This purchase has been one of the worst customer experiences I’ve ever had. We ordered the playset with assembly in mid-April 2023. Apparently Sam’s Club partners with a third party company, Go Configure, for its assembly services—something that is not disclosed in the listing. The assembly company contacted us promptly and stated assembly would occur within 10 days. We took down our old swingset in reliance that the new one would soon be installed. It’s now been months of waiting and frustration. I called dozens of times to try to get an assembly date. The installation company finally committed to a date a month later (so two months from the time of purchase). Of course, when the date finally came, the technician never showed. When I called the company, they tell me the appointment was cancelled the previous night, even though they never bothered to call, and the company couldn’t provide me with a new installation date at this time. Needless to say, if and when there’s a new installation date provided at some point, I have no confidence their technician will show up for the appointment or will do quality work. This swingset was fully paid for months ago and has been sitting in boxes. I have called Sam’s Club multiple times, and so far all they’ve done is refer me back to their third party assembly company. Likewise, I called Backyard Discovery to speak with their Customer Advocates Team, and all they offered to do was e-mail the third party installers, because apparently Backyard Discovery has a contract with Go Configure as well, so they don’t partner with anyone else. I’ve come to learn that there are extensive consumer complaints posted online against the installation company (Go Configure) that Sam’s Club and Backyard Discovery have chosen to partner with, and there is a long list of Better Business Bureau complaints detailing similar experiences to mine. I can’t believe Sam’s Club and Backyard Discovery made the decision to partner with an installation company that has received such negative reviews and that Sam’s Club hasn’t addressed this situation. I’ve filed a consumer complaint and am still waiting for this issue to be resolved. This has been an absolute nightmare, and I highly regret my purchase at this point and the fact that I took down my old swingset in reliance that this new one would be installed in the near future. It appears that the business model here is to induce consumers to purchase a swingset by offering assembly, and then never providing assembly and instead causing so much frustration that the consumer ultimately gives up.

This is a very nice pay set. My 2 1/2 and 5 year old love it! Some reviews say it is cheap and poor quality. I do not agree with that. After we placed our order it took about two weeks before it was delivered. It comes freight, on a pallet, with 4 large/long boxes. The weight is around 900lbs. The freight company was great and placed it in my garage. I paid for assembly and the company called right as it was delivered. Two weeks later the guy was out and it took him 2 1/2 days to assemble. Well worth the price! TONS of small pieces and bolts, etc... They assembly guy was great and knew exactly what he was doing! I would really recommend this play set for smaller children!

We have owned this for nearly two years now and my sons have played on it quite a bit. It's still rock-solid and I expect it will last until my kids outgrow it. The only time our set shifts or moves at all is when a kid at the upper end of the weight range swings high. Even then, the movement is not worrisome. I looked at play sets by other companies, and play sets that offer such a variety of activities cost at least twice as much. Because there is so much to do, this is a good set if you have a lot of kids or if the neighbor kids come over; several children can play on it at the same time. Because of some head-clearance issues (see below) it's better suited to kids under 10, but if you have a big kid who still likes play sets, he/she can use it until he/she reaches 150 lbs. If appearance matters to you, this is one of the best-looking play sets out there (assuming you keep it stained and sealed, of course). The bay "windows", wood roof, clubhouse, crow's nest, and gable detailing make it very upscale-looking. The design is good for a variety of imaginative play - the crow's nest and telescope allow it to serve as a "pirate ship" or the clubhouse and picnic table can transform it to a "house" or "restaurant." My kids especially love being able to look out over the whole neighborhood from the crow's nest. The set comes with two standard swings and a two-person glider. The swings can easily be removed if you want the open space under them, or you could replace one/both of the standard swings with a baby swing. The assembly is a big project. You really need two people for parts of the assembly (there are some large, heavy parts and sub-assemblies). Trust me: you WILL want access to power tools! There are a LOT of screws and bolts, not to mention holes to drill. The instructions are mostly okay, but they are definitely wrong in some places. Someone with experience in building can spot the errors and figure out how to compensate, but people who need perfect instructions are going to run into trouble. The instructions estimate that two moderately competent adults can build it in 24-36 hours and based on our experience that estimate is reasonable. Various quibbles: 1. The play telescope falls off too easily. Ours kept ending up on the ground, and the kids eventually got tired of reattaching it and gave up on using it altogether. It's a shame, because they really loved having a "telescope" to look out over the neighborhood. There are aftermarket telescopes out there, but I haven't tried any of them. 2. Taller kids can bump their heads on the underside of the clubhouse. (However, there is plenty of headroom *inside* the clubhouse.) Since the underside is a flat surface with no exposed screw ends or anything dangerous, the kids will learn caution after a bump or two. 3. Despite what the advertising says, the picnic table is kid-sized. Only petite adults would want to sit there to eat lunch with the kids. 4. The wooden bar over the slide and rock wall is low for older children. Although even my tall 12 year old can still use the slide and rock wall, he has to really scrunch up to get underneath that bar. 5. After about a year, the green color started coming off the grips on the rock wall, exposing the grayish tan plastic underneath. This is purely an aesthetic problem, but I wish the grips had been made of a solid green plastic. 6. The kids have to walk through the sandbox to get to the inside of the picnic table (under the clubhouse). This could be a problem if you purchase the plastic sandbox cover - it could be damaged by kids walking on it. 7. The accessories (the plastic sandbox cover and the wood kit to permanently close off the sandbox) are expensive for what you get. All in all, I am very happy with the purchase, and strongly recommend it.

I researched for about 3 months on hundreds of different playsets and never found one that would meet our budget and still be a big playset. Then I came across this playset. I read all the reviews and only found maybe 1 or 2 bad reviews and those were only minor things. This is a very good playset for a good price. Yea, it's not a rainbow playset but those things are just rediculousy expensive. I am not going to lie, the directions are horrible. But if you have any wood working skills or mechanical skills then you will be ok. It took us about 18-20 hours to put together. I do wish that some of the boards were a little more stronger, but for my 6 year old and all her friends it will be just fine. All the neighborhood kids love it and I am very pleased with this playset. I would definetly buy another one if we ever had to. The only major problem that we had was one of the main floor boards was too small. I called the 800 number and they shipped me another one within 2 days with no questions asked.

I am a contractor and put this together in 24 hours by myself and my wife finding pieces for me on a part time bassis. It would be a big job for the do-it-yourselfer, you might want to hire it done, for the stores $400 offer. This comes in 4 large crate type boxes. One of the boxes is extremely heavy and take two good size men to move it. You will want the boxes close to the assembly point, as you will make a million trips to them. Finding the pieces is a challenge in itself. Numbers are faint and similar to each other, ie N8, M8, HK4, KH4, ect. You may need 6 - B8, there may be 2 in one boxe 2 in another box, 1 in each one of the other boxes. There is a packing list in each box, but you spent a lot of time trying to find the pieces. 20 plus bags of screws, bolts nuts, washers, with similair sizes, 14x1-1/8, 14x1-1/2, 18x1-1/4, 18x1-5/8, plus multiple size washers, bolts & screws. Plus there is only one extra of each. Except screws, which I was short 50 14x1-1/8 and 2" bolts I was short 10. The instruction are all just black & white copy drawings and very little actual instruction. Hard to make out placement of boards. Plus they kept showing the project from different sides, with no indication which side you are looking at. Many boards have to be put on in a certain rotation and that is not spelled out. You find out in a later step that your holes do not line up. Then you have to remove the board and reattachit, or if you have too many things already attached, you may have to drill new bolt holes, then you loose your predrilled screw hole indentions. This is the main area that could be improved. All for all it seems to be a nice play set and alot of thought has gone into it. The main fort is over 6' tall on the inside and at 250# supported me well, even the crows nest look out platform. The value is good for what you are getting. But the aggravation of looking for poorly marked parts and the vagness of the instructions, can make you hot under the collars. I am glad it is done.

My wife and I have been looking to get a new playset for our 4 kids the last 3 years and the Skyfort II was the ultimate choice we wanted that fit within our budget. It finally aligned up with tax return this year so we bought it. Shipping is free which is awesome since I don’t have the means to pick up at a Sam’s directly. Comes in four boxes, probably 100-200lbs. each. The delivery driver had a 2-wheel dolly so I was able to bring the boxes to my back yard with a little “umph” work. I’ve done many do-it-yourself projects, but probably not one from a box this large. I was very impressed with how everything is packaged and labeled. I had no missing hardware (some extras actually), all wood pieces were there and marked legibly enough to recognize the part #. I was able to do this by myself in about 28 hrs. over several days as I had time available. It probably would have taken a little less time if I had more full days to work on this vs. broken up. My suggestion/recommendations is to take time to lay out all the wood pieces by letter, definitely helps to find pieces during the process. I had an 18-volt cordless drill with two batteries, which I would also recommend if you have access to one; a handtool is provided, but a drill of some sort is needed regardless since some minor drilling is required and also helps to complete in a timely manner (star drill bits are included with the hardware as well). The instructions are very well marked and great to note which way pilot holes need to face when putting pieces together; I got ahead of myself a couple of times and overlooked these details, so just make sure you pay attention to the instructions about which way pieces need to face when assembling. Doing so will make sure each following step goes smoothly with you having all the holes in the right place. For the whole project, only one piece had the pilot holes in the wrong place (one of the main floor sections), but that was no issue at all. I was careful when working on the upper playset areas, but I’m 195lbs, and the 2nd level of the playhouse as well as the crow’s nest was able to handle my weight with no issues. While the playset is still new for us and don’t know about wear and tear, I’m very impressed with the quality of the wood and hardware. I’m also impressed with the instructions; it’s about 65 pages/steps in all, but very well laid out and was easy for me to follow. It all seems very sturdy and looks great in our yard and kids are having a blast. Our youngest is 1, so we expect to have this over 10yrs. and will maintain it with wood treatments as recommended to upkeep. Very happy with this purchase.

Several hours are needed to inventory and separate parts if you are doing this by yourself. Some instructions are a little vague. My son and I worked together on the construction when he was off work and a neighbor helped one afternoon also. I believe we put in about 40 hours. All of the pieces were shipped but we ended up going to the hardware store for approximately a half dozen bolts. It is quite easy to use the wrong screw or wrong bolt so I wouldn't say they weren't all shipped. My grandchildren love it. My grandaughter refers to it as her "Park". It looks great and we are happy with it.

This could be a great playset if it was built with a good quality wood. The set came complete and was not too difficult to assemble overall. The quality of the wood was terrible, however. I had to set my drill to the lowest setting to keep from stripping the screw holes. During a strong thunderstorm about 8 months after assembly it cracked up into pieces and blew apart.

We are very pleased with this playset. We looked at Rainbow playsets and some of their competitors and just couldn't spend the money - 2-3 times the price for a similar design. Though the wood for the Skyfort II is not as heavy duty as the higher end playsets from Rainbow, etc., it is still good quality and certainly strong enough for little ones. I routinely get in the clubhouse with our 1 and 4 year old - its a little cramped and I have to be careful on the step ladder but it supports me with no problem (6'2" 180lbs). The crows nest is a great addition that not many playsets have - its a tight fit but I can even get up in there and stand without any concern for my weight. After considering a $600-800 set up cost if we hired it out, my wife and I put the entire playset together ourselves (plus we have a ~10 degree slope in our backyard and most companies wouldn't build it for us unless we had level ground... we just put 4x4s under the back corners and leveled it from there and it worked great). We build some of the separate parts (slide, monkey bars, ladder, and rock wall) in the garage and then spent an entire weekend building the playset. I would guess it took us 20-25 hours total... maybe a little longer. We certainly recommend going through all the wood and at least checking over the hardware - we weren't short any pieces and had tons of extra hardware but we did get a few replacements shipped as a couple of boards had small cracks. Customer service via the 800 number was great - they shipped out all needed parts via FedEx in 2-3 days at no charge and no questions asked. Since our kids are so young, we initially blocked off the monkey bars with a gate but then I decided to purchase a second slide for about $100 delivered and installed it in the place of the monkey bars (Leisure Time told me not to do this - presumably for safety/balance or design so I ordered it as a 'replacement') but its worked great and now we don't have to worry about the gate falling out. Plus we can reinstall the monkey bars when they are old enough. A few recommendations - lay out all the pieces before starting the build... this took a long while in our garage... maybe 3-4 hours but it did help during the build. We built the crows nest in our garage and not on top of the swingset as the directions say... it was heavy to lift up but I can't imagine building that whole thing on top of the swing bar. We thought the directions were surprisingly good but do pay attention to which direction the boards should go as a connector may be needed 2-3 steps later that you put on backwards... once you start building, you will see what I mean. Not a huge deal to backtrack but a little annoying. We also only have one cordless drill and there are a lot of connectors so we had the battery die a couple of time so we had to break to recharge... having a corded drill or second battery could have helped. The only real negative is that the wood is a little soft and the finish comes off too easily. I actually sent for replacement ladder steps as that seems to be the place where the finish has already come off from climbing. I tried to get the right stain to do touch-ups but the kind and color that the company tells you simply doesn't match. I figured its a minor issue considering the considerable cost savings but it is my one gripe - not sure why they can get you a small can or at least a tell you a color that actually matched. I sprayed it with two coats of water protector after the build was done (I know others say the sprayed every board before the build... I know after is much faster though likely not as thorough). As some reviews say, the swings are closer together than the pictures show but still fine to use all three at the same time at least when they are smaller. One more thing - we already had a sand box so didn't need the one included. In lieu of purchasing the extra wood to build a floor over the sandbox (an extra kit $100 you can get for the set), we got rubber mulch and used that... its great so the kids don't have to worry about falling/tripping over the empty box but we don't have to have more sand over everything. We also bought a ships wheel and music set (drums) on Amazon to add a couple of things and those have worked out well. Overall, we would highly recommend and would buy again. It was actually pretty fun to build with only a little arguing :) but I think it will be a good set for years to come.

I was very surprised by the excellent quality of this kit. We had all of the pieces and they went to together like a well engineered puzzle. Instructions are lengthy, but very detailed and very accurate. All of the holes lined up with surprising precision. Hardware and pieces were all correctly and clearly labeled. Really don't have anything bad to say about this product. It is larger than I expected and looks pretty impressive in the backyard. Wish I had something like this when I was a kid... Highly recommended.