artman
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 635
My wife and I had the opportunity to do the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour at Fort Wilderness while we were at WDW for Christmas. We had planned to phone or email a review to the Podcast, but decided to post here instead. I lurk here everyday, but as you can see I rarely post, so I thought I would share our experience with the forum. Besides both my wife and I have already had emails read on the show (been there, done that, got the tee shirt 
) so I don't want to be greedy 
.
First, for anyone that does not know, the Segway is a self balancing two wheel human transport vehicle invented by Dean Kamen of Bedford NH. It is, quite possibly the coolest thing on two wheels. The model used for this tour is the X2 which is the "all terrain model".
We did the 8:30am tour on December 28th, transportation from Coronado Springs Resort was not a problem since the MK opened at 7:00am. We left the CSR at 7:15 on Disney Transport to the MK and then took a boat to Fort Wilderness. The complete commute took about 1 hour, we had the boat all to ourselves as we were travelling against traffic.
The cost of the tour is $85.00/person we used our DVC membership to get a 15% discount (see honey I told you that investment would pay off). Discounts are also available for AP holders, AAA members, Disney Visa card holders. You must be at least 16 years old and between 100-250 lbs.
We met our tour guides Wes and Ron and the rest of our tour group at the Mickey's Backyard BBQ pavilion and began right on time. We first watched a short training video and then quickly mounted our Segway's one at a time under the direct supervision of our guides. Next we did a couple of simple obstacle courses and once the guides were happy with our skills (about 45 minutes total) we were off.
The tour takes you around Fort Wilderness down the recreation trail to Wilderness Lodge and back. We were given the opportunity for a bathroom break early in the tour and also were given time to walk through the horse stables at FW. Our tour guide gave us a wealth on interesting info on the landscape, plant life and animals (we did see a few deer) found throughout the resort areas. Our tour leader Ron had a speaker attached to the back of his belt so we could hear him quite well.
Total tour time was 2 hours including training. At the end we were given a collectable pin. This tour is well worth the $85 cost and we would recommend very highly. Mastering the Segway is not that difficult. We have done 3 different tours (Epcot, Fort Wilderness and Washington DC) and have seen quite a few people that were very timid at first become extremely comfortable within a half an hour.
Pete has been asking on the show lately about great cast members we the listeners have encountered. Ron and Wes were two of the greatest we have come across. The whole tour was completely relaxed, we were treated like friends, not customers. On the tour we did at Epcot last year the guides did a good job, but were a little stiff. Ron and Wes were fantastic, we had a lot of good laughs.
The helmets take away some of the coolness factor
) so I don't want to be greedy .First, for anyone that does not know, the Segway is a self balancing two wheel human transport vehicle invented by Dean Kamen of Bedford NH. It is, quite possibly the coolest thing on two wheels. The model used for this tour is the X2 which is the "all terrain model".
We did the 8:30am tour on December 28th, transportation from Coronado Springs Resort was not a problem since the MK opened at 7:00am. We left the CSR at 7:15 on Disney Transport to the MK and then took a boat to Fort Wilderness. The complete commute took about 1 hour, we had the boat all to ourselves as we were travelling against traffic.
The cost of the tour is $85.00/person we used our DVC membership to get a 15% discount (see honey I told you that investment would pay off). Discounts are also available for AP holders, AAA members, Disney Visa card holders. You must be at least 16 years old and between 100-250 lbs.
We met our tour guides Wes and Ron and the rest of our tour group at the Mickey's Backyard BBQ pavilion and began right on time. We first watched a short training video and then quickly mounted our Segway's one at a time under the direct supervision of our guides. Next we did a couple of simple obstacle courses and once the guides were happy with our skills (about 45 minutes total) we were off.
The tour takes you around Fort Wilderness down the recreation trail to Wilderness Lodge and back. We were given the opportunity for a bathroom break early in the tour and also were given time to walk through the horse stables at FW. Our tour guide gave us a wealth on interesting info on the landscape, plant life and animals (we did see a few deer) found throughout the resort areas. Our tour leader Ron had a speaker attached to the back of his belt so we could hear him quite well.
Total tour time was 2 hours including training. At the end we were given a collectable pin. This tour is well worth the $85 cost and we would recommend very highly. Mastering the Segway is not that difficult. We have done 3 different tours (Epcot, Fort Wilderness and Washington DC) and have seen quite a few people that were very timid at first become extremely comfortable within a half an hour.
Pete has been asking on the show lately about great cast members we the listeners have encountered. Ron and Wes were two of the greatest we have come across. The whole tour was completely relaxed, we were treated like friends, not customers. On the tour we did at Epcot last year the guides did a good job, but were a little stiff. Ron and Wes were fantastic, we had a lot of good laughs.
The helmets take away some of the coolness factor
