The last time we addressed the topic of Segway* tours was in June of 2007, at which point there were three companies we knew of offering this type of tour in the area. One company, named Scenic Segways, offered two-hour guided tours around the foothills of Lake Las Vegas; another company (Segway Las Vegas) was offering guided tours of the Strip and private rentals (we ascertained at the time that you can valet park a Segway); and last but not least, You Can!! Segway was offering historical and custom tours of the downtown area.
That was then and at first our revisitation of this attraction seemed to indicate that not one of these companies was still in operation. The two numbers we originally had for the first one connected us to a Christian clothing store and to someone whose name we think was Bob and who knew nothing about Segways. An email to the second company went unanswered after an attempted phone call went through to unpromising-sounding voicemail, and although the You Can!! Segway Web site looked alive, we sent an email without much hope of a response.
But all is not lost! While Scenic Segways is almost certainly defunct, Thaddeus Ynigues of You Can!! Segway did indeed respond to our email. Oh, we of little faith. Here's what said:
"Thanks for your interest. Yes we do still provide tours of downtown Las Vegas. We have two novice tours and one advanced tour. All three tours can be found on the website with descriptions, pricing, and times. If you are coming during the summer, we offer one tour at 8 a.m. (due to the heat.) We are currently booked out three weeks. We will also be out of town for a few days, so replies will be after this Sat." [Meaning May 31, so they should be back in email range by now.]
Here's the Web site address: http://lasvegassegway.com/default.aspx.
We've still never tried out Segwaying for ourselves, so we can't provide you with a first-hand review, but we did get some feedback from a reader earlier this year in response to a QoD on things to do downtown. He had been here for a guy's poker weekend "awhile back" and ended up with a day on his hands after the rest of the party had departed and seemed to enjoy the experience: "I took the Segway tour of downtown with Thaddeus and Leona. What great people and what a great time!"
And it turns out that Segway Las Vegas is still offering their tours of the Strip, which utilize the "secret back passages and side streets" so you can wriggle between all the major Strip properties without having to deal with the Strip traffic (whether motorized or pedestrian). They were out of town when they returned our call and won't be back until the second week of June, or thereabouts, but you can send them an email via their Web site (segwaylv.com/) and they'll get back to you when they return.
Happy Segging!
For those of you who don't know, a Segway is, as we described in the original QoD, one of "those funny-looking two-wheeled 'personal transport systems' that look like a cross between a scooter and a hobby horse -- click on the thumbnails below for the big picture. If you're curious about trying one and would like a sneaky preview, you can see them in action at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, where the customer service "ambassadors" are equipped with "state-of-the-art" Segways, whatever they might be.
