Cat.
Cat was amazing! I was absolutely terrified and my husband had an absolutely amazing time and Cat handled both extremes beautifully. She was funny and informative and kept us 100% alive, which I appreciated.
We went with the doors off, and it was the right choice for us. Terrifying but also incredibly exciting...I couldn’t think of any way to make the experience better. It’s very pricey, but also...we lived, so...
We reserved our tour online. We had clear instructions as to where to go, where to park and where to check in. They did a good job with signs and we never felt like we were just wandering around trying to figure things out.
After check in, we were led to a small room where we had a safety briefing and were fitted with emergency life belts (very nerve wracking) and were instructed to leave everything except for glasses, jackets, and phones in a desk drawer. (Apparently, things could accidentally fall out of pockets into the tail rotors....more things for my nightmares). We were given neck holders for our phones, then we went to a larger waiting area until our pilot was ready for us.
We were taken by golf cart to the helicopter loading area (the golf cart ride was almost as fast as the helicopter, but I liked that part!).
Our golf cart driver got us to the loading zone just as our pilot was touching down and we saw the previous party depart (they also lived, so that was reassuring). We were able to have our photos taken in front of our helicopter (our helpful golf cart driver took them with my phone) and then we popped into our ride. The earphones were snug (painfully) and it was a little difficult to understand everything that was said. I clearly understood when Cat said not to grab her arm, so I didn’t do that anymore. She redirected me to grab the window edge or my seat if I was feeling particularly terror filled, so that was helpful. Luckily, my husband was seated behind me and was able to take pictures out of our doorless helicopter (I was busy not grabbing Cat’s arm).
Cat narrated the ride and pointed out helpful landmarks and I tried to smile with my eyes and nod knowingly (because I kept forgetting to push the “talk” button on the microphone).
Our tour was supposed to be 60 minutes (i think) but we were done and back in about 40-45 minutes. For me, that was perfect...but some people might fuss about that.
Overall, this was a bucket list thing for my husband. He loved it and I’m glad I got to share it with him. Our pilot did a great job making me feel less terrified and also answered all of his “what’s that over there?” questions.
Five stars, because...we lived.