Swing Set - Merritt Island,FL

I bought our swing set from toys r us about 3 years ago and paid $800+ for it. It was the biggest one they had at the time. My girlfiend bought a set from rainbow 1 1/2 years earlier and paid $2100 for hers. Mine now looks like it is ready to fall over. The wood is splintering and the boards are warped. The benches are falling off too. We will be taking it down at the end of the season. Hers on the other hand still looks brand new and is as straight as an arrow. The wood on hers is much thicker then ours and the weight limit on hers is much higher.

We have one of the sets from Toys R us - bought it about five years ago and it is still going strong for our 8 year old and 2.5 year old. We did have to replace some of the wood about a year ago (just wanted to make cerain of sturdiness since younger child as going to start using it) I would guess we still have a couple more years out of it. I think we paid around $400 so we certainly got our money worth.

I am not sure of the quality or lack there of of sets at Toys R Us - likely it is because they specialize in toys and can get a good price from their supplier(s)...that said - and I hope I am not breaking any rules here - we are getting ready to sell our wooden playset - we bought it for just under $1000 about 2 years ago - it is wooden, has 2 swings a trapeze-type swing as well, monkey bars, a fort, a picnic table, and a rock wall, oh and a slide. We were actually going to list in on Craig's List and in the Penney Saver this weekend/upcoming week. I can email you a picture if you are interested. Oh it is Thompson's water sealed as well. We are looking to sell it for around $500 (or best offer) if you are interested. I don't ever post stuff for sale here - but figured the timing of your post was amazing and thought I'd throw it out there. Either way, whatever you decide, good luck in your search. My kids love to swing and have had many fun hours on our play set - we went to this one becasue we had watched at least 2 other metal sets rust thru very quickly. Just something to keep in mind.

Don't Do It!!! We bought ours from Toys R Us and it only lasted for 1 year before it started cracking and falling apart. Our kids aren't generally h*** o* things either. It also took 4 adults, including 2 handymen, an entire day and evening to put it together. Parts were missing, holes in the wrong places, etc. Total nightmare, just so it could fall apart.

If and when I do it again. I will go to Lowes or Home Depot, buy parts from a design and know it will last, at least for a little while.

Good luck and have fun!!! At least your kids will!!

Hi, we got our swingset/playhouse/slide combo from ToysRUs, about 6 months ago - so far so good! Kids LOVE it and we haven't had any issues :)

My kids grandparents bought one for X-mas for the kids, and I would say to just make sure that whatever one you get. Make sure that the slide part has a good platform, so the kids have room to maneuver to set. A lot of them don't have any room at the top of the slide to sit, and my girls have fallen down the slide on their tummy's cause they didn't have room to move around. Good luck

Hi-

We just purchased one 2 weeks ago and it is great; very sturdy. It took about 10 hours to set up, but my 3 year old son loves it!

Hope it helps,

Jill

We got our wooden swingset from Walmart online and we love it. I do like the idea of getting a kit from Lowe's though as you may be able to get better quality lumber. Good luck and enjoy!!

We got the kit from Lowe's to build your own wooden swing set. I did tons of research on them and it was the cheapest way to go for a wooden set. My husband built it for my son's 1st birthday, he's 4 now and it's still standing strong. It's held up just fine in the hurricanes too! Wood is the way to go if you want a sturdy set that will last.