Mike the Monster ~ Hot air Balloon

Pixar's Feature Films Monsters, Inc. / University
#1

Everyone knows Mike, but do you know the hot air balloon?
My family have been into hot air ballooning for quite a while now, and we own our own family balloon, called Mistral.
kavanaghballoons.com.au/phot … /kb325.jpg
This is a pic of Mistral before we bought it from in Japan.

But here in Canberra, we have a balloon fiesta every year (kinda, we’ve run into trouble due to some @$^&#^! politicians).
But in 2007, we had a ‘special shape’ balloon, Mike the Monster!
It was a HUGE hit with the kids, and my Dad was lucky enough to tether him throughout the days of the fiesta! I never actually liked monsters inc. until I helped out with keeping mike on the ground. (He can’t fly. He was made to be flown around America as to promote M.I and when he finished his tour he was put in storage and then was going to be shredded until a friend of mine rescued him in a legal battle and took him to Australia, but were not allowed to legally fly him, just keep him on the ground) After that we got the DVD and I loved it!

There was a special event we held, called the night time spectacular. We put a lot of the balloons up in the afternoon and when night time fell we used the burners to illuminate them! It’s quite pretty, here’s a gallery I found:
flickr.com/photos/tammyj/sets/72157600077498804/
You can also see nudie, the mascot of a Hot Air balloonist’s juice company, and the liberty house, with cats on the roof. The pilot of that balloon taught my dad. (There’s actually another identical one)
We had a dress up competition and a little kid came as Sulley in this big furry outfit, and he was toooooo cute!

Have you seen this balloon before? What do you think of him? I liked him :smiley:

#2

That is really neat! I have never seen that balloon before. Mike’s head makes for a really good hot air balloon, heh. It’s always good to spread the Pixar awareness around, too. Oh yeah, I recognise that nudie mascot, too. This would have to be the Australian equivalent of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parades in America, or something.

Thanks for sharing those photos, Spark!

#3

Cool! Mike’s just great at being round-shaped things. I gotta admit though it was a little weird looking to me. His face, I mean, not the actual balloon. Maybe if it was daytime and there wasnt a light coming from inside him.

#4

Wow, those hot air balloons are gorgeous! I didn’t realise how beautiful they looked in the night. And Mike definitely does suit being a hot air balloon, not only because of his roundness, but he’s also full of hot air anyway. :stuck_out_tongue: Thanks for showing us those photos, Spark. :smiley:

#5

That’s so cool to own a family balloon, Spark! Makes me think you could just fly away whenever you want to like in Up. Mike does make a great balloon. And welcome to the forums, nice to know someone from the nation’s capital. :slight_smile:

What the…Laugh out loud!
:laughing:

#6

I bet he’d really appriciate that. XD

#7

That’s the most awesome balloon I’ve ever seen.

#8

Spark- Believe you me, if I had a chance to say it to his face, I would. :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

Mike looks really amusing as a hot air baloon. Cool find.

#10

Finally a balloon that symbolizes it’s form :laughing: