REVIEW – Bounce houses were always fun for me as a kid, but even though we have our own little one getting bigger every day I hadn’t ever considered buying one. In my childhood they were always things your affluent friends rented or were seen at special events. When the offer to review the Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide toy popped into my inbox, I was surprised by both the size of the toy as well as the fairly reasonable price (I thought they’d be a lot higher). I happily volunteered, and now we have a gigantic bounce house and slide ready for summer splashes! Our toddler gave it a thorough shakedown in dry winter conditions, and I’ll definitely update the review once we finally get into summer temperatures here in the Rocky Mountains.
What is it?
The Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide is an inflatable bounce house and water slide toy. It maintains shape and function via an always-on blower when in use (included), and has an assortment of activity sections for little ones to use. Whubefy recommends kids 12 and under, or under 100 pounds.
What’s included?
- Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide toy
- 580 Watt UL certified blower
- 10 x stakes
- 2 x inflatable balls
- 1 x carry bag
- 1 x sprayer hose
- Assorted patch fabric pieces and thread
Design and features
The Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide toy is even larger than I expected when inflated. The bottom pool area can be filled with water (or ball-pit balls, not included). The entire toy is made of Oxford material (420D and 840D Nylon) which Whubefy claims will last for years. It seems sturdy enough for kids, but be sure to keep anything sharp far away from it (I’m already enforcing a habit of removing shoes and any clothes with rivets when playing on it). The whole toy has a castle theme with bright colors.
There are three levels to the toy: the bottom pool/ball-pit level, then the bounce house area in the middle (which has a small slide down to the pool), and then a climbing wall up to the top. A large curved slide leads from the tower down to the pool/pit area.
Around behind the tower is a basketball hoop. You can also see the mesh windows in the tower, these are great for keeping kids in while still being able to keep an eye on them to be sure they’re ok.
And continuing around the side is a soccer (football for the rest of the non-American world) goal. This goal is rather close to where the blower has to sit, I wish they’d connected the blower tube to the corner instead of right next to the goal, but kids could still have fun with it regardless.
On one corner of the pool is a hose/cannon sticking up. This has velcro attachment points for the water sprayer. Since it was near freezing temperatures during the review period, we didn’t test this out, but I’m excited to hook it up when it gets warm!
Alternately, you can hook the sprayer up above the slide, which would provide a constant water flow down the slide.
The above shot shows the climbing wall and bounce house area behind the soccer goal. The bounce house provides a good amount of bouncing effect for smaller kids with the amount of air beneath it. It also allows for soft landings, even if the kid jumps off the higher level (or is thrown by dad – though that would never happen).
The UL-certified blower does a great job keeping the bounce house inflated, and didn’t seem to be straining or having any issues during the test period. It’s loud, but not annoyingly so. Even sitting right next to it your ears don’t hurt, and further away it turns into white noise.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Setup starts with unfolding the Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide toy. I ended up purchasing a large tarp from a local home goods store after our first use, when I noticed the bottom had picked up some moisture from the ground. I was able to do all the setup and takedown myself, though it would be faster with 2 people.
You’ll need to next find the blower tube and attach it to the blower. This has built in elastic, which held by itself for me, but also tie strings for extra protection.
As soon as the blower is turned on, the toy fills up completely within a minute. I was impressed with how quickly you can set up and blow up this toy.
Takedown is a reverse of the above steps, with the added step of opening the large release hole (shown above). This helps to quickly deflate the toy, but be sure to close it back up before use next time (it’s located on the bottom under the slide area).
Once deflated and folded up, it easily fits in the included carry bag along with the blower. I didn’t have to strain and tightly fold the toy either, just simple folds and rolling and then in it went. If you add ball-pit balls, you’re probably going to want at least 1,000 to barely cover the pool area. It would take at least 3,000 balls to really turn it into a ball pit, it’s a large area. We got 400, and we either put them in the bounce house area or just below the small slide (and I lay next to it to provide a barrier and keep them all in one smaller section of the lower pool area). 400 balls take a while to clean up and get back into their bags, I wouldn’t want to do 3,000 with any regularity.
What I like about the Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House and Water Slide toy
- Fast setup
- Pretty big for 10 and under kids
- Variety of activity areas
- Ability to use on hot and cold days with or without water
What needs to be improved?
- Exterior ball hoop and soccer goal would be better if inflation tube was connected to the corner
- It’s hard to tell how much abuse it’s going to be able to take before seam failures or holes. So far after half a dozen sessions there’s no problems.
Final thoughts
Even if I hadn’t received the Whubefy Inflatable Bounce House Water Slide toy for review, if I’d known about it I would have been tempted to just buy it on my own. After having used it many times even without the pool/water sprayer functions, I can already tell it will be an indispensable part of backyard play for us and our little one. I’ll be sure to update this review with our findings during summer water play as well as any longevity things that pop up!
Price: $394.98
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Whubefy. Whubefy did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
