I recently went through the process of comparing and selecting a swing set to buy in Orlando for my children at home.
There are three different playgrounds of different sizes within a mile from our house but we still wanted to have a basic swing set with a couple of swings and a slide for our children so that they have a place to play at home at the same time we can keep an eye on them. It will be several years before they can go and visit the other playgrounds close to our house by themselves.
Buying a Swing Set in Orlando
This was our children’s big Christmas present this year and it came down to either getting them an xbox 360 with some games or spending a little bit more to get them a swing set to go outside and play.
The swing set won.
Metal versus Wood
Our first decision was whether to purchase a metal or wood swing set. With Orlando summers getting very hot and a windy back-porch that really picks up during bad storms, we had concerns about a swing set blowing over and decided that wood would be the best choice for us.
Swing Set Merchants
For our swing set research, we looked through the catalogs and websites of Toys R Us, Target.com, Walmart.com, Sears.com, and Lowes.com. All of the swing sets with these merchants come as do-it-yourself kits to put together. Without actually seeing the sets in person, we turned our research over to the local merchants selling swing sets in the Orlando area.
Orlando Local Swing Set Dealers
A search on Google brings up the 3 big swing set dealers in the area of Creative Playthings in Oviedo, PlayNation in Downtown Orlando, and Rainbow Play Systems in Orlando.
All three vendors are backed by swing set manufacturers that have offices throughout the United States and create quality swing sets with premium materials (see videos below).
In the end, we went with the Passage swing set from PlayNation. PlayNation was able to come in about $100 cheaper than Creative Playthings Sudburry Swing Set that we were also looking at when including delivery and installation. We also like the Passage swing set setup a little better than the Sudburry. We would also like to include that the service we received from the owner at PlayNation during the buying process was excellent.
We never contacted Rainbow because the smallest package of features listed on their website was more than what we were looking for and we felt that the PlayNation swing set was already competitive with what we were seeing from the national retailers like Toys R Us.
For any swing set purchase you are planning on making in Orlando, we recommend searching all three of the sites above for your swing set needs.
Creative Playthings Promotional Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU4fyPuzMKk
Rainbow Promotional Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1SkKRFiCXw
Swing Sets Orlando Map
View Orlando Swing Sets Retailers in a larger map