Contractor Launches Kid-Friendly Construction Equipment Amusement Park in N.J.
Modeled after a successful U.K. enterprise, Diggerland USA hopes to provide some family fun and get kids introduced to—and enthused with—big construction machinery.
The construction equipment-themed amuse park opened in June in New Jersey as a family-centric attraction featuring machines revamped for adults—and kids— to ride and operate.
Diggerland USA, in West Berlin, N.J., 30 miles east of Philadelphia, was launched by the Girlya family, owners of Sambe Construction Co., a Pennsauken, N.J., municipal contractor.
The 14-acre park features a 50-piece equipment fleet, purchased new mostly from U.K.-based JCB and from Terex.
Machinery was modified to accommodate guest operators and riders, says Diggerland USA spokesman Chris Peters.
It includes “Spin Dizzy," an excavator that provides a 360° rotating ride, as well as revamped skid-steer loaders, backhoes, tractors and mini-dumpers.
Other attractions include Backhoe Adventure and Sky Shuttle.
Peters would not confirm the park’s cost, cited as $8 million in a Philadelphia-area news report.
The four U.K. Diggerland parks are owned by England-based H.E. Group Ltd., a major European equipment supplier.
Peters says the U.K. parks have been "extremely" successful.
"It was awesome," said one construction industry executive who recently visited. "Every time I turned around, there were as many adults as kids on rides."
