Wiltony
Recently Reformed Troublemaker
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2016
Hello, I thought I'd also share my recent experience with the Segway tour at Ft. Wilderness that my wife and I took in mid-Dec, 2020.
The tour is provided from the bike barn. It is advertised as taking two hours, and is $90 per person before any discounts. It includes training and orientation as well as the segway ride around the west side of Ft. Wilderness. I believe it's 18+ only, so no youths can ride at all. Everyone wore masks the entire time. Helmets and tourguide radio earpieces are provided, as well as a bottle of water. The tour includes a guide, who leads and narrates the tour, and a safety officer, who trains and follows the group.
In short, the tour was "fine" but fell pretty short my expectations.
My wife and I were the only two on the tour that day, which I think is important, since they can accommodate up to 8-12 people. I think they are used to having larger groups, and thus taking longer going through each stage of the tour. This meant they kind of stretched out some of the "down time" during the tour in order to not end so early, but we still got back early anyway and I was pretty disappointed in the actual amount of riding we got to do.
My wife and I checked into the tour about 5 minutes before the start time. We sat outide waiting for it to start. They finally got going about 5-10 minutes after the scheduled start time. My wife and I had been on a segway tour previously, and were fairly comfortable on them already. They of course insisted on safety training and orientation anyway, which I totally expected and understood completely, no qualms about that from me. We were brought into a room where we stood and watched a video and then listened to the safety instructor. However, it seemed like he was artificially elongating this lecture portion. After the material had been reviewed thoroughly and it was clear we understood the operation of the segway and safety aspects surrounding the tour, the trainer just seemed to go on long tangents about this or that while we stood and listened in boredom, him standing there on his segway telling us about random things, like how much it costs to replace a controller puck that he eventually said we aren't to touch at all and to just leave inside a bag on the segway, or an experience he had when someone's battery died once (but that we didn't need to worry because it definitely wouldn't happen to us, but certainly *could* since it's happened before, but just once!) during his 16 year career there (sigh). He was amiable enough, but you could tell was just the kind of person who liked to chat and go on about things. I certainly could have used a bit more brevity as I watched the clock count down, expecting that by this point I'd have been winding through Ft. Wilderness on two-wheels in the beautiful sunshine and crisp December air. Instead we were left standing in a training room listening to him go on and on for the 1st entire half hour, not even allowed to sit down on some chairs that were there next to us. I was really looking forward to a nice ride and it just seemed they were doing all they could to delay that.
Finally we were escorted outside to get onto the segways for some actual hands-on training and testing. This was normal "drive between the cones" kind of stuff to make sure everyone was comfortable and in control of their Segway. This didn't take too long and was an appropriate amount of time. Finally, we were off on the tour!
...for about (literally) 20 seconds. Then it was time to stop at the bathrooms, in case anyone needed to go. So we parked the segways and took more time for a pit stop. Again, this is probably a little more necessary with a larger group, but was unneeded for us. We went anyway because they told us to. Finally, off again on the actual tour.
The grounds of Ft. Wilderness are vast and very beautiful. We got to ride through some campsites, along some main roads, and then on some back trails that wound along Bay Lake, as well as along some canals. While we didn't see any wildlife during this section, I was pleased with the terrain and trails and enjoyed the sights. This section took about 10-15 mins.
We ended up stopping at the newly constructed Ranch building for a another 10-15 min break. The tour guides stopped to chat with themselves and told us to go check it out on our own. While I thought the building was really cool, I wasn't here to tour the building at that time; I wanted to ride the segway through the grounds of Ft. Wilderness, so was again a little disappointed at the distraction.
We got going again, and rode for another 7-10 mins through some more campsites and trails, then stopping again for another 10-15 minute break at the group campsite area which were empty at the time due to covid restrictions. We saw an armadillo. I again felt like the tour guides were vamping, shooting the breeze, making small talk to try to delay and eat up time. We were clearly ready to do some more riding, but they kept up the small talk as the four of us sat there and drank water. They were also already signalling the end of the ride and I was just so disappointed at the amount of actual ride-time we got to experience.
So as expected, another 5 minute ride or so from there and we were back and the bike rental house, wrapping things up, turning in our Segways and helmets and radios. 1 hour and 45 minutes had elapsed from the scheduled start time, of which only 30 minutes or so was actual Segway riding. The rest was training lectures and taking breaks.
I was polite and tipped both tour guides and did not express my disappointment or anything. They said they didn't accept tips, but said we could "accidentally" leave some money in the bags on the Segways, which we did.
I honestly wish they would have been more candid with us, and offered something like, "hey, we're a small group which means we'll probably get done early. Are you okay with that, or would you like to make another quick circuit around the grounds to fill the time that you paid for?"
Nonetheless, the tour was pleasant, the grounds very beautiful, the Segways a pleasure to ride on. This is why I would (very subjectively) rate this tour as 3/5 stars. It might be more appropriate for a larger group and/or people who have not been on Segways before. If you've ridden before and are expecting a little more ride time and/or any freedom to explore, it will probably not meet your expectations, but still might be an enjoyable experience keeping that in mind.
Wiltony
The tour is provided from the bike barn. It is advertised as taking two hours, and is $90 per person before any discounts. It includes training and orientation as well as the segway ride around the west side of Ft. Wilderness. I believe it's 18+ only, so no youths can ride at all. Everyone wore masks the entire time. Helmets and tourguide radio earpieces are provided, as well as a bottle of water. The tour includes a guide, who leads and narrates the tour, and a safety officer, who trains and follows the group.
In short, the tour was "fine" but fell pretty short my expectations.
My wife and I were the only two on the tour that day, which I think is important, since they can accommodate up to 8-12 people. I think they are used to having larger groups, and thus taking longer going through each stage of the tour. This meant they kind of stretched out some of the "down time" during the tour in order to not end so early, but we still got back early anyway and I was pretty disappointed in the actual amount of riding we got to do.
My wife and I checked into the tour about 5 minutes before the start time. We sat outide waiting for it to start. They finally got going about 5-10 minutes after the scheduled start time. My wife and I had been on a segway tour previously, and were fairly comfortable on them already. They of course insisted on safety training and orientation anyway, which I totally expected and understood completely, no qualms about that from me. We were brought into a room where we stood and watched a video and then listened to the safety instructor. However, it seemed like he was artificially elongating this lecture portion. After the material had been reviewed thoroughly and it was clear we understood the operation of the segway and safety aspects surrounding the tour, the trainer just seemed to go on long tangents about this or that while we stood and listened in boredom, him standing there on his segway telling us about random things, like how much it costs to replace a controller puck that he eventually said we aren't to touch at all and to just leave inside a bag on the segway, or an experience he had when someone's battery died once (but that we didn't need to worry because it definitely wouldn't happen to us, but certainly *could* since it's happened before, but just once!) during his 16 year career there (sigh). He was amiable enough, but you could tell was just the kind of person who liked to chat and go on about things. I certainly could have used a bit more brevity as I watched the clock count down, expecting that by this point I'd have been winding through Ft. Wilderness on two-wheels in the beautiful sunshine and crisp December air. Instead we were left standing in a training room listening to him go on and on for the 1st entire half hour, not even allowed to sit down on some chairs that were there next to us. I was really looking forward to a nice ride and it just seemed they were doing all they could to delay that.
Finally we were escorted outside to get onto the segways for some actual hands-on training and testing. This was normal "drive between the cones" kind of stuff to make sure everyone was comfortable and in control of their Segway. This didn't take too long and was an appropriate amount of time. Finally, we were off on the tour!
...for about (literally) 20 seconds. Then it was time to stop at the bathrooms, in case anyone needed to go. So we parked the segways and took more time for a pit stop. Again, this is probably a little more necessary with a larger group, but was unneeded for us. We went anyway because they told us to. Finally, off again on the actual tour.
The grounds of Ft. Wilderness are vast and very beautiful. We got to ride through some campsites, along some main roads, and then on some back trails that wound along Bay Lake, as well as along some canals. While we didn't see any wildlife during this section, I was pleased with the terrain and trails and enjoyed the sights. This section took about 10-15 mins.
We ended up stopping at the newly constructed Ranch building for a another 10-15 min break. The tour guides stopped to chat with themselves and told us to go check it out on our own. While I thought the building was really cool, I wasn't here to tour the building at that time; I wanted to ride the segway through the grounds of Ft. Wilderness, so was again a little disappointed at the distraction.
We got going again, and rode for another 7-10 mins through some more campsites and trails, then stopping again for another 10-15 minute break at the group campsite area which were empty at the time due to covid restrictions. We saw an armadillo. I again felt like the tour guides were vamping, shooting the breeze, making small talk to try to delay and eat up time. We were clearly ready to do some more riding, but they kept up the small talk as the four of us sat there and drank water. They were also already signalling the end of the ride and I was just so disappointed at the amount of actual ride-time we got to experience.
So as expected, another 5 minute ride or so from there and we were back and the bike rental house, wrapping things up, turning in our Segways and helmets and radios. 1 hour and 45 minutes had elapsed from the scheduled start time, of which only 30 minutes or so was actual Segway riding. The rest was training lectures and taking breaks.
I was polite and tipped both tour guides and did not express my disappointment or anything. They said they didn't accept tips, but said we could "accidentally" leave some money in the bags on the Segways, which we did.
I honestly wish they would have been more candid with us, and offered something like, "hey, we're a small group which means we'll probably get done early. Are you okay with that, or would you like to make another quick circuit around the grounds to fill the time that you paid for?"
Nonetheless, the tour was pleasant, the grounds very beautiful, the Segways a pleasure to ride on. This is why I would (very subjectively) rate this tour as 3/5 stars. It might be more appropriate for a larger group and/or people who have not been on Segways before. If you've ridden before and are expecting a little more ride time and/or any freedom to explore, it will probably not meet your expectations, but still might be an enjoyable experience keeping that in mind.
Wiltony
