WorldWide Drilling Resource

An American Construction Adventure Adapted from Information by Diggerland USA For a young child, there is something enticing about heavy machinery and dirt. Children all over the world grab toy construction equipment and run outside to roll them around and dig in the earth. For some children, they even have an entire toy set of all different kinds of heavy machinery at their dis- posal. But there has always been one problem with this common scenario, children could only play with mere toys while the real ma- chines lie forbidden from use and only accessible in the imagination. Thanks to the team at Diggerland USA, today’s children can ex- perience the thrill of these powerful machines up close and in reality. The vision for an American theme park centered on heavy machin- ery and construction was set in motion by llya Girla. llya and his family own Sahara Sam’s Oasis, an indoor and outdoor water park, and they were looking for ideas for a neighboring theme park. llya stated, “The opportunity to take the concept of a con- struction theme park and make it our own was very exciting for us.” The theme park, Diggerland USA, opened directly behind the water park in West Berlin, New Jersey, in 2014. The park is modeled after four UK-based Diggerland parks, but the Girla family incorpo- rated their own personal touches into the project since construction had been in the family for years. Diggerland USA is designed to allow children as small as three feet tall and their parents to safely dig, drive, and ride actual construction equipment with as little hinderance as possible. The park currently has 25 on-site attractions, which use mostly modified heavy con- struction equipment to bring the safe, yet realistic, experience to the park visitors. The park has much more to offer than just moving dirt with impressive machines. There are daily heavy machinery stunt shows to watch, one of the world’s tallest rope courses to climb, a rock wall, off-road adventures in a military truck, and a video arcade. It is truly one of the most unique theme park experiences in the world. Diggerland USA caters not only to children but adults too. An attraction called Diggerland XL allows unrestricted fun on giant pieces of construction equipment for adults. This unusual expe- rience allows the visitor to incorporate a riding combination of a full-sized wheel loader, excavator, or bulldozer in either a 90-minute package or 3-hour package, along with 30 minutes of one-on-one in- struction from a heavy machinery fore- man prior to having fun on the machines. Besides the exhilarating feeling of being behind the wheel of the thrilling ma- chines, there are several heavy machin- ery games to go along with the attraction. Diggerland XL combines real construc- tion equipment with hands-on fun for adults in a variety of ways. Whether you are a kid or an adult, Diggerland USA is a great place to experience the power and fun of real heavy machinery used on construction sites. 10 MARCH 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®