Little Tikes Bobcat Ridge Playset

This is a huge sturdy set. It takes a while to set up, but is totally worth it, I recommend an audio book or something to keep you entertained. It’s easy to make mistakes, and is a bit maddening when you do, the built app is very necessary. 2 people could do this in 2 weekends. You will need a tall ladder, and some parts do need a second person. We had all the parts plus some extra hardware. The set is quite sturdy, the individual base boards feel thin so I was a bit nervous as a 170lb individual standing on it to put it together but it held up no problem and I felt more comfortable. I have even been on the swings though I’m more then the weight limit. This will hold for your kids with no problem. We live on a hill with quite a bit of slope, so we had to dig in parts and we added an extra board for the bridge to connect lower to accommodate the slope. This worked well for us, but living on a hill this set is definitely more work. We also decided to add fake grass under so even more work. I would recommend this set to anyone who has a lot of space and isn’t afraid of putting together the largest flat pack project of their life. The quality is quite good.

I was surprised for the price how solid the structure was when we were done. I actually seems like a well thought out and constructed playground, time will tell whether I feel the same in a couple years. The amount boxes looks ominous to put together but like any Lego set if you follow the instructions it is super easy to assemble. Cordless drill, impact, framing square, and a brain are must haves. If you need a hammer you likely didn’t square something before you tightened it. I think it took my wife and I around 10 hours start to finish. There is an app with the instructions that allows you a 3d view of all the assembly that you can pan and rotate to see all angles helps a lot. The hardest part maybe leveling a big enough area of the back yard for it to sit. I did need to drill new holes to mount the swing set but that was just because I wanted it level and did not want to dig to lower the legs so I raised the other side. Now I am upwards of 6’8 230 pounds so my wife needed to do some of the interior work, it has some tight corners and low doorways I find difficult to navigate. It is a little kids play area 3 yr old loves it. For that matter my 5’6 wife plays on it as much as the kids. All in all happy with the purchase, anyone who finds it hard to assemble needs to slow down and read the instructions. The BILT app reads them to you for that matter.

Let me start by saying, once you've assembled this thing it is fantastic. The quality is great, it is sturdy, the materials are well-made. It really is a great playset and a great deal for the money. With that said, the assembly is the equivalent of walking a blind man who speaks a different language through a mine-field. The instruction manual is over 100 pages long; it is not as clear as you'd hope it was; and even the pictures to help are often from randomly changing angles and perspectives so you don't have a good idea of what you are looking at. It took me and 7 other grown men 3 full days to assemble this thing, sun-up to sun-down. We used power tools. We delegated tasks. We did everything right and it still took 3 days. If I was to come out and see the thing destroyed in a tornado tomorrow, I would just pay a few thousand dollars to have it assembled for us. Love the set - it merits 5 stars. But just for the assembly, I've got to knock one off.

Reading all of the issues that people had putting this together, I almost tried to hire someone to build it. There were some complaints about missing parts and to go over all of them beforehand would have taken quite some time, so my husband just winged it. ALL. BY. HIMSELF. It took him not even 2 full days. He started at 10am on a Saturday, stopped when it got dark, started around the same time Sunday and it took him about an hour and a half more. It would have been finished in a day if he started a little earlier. Some tips: * leave the builder alone. :-), *do NOT use the little Alan wretches that they provide. Try to use an electric screwdriver with the attachments. That made it a million times faster. *Follow the app. It was pretty awesome to have. *Don't just open the boxes and start throwing the boards out. They are in certain boxes for a reason. The only "issue" we are having is that my 8-year-old daughter is a little too tall for some of the entrance/exits where there is a board going horizontally over them, she keeps hitting her head because it is a little too low. So, if you're looking for older kids only, then maybe look for one bigger, but this one is still great because of the bridge, monkey bars, slide and swings. They have already used the little picnic table to eat on as well. We just put this together so I will come back later in the year and let you know how it still holding up. I would definitely suggest this playscape.