Here's a quick video of the new Characters In Flight ride at Downtown Disney. The tethered balloon ride goes as high as 400 feet and can hold up to 20 people.
The weather plays a HUGE role on this ride. If it's raining or too windy, the ride will not be in operation.
Also, the queue line works differently than any other queue at Disney. You can only buy a ticket to ride the balloon (yes, another opportunity for Disney to charge you more money -- $16/adult and $10/child) when there are available slots to be "on deck." You see, the capacity of the balloon ride varies with the weather -- sometimes, you can only get 10 people on-board, due to the weather.
So, imagine the ride will only hold 10 people -- you will have 10 people in the ride, up to 10 "on deck" standing on the dock that have purchased a ticket, and everyone else standing in the line waiting to buy a ticket.
On our most recent attempt to ride, there were less than 10 people in line to buy tickets, 10 people on deck, and the balloon in the middle of the ride. We waited over 30 minutes to buy a ticket, when they shut down the ride due to wind and stopped selling tickets. The ten people "on deck" -- after waiting nearly an hour -- had to leave and come back when and if the ride began normal operation and those of us in line for tickets were out of luck and could only hope to be among the first ten back in line when the ride resumed.
As I mentioned in another post about the ride, I cannot imagine how this ride can be a long-term success for Disney or Aerophile -- the company operating the ride. We live locally and have made several attempts to ride, without success. How do they expect guests with very limited schedule to get on-board? You obviously need a huge amount of luck on your side.
I would not suggest that you add this ride into your Disney vacation plans, rather ride it if you get the chance. Otherwise, if you put this ride on your vacation schedule, be prepared to waste a lot of time for the possibility of a tethered balloon ride.