I just cannot say enough good things about our Central Park tour experience with Fancy Apple Bike Rentals & Tours on 7/15/2021!!
We actually met our guide Benny 2 days prior to our tour when we had just gotten off a horse carriage tour (which was fun but was very short and did not cover most of the park).
At the time we met him we had another place to run off to that we thought would take about an hour and by the time we got back and called him he had already scheduled something else so we began communicating back & forth until we found a time that worked for us both. Once we settled on a time, Benny did a great job of staying in touch with us reconfirming details to make sure it all came together seamlessly...have never before experienced that level of communication with a tour guide which was very impressive to me.
When we first met Benny, he shared some amazing details about Central Park & NYC which he knows like the back of his hand because he grew up there. Call it a sales job if you like but we realized how little of the park we actually had seen on the carriage ride and the info he shared left us wanting more. That conversation is the reason we worked out our schedule for the tour to be with Benny instead of just scheduling with another guide at Fancy Apple. And our experience convinces us that we made the right choice with Benny!!
Also, during that initial conversation, he suggested that the next day we should take a train to Coney Island and go to the beach because during our week in NYC there was an oppressive heat wave and cooling off at the beach at the famous Coney Island sounded fun since we had not originally planned time to go there, we love the beach, and we were able to check that one off our bucket list since we had never been before. His suggestion for that side trip turned out to be one of the best things we did on our NYC vacation week!!
The morning of our tour, Benny started things off by texting to reconfirm time & address where to meet and he was there & ready to go when we arrived which is a great way to start any tour!!
Wife & I are both in our mid-50's and because the weather was oppressively hot we opted for Electric Bikes from Fancy Apple to minimize peddling. The bikes were super easy to learn & use and kept us from exhausting ourselves. It was a great decision for us and was another recommendation from Benny as more proof the man knows what he is doing!!
From the moment we entered the park, Benny stopped to give us facts & a broad overview history about the park and tidbits about the specific area surrounding us at that moment. As we rode, he would point out specific buildings or an area then share details about it's importance in the history of the park and other factoids such as why we might recognize from a scene in this movie or that tv show...all very interesting stuff. Benny knows the park & city well since he grew up in NYC but his wealth of knowledge is well beyond what just a kid growing up there would know so he has obviously invested time & energy into studying park history and is well read on the subject with the ability to answer most any question.
He would stop frequently at both the major & lesser known landmarks and took lots of pictures for us. The highlight for me was our stop at Strawberry Fields & all the memory pics at the Imagine plaque along with a ride over to the Dakota where John Lennon was shot...very moving moment for an old rock & roll guy like me.
I began this review by saying I cannot say enough good things about Fancy Apple Bike Rentals & Tours but even more than that...I simply cannot say how happy I am that we crossed paths with Benny and took our tour with him because our tour was fantastic and Benny as our guide for those 2 hours was awesome.
I highly recommend that you choose Fancy Apple Bike Rentals & Tours for your Central Park tour and strongly suggest that you ask specifically for Benny to be your guide if you truly want it to be a great experience...trust me, you won't be sorry with your choice!!!!!