The Zamperla Balloon Race is a tilting, circular motion amusement park ride manufactured by Antonio Zamperla

Zamperla

Zamperla is a designing and manufacturing company in Vicenza, Italy. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin operated rides commonly found inside shopping malls....

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

Car designs

Twelve balloons with cars hold up to 4 passengers each. The 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 installations, an operator must let them out.

Similar designs

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

Some locations

Number of balloons or pirate ships is in parenthesis.

• Big Easy Balloons (12) - Six Flags Great America
  Six Flags Great America
  Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park in the Chicago metropolitan area, located in Gurnee, Illinois. It first opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America. Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain...
  
  .
• Ballons (8 Samba) - Storybook Land
  Storybook Land
  Storybook Land is a 20-acre family amusement park. It is located in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, United States. Storybook Land is located on U.S. Route 322, two miles west of exit 37 on the Garden State Parkway...
  
   in Egg Harbor Township, NJ.
• Balloon Race (8) - Idlewild and Soak Zone
  Idlewild and Soak Zone
  Idlewild and Soak Zone, commonly known as Idlewild Park or simply Idlewild, is a family amusement park situated in the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, United States, about east of Pittsburgh, along US Route 30. Founded in 1878 as a campground along the Ligonier Valley Railroad by...
  
   moved in 1991 from Kennywood
  Kennywood
  Kennywood is an amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The park first opened in 1898 as a "trolley park" at the end of the Monongahela Street Railway. The park was purchased in 1906 by F. W. Henninger and Andrew McSwigan and thus began the Kennywood...
  
   where it lasted only one year.
• Balloon Race (8) - The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom
  The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom
  The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom is an amusement and waterpark located in Queensbury, New York. It is advertised as being located in Lake George, New York...
  
   Queensbury, NY.
• Balloon Race (8) - Knott's Berry Farm
  Knott's Berry Farm
  Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and a line of jams, jellies, preserves, and other specialty food, now part of The J. M. Smucker Company based in Placentia, California....
  
  's Camp Snoopy in Buena Park, CA.
• Balloon Race (8) - Six Flags New England
  Six Flags New England
  Six Flags New England , formerly Riverside Amusement Park, is a Six Flags theme park, named for the New England region, in which it is located. Located off of Massachusetts State Route 159, Six Flags New England is located less than from the major City of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the nearby...
  
   Agawam, MA.
• Boots' Ballon Race (8) - Carowinds
• The Pirate's Flight (12) - Geauga Lake in Ohio (themed to pirate ships instead of balloons.)
• Samba Balloons (8) - Victorian Gardens
  Victorian Gardens
  Victorian Gardens is a seasonal traditional-style amusement park, which is located in the Wollman Rink of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. The facility, which opened in Spring 2003, can accommodate up to 3,000 guests and features about a dozen rides which are geared primarily to ages 2-12...
  
   at Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC.
• Up, Up, and Away (8) - Six Flags Over Georgia
  Six Flags Over Georgia
  Six Flags Over Georgia is a theme park located west of Atlanta, in unincorporated Cobb County. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain, after the original opening in 1961 in Texas....
  
  .
• Weather Balloons (8 Samba) - Darien Lake Darien Center, NY. (1996-Present)
• Balloon Race (8) - Santa's Village AZoosment Park East Dundee, IL (1992-Present)

The kiddie version

A smaller version of this ride is also in existence. The ride does a similar motion, but the 'balloons' can be spun by the riders. This version of the ride is often found in areas of amusement parks, and at carnivals.