Gorilla Playsets Blue Ridge Retreat Wooden Gym Play Center and Swing Set 4.4 5 55 56
Beautiful, affordable, fun...but... I did a lot of research on playsets before we decided on the Blue Ridge Retreat. By far, this was the most affordable unit for the money and I have so many good things to say about the unit.1. The two slides are super fun and sturdy.2. The roofs are beautiful - not just tarps that will fray.3. The unit is very sturdy and fun-even for big kids and Mommies! :)4. The variety of options are amazing for this price range. In fact, we couldn't even come close for the money!5. You can buy accessories from Gorilla to supplement your set.Now for the but....You obviously already know that the directions are very confusing. That is an understatement! Most of the construction time is spent reading and rereading. Here are some specific problems that I guarantee you will encounter:1. Pictures are not clear and contradictory from step to step.2. They say lag bolts instead of lag screws.3. We ran out of items such as T-nuts, lag screws, 3 1/2 inch screws. Be prepared to make some trips to the hardware!4. Some steps in the directions were blatantly incorrect, such as measurements for pilot holes (good advice-don't even attempt the pilot holes), when lining up the lower roof boards, you must allow extra room for the post on the slide side or the boards won't line up properly.Overall, this unit is beautiful, but it is quite obvious that the folks at Gorilla who wrote the directions, never actually put the set together. They have told me over the phone, that new CAD colored pictures/directions are being used in future orders, however, the same problems will remain unless they correct the errors and confusion in the wording.I must also say that Gorilla is terrific to work with. They sent us the missing items and even replaced some boards that had been damaged due to incorrect directions. They really need to hire some of us Blue Ridge Retreat veterans to help them rewrite the directions.Overall, total construction time (2 people) was 40+ hours. The fun our son has already had, made it well worth the blood, sweat, and tears (I guarantee all three)!! 12/14/2007
Great Set- Great Price! This Swing set was well worth the money! It took a little time to put together- but the end results were worth the work! I would suggest starting by sorting all of the "LIKE" pieces into stacks- we thought we would leave them in the box open box 1 use it and then go to box 2- It does not work like that! We were spending too much time searching for the needed materials~ The key is to set up the materials for each step in advance- This will really cut down your time! Also we were VERY impressed with the customer service from both Walmart and the Gorilla playset company - We were missing a part of our circle slide- A very large part-- I called Walmart they contacted the Gorilla company and can you believe the sent it overnight from GA to WA state--I am sure that cost them a pretty penny! I expected them to tell me it would be here in 7-10 days! Boy was I suprised! Thank you Walmart and Gorilla play company! Our children were thrilled to have it complete for friends coming to a party two days later! We had told them we would not have it in time to get the slide together for them to play on it for our BBQ! As far as delivery the play system was delieverd sooner than promised-- the delivery guys were GREAT! In all it was a great experience! Thanks :) 07/21/2007
Awesome Product but time consuming This product once finished looks like a set that you would see at a school or small park, it is very big and is everything you see on the picture. One word of caution. I have done a lot of projects around my house including putting in my own movie theater with three level sitting, hanging doors, major stuff but this project took it out of me. I worked with minimum help from friends on this thing for 8 hours for almost three straight days and the reason is this. The instructions are very complicated. My father is a senior engineer at Boeing and has worked on radar/textiles and major milatary aircraft for over 30 years including Airforce One and he had trouble trying to follow the directions. If they were more clear the construction time might be one day. The set comes in different boxs(about 6 big boxes) so please spend the first 2 hours pulling out the inventory sheets in each box and putting the like parts together as other indivduals have mentioned in earlier feedback.It takes a lot of manual work so be perpared but after all is said and done I am amazed at how nice the set looks and how well it is constructed from the company. Well worth the money and you will be proud to own this set! 08/09/2007
Great Playset This playset once built is wonderful. The instructions are really difficult to understand. Here are just a few tips that I think made it easier to bulid. Label all of the pieces and place them into piles according to the steps in the instruction book. Read the instructions 2 or 3 times before you start to built the playset. The more familier you are with what pieces they call for and how they word the instructions the easier it will be to bulid. Buy a pack of 20 1/4 washers to use on the rocks for the rock wall. The screws they sent can easily puncture the plastic. Once all is said and done the playset is top-notch. 11/13/2007
