Segway Events: Segway Blast (Review)

I recently did a Segway experience, which I purchased using an experience gift card I received for Christmas from one of my sisters, through Red Letter Days. We ended up booking the 30 min Segway Blast experience for 2 people which would normally cost £39. When we arrived, as there was space available on the 30 minute experience, we got a free upgrade to the 60 minute package. 

The programme is described as being a great introduction to using a Segway for the first time. The Segway's used are particularly easy to ride as you control the speed with your own weight, using dynamic stabilisation and unique "lean steer technology". 

The venue itself was lovely. We chose to go to the closest venue in Nottinghamshire, atThoresby Courtyard. There were two festivals going on, on the same day so we got to join in on some of the celebrations but the area itself is beautiful. It's a lovely green open space, with access to a courtyard of old buildings and also a fancy hotel. There is a woodland forest area, a maze area, a greenery park area and more. I loved the little remembrance display they had, and of course the Robin Hood statue. 

The experience itself was indeed a great introduction to Segway's, however very short lasting. Even with the upgraded double length of time, there wasn't much time to explore individually as originally promised. I'd anticipated being let off to explore but instead it was a very co-ordinated and structured hour. 

The session started with a safety talk and signing forms. From there, we got helmets and safety equipment, before having a mini lesson. We had to each individually have a couple minute one-to-one teaching, getting on/off and moving around a small area. It was useful but I didn't enjoy everyone watching. From there we had a 5 minute practice session and then probably 15 minutes of games. The games were useful to learn skills but also slightly boring as much of it was spent waiting when it wasn't your turn to race. It involved multiple races back and forth with different obstacles and increasing difficulty. Only then did we go off-roading through the forest for 10 minutes and it was very much guided. 

Overall, I did enjoy it and surprisingly more than I initially anticipated. It was great fun and apart from the initial getting on, I was quite good at it. Unfortunately, this particularly experience was quite slow to get going, very limited in terms of actual riding and personally, I wouldn't recommend it again. I was very thankful however for the free upgrade and will defintely be interested in doing Segway's again, perhaps somewhere else.