Wheel Fun San Diego

I had a hard time finding their location. I finally called and the girl that answered told me they were «just past» the USS Midway. I asked if they were just north of the Midway or just south of the Midway. She said «just south». I walk along the Embarcadero to «just south» of the Midway and I don’t see them. I didn’t see them «just north» of the Midway, either, as I walked along the Embarcadero. I call again. She asks me «do you see the Princess Rose (a cruise ship in port)?» I said, «yes». She said, «well I’m right across from it. I’m looking at it». I asked if they had a sign because I had walked back and forth three times and, while reading all signs, didn’t see a sign. She said, «no, we don’t have a sign; we have yellow flags» I asked, «are you on the water/​ship/​boat side of Harbor Blvd. or on the other side of Harbor Blvd?» She said, «the water/​ship/​boat side». So I walk to the bow of the Princess Rose and look around for yellow flags. No surprise. They’re not there. BUT, at this point two ladies overheard us talking about how we couldn’t find the place and they pointed out Deco Bike Rentals a few feet away. Deco Bike Rentals look like bike racks and they have locations in various locations where you can «check out/​in» a rented bike any time, for various lengths of time, at any of their locations, by using your debit/​credit card. Within a minute I had a bike and we were off. As we headed NORTH on the Embarcadero, we FINALLY saw Wheel Fun San Diego ACROSS THE STREET ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE FROM THE SHIPS ON HARBOR BLVD. And I wouldn’t call them yellow flags, I would call them vertical yellow banners. I think the general population would think of a pennant or rectangle/​square when looking for «yellow flags». I called them again to express my frustration, and another female answered (sounded like a little bit older lady, whereas the «directionally challenged gal» sounded young). I told her how screwed up the young girl’s directions were and she quickly said, «Ok. Thank you» and was ready to dismiss me and hang up. I said, «Is that it?» and she said, «I’m not sure what I can do for you/​what you want me to do (paraphrased)». Really?! «How about setting the girl straight about knowing where she works and how to give proper directions to your location?!» Her response? «OK. Thank you». And she hung up. Now how much do you want to bet that she didn’t say anything to the «directionally challenged» girl? NO… I will never rent from this company. I go to SD twice a year, but have never rented a bike. If and when I rent a bike in the future, I will go the Deco route. Easy, no muss, no fuss, no lines, fast and convenient.

Lack of kids bikes. They LITERALLY have 1 kids bike. They put it on their website implying they have plenty. Nope! Same goes for trailer bikes and tandems. They did not help set the bike up to our height, or ask us if we wanted helmets or even suggest where to ride to. It was just pay and get out with no real interaction. We also had an issue adjusting the ONLY kids bike to my son. The brake levers were a little too far to reach so I went to ask the «mechanic» if he or she can adjust them. There was no mechanic on sight so I had to adjust it myself. I only was able to adjust the rotation of the bars because there was absolutely NO working tools. I do not understand how they can keep these bikes maintained and up to par with no tools. The chains were dry, brake pads very low and grips were sticky and old. Once the «mechanic», if you even want to call her that, came in while I was looking for a tool and came at me with attitude. She then just told me to back off and attempted to use the wrong tool for the levers. She had such an attitude and could not even adjust the bike. I made more progress than she could of.
This place needs an actual mechanic and actual working tools and more bike selections. Also some more love on the bikes as they show their neglect. Save your money and use the city bikes as those are in way better shape, actually work and cheaper.

5 STARS. CAN I GIVE MORE. Segway Tour.
So my girlfriend has been on me about doing the Segway Tour on Balboa Park. She got it on Group on. For a great discount. But it has a time limit. So we finally went this last weekend after a rainy week. The morning of the tour was sprinkling. It was a Sunday. So we decided to go anyways. At worse we would just get an early lunch. But the sun decided to light our path. And it became a gorgeous day.
We had a bit of trouble getting there. The directions on our GPS sucked and it told us to go to the Hotel off of West A Street. It wanted to take us to back door or something. It is easy if you go to the Port Of San Diego and park there and just cross the road. Hard to miss. They have 2 big yellow banners. Also since it is right across the street. You can go back and add more time before you leave on the tour. Remember its not free parking on Sunday anymore. And the tour is 3 hours long. 3 hours long.
First thing they make you do is sign a waiver. Your average waiver. I will not suit them for doing something stupid or for not paying attention. You have to watch a 15 min video. Showing you what not to do and what happens if you do that. Very informative. It will make the tour a lot more fun. You are then fitted to a helmet. You can choose the cool Tony Hawk style helmet or the ok bicycle helmet. I chose the cool. And well Julie chose the other. We were now ready.
Now we are introduced to our Segway. You need to be nice to it. You don’t want it to knock you off. All kidding aside for now. We were taught how to get on it. How it balances you. That’s right, it does the work. So if you have no balance or are clumsy you can still ride this. He showed us how to turn how to stop and how to avoid doing some of the stuff we saw in the video. He showed us what are common mistakes that new riders do. After all that we got to get on the Segway. He took us around the front and back once with him holding the handle and one without. Making sure we got it. It is easier than we thought. And since we were the only 2 people on this tour, it was like getting a private lesson and tour. I would suggest the Sunday Balboa tour. Especially during Cooler times and Comic Con. He said its usually not busy those days.
We were given a receiver with a single earpiece. It hangs off your neck. Its the size of an old IPOD. But half the weight. So you can hear him talking at all times. We took off and headed up. Up we went crossing streets and rail crossings. He made sure the road was clear for us to go. And even waived at cars to stop before telling us to proceed. I felt safe for my girlfriend and I. As we kept going up the hill I had one thought. How are we going to go down the hill? It was on my mind. But the more I rode the more comfortable I felt with it. I was doing turns and spinning out at every stop. It was getting very fun.
We finally get to Balboa Park after a 15 min ascend. up the hill. It was great o get up there that fast. And looking around. And pointing out stuff we didn’t know about. Or would see on our own. We learned about the history of some San Diego areas as we rode up. And We were taught a lot of history of Balboa Park. Like most of it was built to be demolished. If you hit some of the columns they sound hollow. Wow! Didn’t know that. It also was built for the opening of the Panama Canal. They talk about the fires and how they planted all the trees. Our Guide took pictures of us and was very friendly. He was always pointing things out. He allowed us to take pictures. Not during the ride. But when we wanted to. It was great that it was only 2 of us. We were able to make it more personal. Had time to take breaks if needed and we were only waiting on ourselves. Our Guide made it so much fun that we already have looked into doing another. I recommend to do it at least once. And choose the 3 hour tour at Balboa. You will learn more stuff about that place. That you will be able to take full use of the whole park.
Remember it balances you. Anyone can do it. Just relax and follow directions. Enjoy, we did. Look at our pics. Mine and Julie C.

My friend and I did the Balboa Park (3 hr) Segway tour today. Our tour guide was Kat. We had a great time. Lots of fun. Saw and learned new things about that part of SD (I have lived here over 40 years). Kat was great! Knowledgeable, friendly, helpful. Would definitely recommend her and this tour.
They did not supply bottled water (would have been nice if they did), so bring your own.

Did the Segway tour with these people
Really fun, the tour guy did a great job. Yay Japhet! The training is a bit long but they did their best to make it fun. And don’t be intimidated, YOU can ride a Segway. I promise. Only one dude wrecked and he was done in by his wife.
I only did this because I wanted to ride a Segway. Totally worth it. Do this! It’s a great way to blow 2 hours cruising around downtown without exercising or struggling for parking.

We loved the two hour Gaslamp and waterfront tour. We covered a lot of ground, saw a lot of great stuff, and got information that was new to us. We’re locals and not tourists! Our guide Rachael was great! We’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fun way to explore a city.

Definitely a must do on sunny days!
Went with my brother, my cousin, his girlfriend, and my 3 niblings (IT’S A WORD!) just to hang out. Got into big tandem bike and headed off into the sunset. We get into a lot of stupid trouble and have a lot of stupid laughs so if you saw us cruising by, we probably looked crazy.
There was no wait to get a bike, no wait to return it, plenty of street parking, and lots to see. The girl helping us was super nice and helped the kids pick out cool helmets.
I would recommend this place in a heartbeat for some quick fun in the sun.

We went on a tour today with Kat. She made it fun from kids to us 40+ people. She made it easy to understand the segway and let us have fun! If your on the fence do it! Everyone was a pro by 5 mins

Had a super fun time today in downtown San Diego! Our guides Kat and Japhet were knowledgeable, friendly and most importantly FUN!!!
The tour goes through waterfront and downtown. I’m from Northern California and this was my first time on a Segway. Here’s how it went down:
We had a hard time figuring out how to use the Groupon on their website. They were friendly when I called to ask and explained where to punch in the code. We arrived about 15 minutes early. The location is right on Harbor Blvd down the street a little from where we expected it. The girl checking us in was nice, explained the forms and got us checked in.
That’s the blah stuff.
Then the day got interesting. They sat us down to watch a video about all the things that could go wrong on the Segway. If our guide Japhet hadn’t told us to take it with humor I might have changed my mind bout the trip :) you’ll just have to watch it to see!
Next we got some hands-​on training before we were off like little ducklings behind our main guide Kat. She has an awesome chill SoCal energy about her and it worked great to balance off our more eccentric guide Japhet who is one of the more entertaining people I’ve met down here. They gave us a bunch of photo ops, helped us maneuver the Segways and even put on a show as a Padres fan tried to mount Kat’s Segway and Japhet did aerial moves in front of a large crowd.
The tour itself exposes you to the amazing architecture of downtown, history of SD and an experience that you won’t get on a bus or bike tour.
I highly recommend the tour especially with this group of guides.
Next time we are in SD this will be the top on our list of ToDos.

Came here on Saturday morning (Easter weekend). My boys and I were anxious to ride the Deuce Coupe (2 seater) and Quad Sport (single rider). The line was a little long and unfortunately they only had one guy working the place. He was friendly.
The prices were reasonable ($ 25/​hour for the Deuce Coup and $ 12/​hour for the Quad Sport). Helmets were included in the price for the kids (under 18 are required to have helmets). They kept my ID as collateral and I paid up front. I’d probably suggest they keep a copy of my ID or my credit card on file since I was riding in the Gaslamp with no ID.
It was a super fun experience to cruise the Embarcadero in these things. They also rent surreys, cruisers, and tandem bikes.
HIGHLY recommend. I would have given them 5 stars if the poor guy had some help.

Kurt the attendant was extremely helpful in identifying the right bikes for my family of 7. His great customer service was above and beyond what I would have expected. At the end of the day when Kurt was closing up he took the time to help my 7 year old daughter after she stubbed her toe bringing her a bandaid and disinfectant.
Great experience and definitely would rent from the Marriott location again.

Had a good selection of bikes, but weren’t given a map at all, no suggestions of places to visit or go. They have to KEEP and ID of one person, which if your planning on riding around and stopping for a drink or using a credit card while your gone, I guess you can’t do that… And a little on the expensive side.

Rented a 4 person surrey. $ 35 for 1 hour.
Did not encounter any problems. Surrey was fully operational, brakes worked, steering worked, seats are ok. Excellent way to see the waterfront without doing much work.
I preferred not to leave my drivers license with the rental place.

We scheduled, in advance, our Segway tour at a specific time to accommodate our out of town Military guests schedule. The only reason to not give 5 full stars was the disappointment when Nick called that morning and told us that our tour was cancelled and we d need to join an earlier group or come the next day (neither one was an option for us). FORTUNATELY A GREAT TOUR GUIDE, TREVOR, SAVED THE DAY. We ended up being able to keep the scheduled time (last tour of the day) and we had a fantastic time! We saw and learned things about SD we hadn’t known before. Super fun on the Segways. Good training + great fun + personality plus = Trevor at Wheel Fun San Diego

NOTE TO WHEEL FUN MANAGEMENT: Change your policy of requiring to take someone’s drivers license to making a copy of it and holding on to a credit card.
Also, your bike handles melt in the sun which become sticky and leaves black gunk on your hands.
The girls that worked there are friendly but as a business I have to give you a really poor review.
Change your ID policy and get new /​better bike handles and I will give you a better review. Deal?

Purchased 3×3 hour Balboa Park Segway rentals for wife and kids to enjoy while I was busy. Was on the Monday morning 10:00AM tour. Arrived with them to help get them going and was told that there’s a 30 minute intro etc and then the tour would leave. They left at 10:30 and were returned and finished by 12:15. Family had to wait an hour for me to come pick them up because the 3 hour tour was actually 1:45 tour.
No explanation for why it was cut short or apologies… just the way it is. Galen was their guide and they did like him… but no reasons for why so short. Go for the two hour Gaslamp tour… the Balboa Park one is misleading.

I loved the segway tour. What a perfect way to tour the downtown area of San Diego. The guide was knowledgeable about the city and her history and was also a very fun person. I would recommend this highly among things to do in San Diego. It’s good for almost all ages and it’s very easy to learn. They also have bikes and surrys for rent. It makes a great complement to all the sunshine we have here.

We had a great time this morning! We did the Balboa Park tour, and I learned a lot of interesting facts while having a great time. The tour originates in downtow, across from the harbor. You will go through Little Italy, and then throughout Balboa Park. Ask for Nick. He gregarious and good-​humored guide with a local’s perspective. You can wear flip flops but I recommend tennis shoes. Enjoy!

Samantha was sweet and so much fun. Knew so much about downtown San Diego. Thanks a lot Sam!

We did the Segway tour of Downtown San Diego. This was 100% fun. First of all I purchase 2 half price vouchers on TravelZoo. Making reservations was easy. We also got to be the only ones in the tour, except for the tour guide of course.
She was awesome, my daughter loved her and she made the entire tour fun. Riding the Segways is actually very easy and they move very fast and are super responsive. Even though I grew up in San Diego, going around Downtown and the Harbor on Segways was a new experience. It was a 2.5 hour tour for $ 45 (that was out discounted rate) so it was a fantastic experience and deal at the same time. Would do again and the people at Wheel Fun are nice, helpful and professional.