There were six toilets stationed across the site but some were badly placed so people did not know they were there.
"It's just one of those things we have to address," he said.
The traffic and queues were not acceptable and may have been caused by people trying to buy at the gate and being turned away, he said.
Organisers had received both positive and negative feedback and would hold a debrief before deciding on whether the event would go ahead next year.
Tauranga resident Jan Whiting said she left her Otumoetai home at 5.45pm and it took her an hour-and-a-half to get to the gates of the Tauranga Racecourse.
"The worst part was on Cameron Rd, it took us half an hour to get from the McDonald's roundabout to the roundabout just past Greerton.
"As we went in there were dozens and dozens of people leaving, all angry saying it was a complete waste of time."
Tauranga woman Jen Durham said there were not enough toilets at the venue.
"We spent a good 40 minutes or so in the line."
She said the fact the crowd exceeded organisers' expectations showed there was not enough to do in Tauranga for families "because as soon as there is something, everyone goes".
"I am so glad we have family in Pyes Pa so we could walk down - the traffic congestion was ridiculous."
Avenues resident Sarsha Rivera said she and her group turned up to the event just after 8pm and liked what they saw.
"I understand why people were [angry] that waited in an hour-long traffic queue and then three hours for the show to start but it wasn't our experience so for us it was fine."
Debbie Matika said her crew had a great time and took a lot of awesome photos.
"For us the positives outweighed the negatives - from what we saw everyone was having a great time."
The event was initially to be staged on Friday night but had to be postponed because of unsuitable weather conditions. The number of balloons was scaled back from six to four after the postponement and a balloonist falling ill.
The history of hot air ballooning
On September 19, 1783, Pilatre De Rozier, a scientist, launched the first hot air balloon called Aerostat Reveillon. The passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster, and the balloon stayed in the air for a grand total of 15 minutes before crashing back to the ground.
- www.eballoon.org/
