Instructors
Yes, get a certified instructor. You are a fool if you don't. Your instructor's expertise is what's going to make certain that this is a safe and wonderful experience.
If you're in Wisconsin you can't do better than Madcity Paragliding near Madison Wisconsin. The instructor there is Paul Cooley and he's been doing this for 30 years and his expertise is priceless. This is where my son and I learned. In fact my son was out mountain biking and saw people flying around. He thought it looked so cool that he HAD to try it. Then we started researching how to even go about doing so and quickly realized that it was people at one of the top schools in the nation that he saw flying around!
The best way to find an instructor is via the USPPA (U.S. Powerered Paragliding Association website. Use their Find a School link in the top menu.
Safety
Statistically paramotoring is a bit more dangerous than driving around in your car. But it's safer than driving around on a motorcycle. That's all as long as you follow your instructor's advice and only fly in the proper weather, in the proper places, with the proper equipment, and don't take unnecessary risks.
Paramotoring "excitement" is up to you. It can be as tame as a country drive or as exciting as the most extreme roller coaster. That's up to the pilot. But keep in mind that this is akin to taking a nice country motorcycle ride vs. extreme motorcycle racing. If you opt to race that (of course) comes with a lot more risk.
Cost
Instruction: Around $3,500 per person. In our case this came with UNLIMITED use of equipment and UNLIMITED time to learn (until both we and our instructor were confident in our piloting abilities).
Equipment: Once we graduated we needed our own equipment. I was able to purchase a motor and wing, used, but in great shape for another $3,500. Depending on what you want though, you can easily spend $5,000 to $15,000 on equipment but you're getting into some really fancy brand new stuff at those prices.
