Further to our earlier report about the removal of the Characters in Flight Balloon here it seems that it will be out of commission for a while.

Aerophile said this week it doesn't intend to put the 3-year-old Disney World balloon back in service even after the inspections are complete.

"The balloon of Orlando was scheduled to be replaced in November. Instead of re-inflating it after the inspection — which is a significant cost — we have decided to take it down for now and expedite the replacement work," Aerophile President Jerome Giacomoni said in an email. "We don't know when it will reopen yet, but we hope soon."