Little Tikes Rocky Mountain River Inflatable Water Slide
Bottom Line: Inflatable Water slides are the next evolution of backyard toys for kids and of the consumer grade slides, [easyazon_link identifier=”B00AU0O8B2″ locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Little Tikes[/easyazon_link] makes a great one for younger kids.
When I was a kid we had the Slip and Slide, we had the Crocodile Mile, we had hours of fun, but we also had a lot of friction burns, dead grass, and wipe-outs. The kids of today don’t have to suffer through the same thing, because there are inflatables! I love inflatables (insert snicker here), I love inflatable bounce houses, inflatable movie screens, inflatable Halloween costumes, and I just recently discovered inflatable water slides.
It has been terribly hot but a pool is just not in the cards for us at this time, not even an above ground pool, we don’t have the space. I wanted to give the kids something to do outside that would involve water and would be a little more exciting than a sprinkler. My journey led me to inflatable waterslides.
Inflatable waterslides are like a bounce house coupled with a backyard playground. The internal positive pressure from the blower keeps the water from completely soaking the fabric, which helps keeps things slippery.
Swimming pools are major investments and take up a lot of space, even above ground pools require a lot of commitment and expense. Both types of pools require constant maintenance, electrical expenses, and chemicals. These slides are a little expensive, but other than a little bit of water and some electricity, the operation costs are relatively low.
One of the nice things about the inflatable waterslide is that it can be set up in minutes, just lay it out, hook it up to a blower, connect the hose and in a few minutes you are in business.
Once the slide is dry, it is just as easy to pack up, just cram it back into the bag. While you are waiting for the slide to dry, one person can easily move it to a dry part of the yard or if you don’t want to pack up the slide, you can easily move it around the yard to minimize the impact on the grass. The fact that it easily packs up in a bag, means you can easily take it to a neighbor’s or across town, perfect for family reunions or other large gatherings.
TIP 1: Make sure you measure the space where you want to put the waterslide, ensuring clearance for kids to run around. Also, make sure that you have access to water and electricity, try to avoid using an extension cord if you can.
TIP 2: To help accelerate the drying process, turn off the water and keep the slide inflated until thoroughly dry.
PROS:
Can be stored in a small space
Can be set up very quickly
Relatively safe, well padded
Minimal upkeep costs
Easy for one person to move
Fairly easy to put away, no dead grass spots
CONS:
Must wait for it to dry out before storing
High initial investment
Requires a fair amount water to keep running
Requires electricity
Little Tikes – Rocky Mountain River Race
I have the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00AU0O8B2″ locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Little Tikes Rocky Mountain River Race inflatable waterslide[/easyazon_link], which wasn’t my first choice, but I am pretty happy with it. Even with Amazon Prime, there are a lot of things that they won’t ship to Hawaii and I was finally able to find this on island. The construction is top notch, Little Tikes didn’t drop the ball on this one! I haven’t seen any issues with the seams and it has already proven itself pretty durable.
We have had up to four kids on it at a time, they were all little kids, but there was plenty of space for all of them. My daughter is little for her age, even so I think we will only get a couple of years out of it. This slide is probably only good up to 7-8 years of age. If I could have gotten the one I wanted, it would have been the [easyazon_link identifier=”B000XRURAS” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Blast Zone Crocodile Isle[/easyazon_link]. Blast Zone also makes commercial grade slides and the company has a tradition of quality customer support. That being said, I am really happy with the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00AU0O8B2″ locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Little Tikes Water Slide[/easyazon_link]. I would definitely stay away from the Banzai products, I haven’t had a great experience with their stuff, it reminds me of the cheap toys of my youth. Please check out my video review below.
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