, it starts tilting.

Designs

Gondola designs

Twelve balloons with gondolas hold up to 4 passengers each. This ride also comes in 8 balloon and 12 balloon versions. There is also an essentially identical ride with pirate ships instead of balloons. Seat belts and locking doors provide safety. At some installations, a rider may exit themselves, while in other ones, an operator must let them out.

Similar designs

The

Chance Morgan Chance Morgan Coasters, Inc. is a roller coaster and amusement ride manufacturer. It was formed on June 14, 2001 when Michael Chance, grandson of Chance Rides founder Richard H. Chance, acquired the assets of roller coaster builder D. H. Morg ...

company manufacture a version of the Balloon Race, which is similar except the balloons are much bigger.

Samba Balloons

A smaller version of this ride called Samba Balloons is also in existence. The ride does a similar motion, but the 'balloons' can be spun by riders. This version of the ride is often found in areas of

amusement parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

, and at

traveling carnival A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

Some locations

Number of balloons or pirate ships is in

parentheses A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

. *Big Easy Balloons (12) -

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. *Ballons (8 Samba) - Storybook Land in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. *Balloon Race (8) -

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moved in 1995 from

Kennywood Kennywood is an amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. The park opened on May 30, 1899, as a trolley park attraction at the end of the Mellon family's Monongahela Street Railway. It was purchased in 1 ...

where it lasted for four years. *Balloon Race (8) -

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in Buena Park, CA. *Balloon Race (8) -

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Agawam, MA. *Balloon Race -

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, PA *Flying Ace Balloon Race (was Boo Boo's Balloon Race) (8) -

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*The Pirate's Flight (12) -

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in Ohio (themed to pirate ships instead of balloons.) *Samba Balloons (8) -

Victorian Gardens Victorian Gardens was a seasonal traditional-style amusement park that is set up at Wollman Rink in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, from spring through fall each year. Description The facility, which started operating in spring 2003, ...

at Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC. *Up, Up, and Away (8) -

Six Flags Over Georgia Six Flags Over Georgia is a theme park located in Mableton, Georgia. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain following the original Six Flags Over Texas, which opened in 1961. Six Flags Over Georgia is one of three parks ...

. (2004-Present) *Weather Balloons (8 Samba) -

Darien Lake Six Flags Darien Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.86 km2) amusement park and resort located in Corfu, New York, off of Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Rochester. Six Flags Darien Lake features a theme park, water park, campground and lodging. It i ...

Darien Center, NY. (1996–Present) *Balloon Race (8) -

Santa's Village AZoosment Park Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park (formerly known and colloquially referred to this day as simply Santa's Village) is a theme park in East Dundee, Illinois. It was originally built by Glenn Holland, who also built two other Santa's Villages ...

East Dundee, IL (1992–Present) *Up, Up, and Away (10) -

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Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

Laguna Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(1995–Present) *Balloon Race (12) - Mega Parc

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, Quebec, Canada (1988-2017) *Balloon Race (8) -

The Flambards Experience Flambards Theme Park is an amusement park on the southern outskirts of the town of Helston in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1976 as the Cornwall Aero Park by Douglas Kingsford Hale MBE. History Flambards first opened i ...

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, UK. *Balloon Race (12) - Flamingo Land Resort Malton, Yorkshire, UK.

References

External links

*
Zamperla Rides
Amusement rides by type {{amusement-ride-stub