Warning About Bike Rental @ Boardwalk

[Terk-1]

We decided to rent a surrey bike for our last day and wanted to forwarn everyone about a few things.

1. According to the Cast Member (Lee, who was wearing a Disney World CM nametag and was employed by Disney), that although you are on Disney property and renting bikes with the Boardwalk logos on them, Disney does not own or operate these bikes.

2. Although every other location on property honors the passholder discount for recreational items, this location does not.

3. This location takes cash only (no signs anywhere stating this).

4. Everyone in your party that will be on the bike has to stand in line (again no sign for this).

5. You must be at least 56 inches to peddle the bike.

6. People ignore the bike bells, so we found ourselves breaking constantly.

I found CM Lee to be very rude and completely disorganized. I was extremely disappointed with this and plan to contact Disney about it.

 

[DebbieB]

6. People ignore the bike bells, so we found ourselves breaking constantly.

I don't think they should be used at night when the Boardwalk is crowded. As an insurance underwriter, it makes me cringe. I could see accidents for the bike riders and the walkers. If I'm enjoying my walk along the Boardwalk, why should I keep having to move for these bikes and those annoying bells. I think the people walking should have the right of way. Sorry, just how I feel.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Terk-1
1. According to the Cast Member (Lee, who was wearing a Disney World CM nametag and was employed by Disney), that although you are on Disney property and renting bikes with the Boardwalk logos on them, Disney does not own or operate these bikes.

I could be mistaken, but as far as I know, they are Operating Participants, and not actual Disney cast members.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I'm not sure about Florida, but in California pedestrians always have the right of way.
But sorry for your rude treatment. Hope it didn't spoil your trip too much.

 

[CarolA]

The people selling ballons wear Disney name tags and don't work for Disney.

Some of your complaints seem like you are just looking for a complaint. You must be 56" to pedal why is that a complaint more like a fact of life, look at the bikes they only come in adult sizes.

It is not Disney's fault people ignore the bells.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks so much for the warning-especially about the cash only. We rarely carry around cash-usually charge everything we can to our room, and pay for it all at once at check-out. We aso would have expected the discount. Doesn't OKW also rent surrey bikes? Can we get the discount and charge to our room there? Where else can we rent surrey bikes?
And I agree about the insurance issue with those bikes on the Boardwalk. One reason I'd prefer renting somewhere else is that I know those bikes can be a bit annoying to people strolling along the Boardwalk in the evening. Also, I want to minimize the potential of an accident with a pedestrian, and there's a lot of pedestrians there.

 

[shellybaxter]

I think the OP just wanted everyone to be aware of all the things she found annoying about the surry bike rental process. Like why would everyone in your party have to stand in line? And I'm sure as the surry bike drivers the fact that people ignore the bell in annoying, just as it is annoying to the walkers when they have to move for the bikes. Neither is really disney's fault, but disney does choose to offer surry bike rentals on the boardwalk, which is the cause of the annoyance for both parties.

Shelly

 

[Kallison]

I hated those stupid surrey bikes -- do not rent them they are a huge waste of time and money.

 

[JandT'smom]

We did charge ours to our room. Once at Thanksgiving week last year and in August this year.Also all of us did not have to stand in line sounds like CM did not know what was going on or they changed all the rules.

 

[lark]

It's always interesting to see how many people are having a miserable time with the bikes. I've seen many many groups that have the bike too full to get it up over the bridge near epcot with pedal power. There's always a lot of pushing and unhappiness going on.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Originally posted by JandT'smom
We did charge ours to our room. Once at Thanksgiving week last year and in August this year.Also all of us did not have to stand in line sounds like CM did not know what was going on or they changed all the rules.

We rode them last month and charged them to our room, we didn't have to wait in a line though because it was empty.

 

[petchie]

My Brother said his biggest warning is the hill by the Swan and Dolphin! They made it that far but had to get out and push.


Thought he was going to have a heart attack!

 

[Del]

Let's not forget the reason that they have the bikes. On the boardwalk in New Jersey (at least in Ocean City, NJ), the bikes on the boardwalk are a permanent fixture from morning til 12 noon. Families ride them together all morning long. Since the resort is going with that theme---the bikes are there. Use them if you wish or take a nice stroll. But in NJ, they are visible.

Del

 

[Luigi's Girl]

we walked the boardwalk a few times during our stay the first week of november and we didn't mind moving whenever we heard the bell. the problem was sometimes we were oblivious to the bell but not on purpose. we were talking or laughing and having a good time and someone would say "oh, move a bike is coming !" on the other hand we also rode the bikes and could understand that some people might not have moved right away for the same reasons. my husband couldn't understand why they wouldn't make sure there was a path just for bikes and not for pedestrians.

 

[tlev]

There is a 2.5 mile boardwalk by my house, along the ocean, and it has a permanent "Bikes Only" lane running down the middle. Of course there are still some people who choose to ingnore this but it helps to create a much safer environment for both the bikers and walkers. Maybe Disney could create something like this.

 

[NCombs]

Everyone has to be in line so they can measure children if need be. You can't charge to your room at this location because I guess technically it's not Disney.

 

[Blondie]

We saw many a near miss from our balcony at the Dolphin that faced Epcot & the Boardwalk area. People would come flying over that bridge, often racing another surrey bike (probably all part of the same party.) Many times people just barely got out of the way in time!

 

[monte]

Gosh, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.
When we were there we had no problems renting the bikes, or using them. We had a great time and would ride them again in a flash.

 

[madalex]

Originally posted by Terk-1

3. This location takes cash only (no signs anywhere stating this).

4. Everyone in your party that will be on the bike has to stand in line (again no sign for this).


6. People ignore the bike bells, so we found ourselves breaking constantly.

We have rented surrey bikes on numerous occasions and have not found 3 and 4 to be true (however, they won't let you pull away from the rental area until everyone is on the bike, but I think that is so they can make sure only people big enough are pedaling and steering and they only have to give the safety lecture once).

As to 6, some people ignore the bells; others don't. It's hard to generalize (and not really Disney's fault anyway).

 

[Terk-1]

Some of your complaints seem like you are just looking for a complaint. You must be 56" to pedal why is that a complaint more like a fact of life, look at the bikes they only come in adult sizes. From CarolA

I was not posting this as complaints, but rather to let others know so that they do not run into the same problems we did. Unfortunately, there were 3 other families there that were not aware of these things either and found themselves in a pickle (running to a cash machine, telling kids that were shy of 56", etc.). I was not aware of the 56" rule and there were no bikes there when we arrived, so how would I have known this?

Our mistake was not calling first and checking things out ahead of time. As far as all of these, this post is just a heads up to what we experienced, so that it won't catch others off-guard. We have rented before at both the Wilderness Lodge & French Quarter and had no problems at either place.