Diggerland

We were here for a private event, so I can’t speak for how Diggerland is during the regular season when it’s open to the public. But as for our experience here, it was awesome! I have never seen, nor heard of anything like this place. An amusement park where the kids can operate actual construction equipment?! Where was this when I was growing up???
We had an amazing time here. The staff was great, friendly, and very helpful and patient with the kids. They all seemed happy to take the time to show the kids around the trucks, and explain the operation to them.
Just a really unique place that’s a lot of fun, too! I think my wife and I had as much fun just watching the kids play as they did actually running the equipment. Well done, Diggerland!

This place is amazing! We drove from Northern NJ. It was crowded, but not overwhelming like some amusement parks. My 10 year old son had a blast on everything. He was tall enough to go on everything by himself. Luckily, he allowed me to join him on a number of the rides. I had a ton of fun!
Workers were really nice. Food was ok.
My wife had such a good time that she even wants to go back again.
Price point is perfect. I wish there was a Diggerland closer to my home!

This is a 4.5 star review as the only negative is the food, which is fresh as advertised but probably more as a method to control costs, more on that later!
The park itself is great! Pretty easy to get to and very clean. There is staff everywhere and they are helpful and friendly. Our boy was just barely taller than the free under 36″ rule which was good as under 36″ extremely limits the rides that he could go on even as a lap rider.
It’s a very cool concept, we’ve all wanted to use the machines we see digging the holes and building stuff, well here’s our chance! Of course they are limited and no, you don’t get to use any of the really huge and dangerous stuff but actually having the chance to use the diggers and make a shoddy looking hole in the ground as awesome! My son is 3 so he was in heaven, I was able to allow him to operate some of the machines while he was a lap rider and he loved that! The Argos is not a piece of construction equipment but it is an 8×8 with tracks that he loved the most because of the pinpoint turning in the dirt! We all love a child’s laugh, make sure you take yours on this one as it will be the biggest laugh of them all!
So my only negative is the food. It’s a huge wait for «fresh food» which it is, but it’s not any different or more exciting than maybe, food you get at a zoo, it just hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp. We all love fresh food but here it’s just a measure to prevent loss in this department. We all know what chicken tenders, pizza, burgers and hot dogs at a theme park taste like, you’re not blowing my socks off with freshness on this stuff. Whip up some fresh mahi mahi tacos and I’ll wait 30 minutes, not for an 11 $ plate of 3 chicken tenders and fries.
Overall the park is great and the kids really get to control most of the rides which is great! The funness level is very high, I would just bring my own food!

Worth a trip to check it out. Food is terrible but they do allow you to bring your own water into the park. Kids should be at least 36 inches to ride most of the rides (even with adult supervision). The park is small but big enough for toddlers. There is a climbing wall for larger kids and adults.

Extremely over priced food. A bottle of water is $ 4.00. EAT BEFORE YOU GET HERE. We came here for their Labor Day event and lines were short, but about 30 minute wait for the major attractions. If you child less than 42″ don’t waste your time and money.

This place is great for young kids. Its not huge. You could spend about three hours here; which makes the ticket a little pricey.
Pro Tip: Go in the fall. It is basically like hanging out on a black top parking lot, there is little shade, which makes for a long three hours during the summer months.

We were planning on going here for a while since our little one loves trucks so much. So we went this past weekend and it was a terrible time.
At the ticket window we told the lady we had coupons and she replies rudely with, «Those only work online.»…like cut us a break. Our total for 2 adults and a 3 year old was $ 100. Yes, you read that correctly.
We got into the park and things were going okay. Then we noticed there was a lengthy line for everything. And lines arent easy with kids but we waited anyway only to get to tge end and have the operator tell us he was too small.
Our child was allowed on about 2 rides…
They even measure them at the gate! You couldn’t tell us we were wasting our money? So we go to another side of the park where they have go carts. TWO of them for a line of 30 people AND they both broke down!
Don’t even bother with the food. Its typical over priced crap and the staff was very unpleasant.
We would never go back and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Head my warning. Save the $ 100+. He had more fun at a free park.

The park is nice, unique and a fun time for young kids. Bring your own cooler and exit the park for lunch. The food is not very good, even by amusement park standards. Plus it’s expensive and takes forever. Ticket prices are also a bit crazy for what you get. Other than that it’s a fun time for the kids.

Wow, what a place. We (family of 4) drove 90 minutes from NYC. It is a small, manageable, clean, friendly, exciting little amusement park. None of the «rides» that the kids can drive have rails or tracks like Disney or most amusement parks. The vehicles are all gas engine. My boys had a blast and my wife and I were very happy with the entire experience.
Food
There’s an eating area and a «snack shack» type of place with pizza, chicken fingers, burgers, wraps, salads, etc. Although the drinks are a bit pricey, the overall experience is solid. The food was pretty good for picky New Yorkers.
Tips
Get there early, right when it opens as the not only the lines are non-​existent but when the sun gets high in the sky, it gets hot.
Go on Saturday … avoid Sunday. The place gets overrun with orthodox religious families with an average of 4 – 5 and sometime more kids per family.
Staff
We had a minor medical incident where my boy fell. They have first aid on premises in a little air conditioned house with a medical person on site. He got bandaged right up and went on with his day.
Pros:
Clean, staff is very friendly.
Food, dining area.
Variety of machines to drive and operate.
Very liberal with the heights and ages of kids who want to partake. (something for everybody)
Arcade.
Play area and lots of climbing equipment when you don’t want to wait in a line.
LOTS of places for grown-​ups to sit and rest.
Cons:
Sunday gets overrun with orthodox religious families. Go Saturday.
Soda machines were mostly empty.

Do NOT eat here. It will ruin an otherwise excellent experience.
My three year old had been waiting a year to go here. We arrived ten minutes after opening and the lines we incredibly short, the staff manning the rides were friendly and things generally seemed to be working fine. For a kid over 36″ and under 42″ there is about two to three hours of stuff to do… which is a little underwhelming for the ticket price, but that would be fine…
…and then, sadly, lunch. Which really took the shine off this place.
Ordered food and it took twenty minutes to get to the window. There was a small riot forming amongst the other 20 guests still waiting when I finally got my food. I mean, almost half the adults there was waiting on behalf of a hungry toddler or two who was overstimulated and promised food if they waited nicely.
When you pay almost $ 50 for a little lukewarm personal pizza, a sad and understuffed turkey wrap, a stale-​breaded chicken parm sandwich, three drinks and a measly funnel stick dessert, you at least expect it to arrive in a somewhat timely manner. Or at least be really fresh and piping hot. And they forgot one of my drinks.
We ignored a suggestion we read on Unilocal to get food and leave it in our car to save money and time. To our own peril.
The park is pretty small, has almost no shade except in the cafeteria area. On a hot, sunny day with little kids this can be brutal. They’ve set up some misting stations and a bunch of patio umbrellas all over the park but it only helps a bit.
You can expect ¹⁄₃^rd to ½ the machines in any «station» to be unavailable at any given moment. Probably because of understaffing.
Oh and the bad covers of popular songs playing in the park is eye-​rollingly atrocious.
My suggestion? A late breakfast/​brunch. Arrive at opening. Bring water!!! Stay for three hours max and gather everyone up to go to a late lunch at a restaurant. You’ll save money and get about everything you can out of the park.
If you HAVE to eat in the park, send one adult to get food early and radio back when you have it all set. And lower your expectations in terms of quality.
So sad. This could have been a four star review if Diggerland hadn’t been so cheap and implied that the ridiculous wait times for food were about providing quality food.

Awesome park for those with little ones. All the kids have so much fun here, and the adults may be enjoying themselves a lot too! The park is clean and well organized. Everything is done very safely. Parking is easy, and the park is small enough to drop in for a short visit yet still big enough to stay all day if you want to!
The membership is a good deal to consider if you live close by! We use it to stop by for an hour or so some afternoons.
They give military, good grades, and AAA discounts too. Very neat place… I’m sure in a few years, we’ll see more pop up around the States.

Had a great time! Security check point cost review 2 stars.
We went on July 4^th. Weather was perfect for this place. Lots of direct sun would make this place miserable. It was over cast for us with a slight breeze.
Even being a holiday the waits were very short. 5 minutes tops per ride. Most rides was half a cycle until your turn.
Place is pretty large we where there for about 5 hours and there were a few rides we could have gone to but kids were ready for lunch and a nap.
The do not allow outside food or drinks. They search you bags! Really insulting! I gave the 16 year old kid a look implying he would regret asking to search the stroller I was pushing so we where able to bring in our own water supplies. Give me a break! I paid $ 141.50 for a family of 5 and you want to search me to make sure I don’t bring in a $ 1 bottle of water.
We have kids 2 to 7 and most of the stuff was perfect age and size for them. Kids need to be 36″ to do anything. 48″ is good for operating most rides. Measure your kids before you plan a trip. They staff checks the heights before admission to each ride. If your child is 35″ tall it’s not gonna be a lot of fun. I would say teenagers won’t have much fun here but probably could be occupied while younger siblings play.
Arcade is over priced and not worth walking in the place.
Exit through gift shop in case your have any money left.
We didn’t try food, it’s junk.
If you buy tickets online they are $ 29.99. At gate $ 34.99. We found coupons at hotel for 25% off full price so we paid $ 28.30 per person with tax.
We really had a great time!

All in all, our 3 year old son had a «good» time (because my wife and I were able to make it fun), although he was disappointed that all the rides he was really excited for required him to be 48″ tall. We went on a overcast day so there were no crowds. Seeing that there is no shade anywhere, I would not recommend going on a sunny hot day unless you like feeling like an egg on a skillet. Employees were nice enough… barely…
Here goes some of the negatives: There is NOT ONE water fountain anywhere in the park! And they charge 3.50 for a bottled water. Sorry, but that is FKD up. I have never been to an amusement park where they don’t have water fountains. The food is horrible and WAY overpriced. A freakin hot dog is 7.50!!! A pretzel is 3.50 !!! Also, the food takes for ever once ordered… and we were the only ones ordering.
Not all the rides were staffed. The train had no staffing. This was one of two rides my son could actually ride by himself. We had to wait 15 minutes until some under enthused kid (employee) wandered over to ask if we were waiting… DUH…no were just fkn standing here for the hell of it!~
The place is small. 75% of the rides require a 48″ minimum and or 54″ maximum! So basically, my 3 year old 38″ son got to ride on my lap on the rides that I could fit on at 6’1″. He rode the train and one other round about thingy by himself.
Ok, now for the theme part of it. At the entrance and on their website their are dinosaurs… that’s it… just on the website and at the entrance… The dinosaur theme ends once you walk in. Bit of a disappointment for my 3 year old who loves dinosaurs. Can you say Bait and Switch!
The «stunt show» …its not a stunt show. Period. I mean, seriously, what the hell can you do in a forklift!!! You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig.
The «arcade» = $ 2.00 minimum games that you have to buy a preloaded card for 10.00. They are gambling and violent games, not age appropriate for 3 – 6 year olds.
All in all we may return once he is 48″ tall… if you are still in business, but we will be smuggling in our own food and water. Eat it Diggerland!

We visited Diggerland in September 2014 with our 4 and 2 year old. Even though our 4 year old is the one who is obsessed with trucks, it was a great time for the whole family, including our 2 year old daughter! It is a fantastic amusement park for small children! I recommend it to anyone who has a child who is fascinated by these kinds of vehicles. It is truly magical for them to get to operate these might machines!

Let me start with the pros…
–Small park that’s easy to navigate.
–Parking is close and free.
–Convenient location not far off the NJ turnpike.
–Short lines on a warm Saturday afternoon!
–Friendly staff.
–Enough rides to keep the kids busy for pretty much the whole day.
–My 42″ 4 year old was able to ride every ride (some with, some without an adult).
–Bought tickets for half off at their black friday sale :)
–The playground with the slides was great when my kids wanted to just run around and do their own thing. This is one thing that almost all theme parks are lacking! Loved it.
–Drive real construction equipment!!! Really drive it!
And the cons…
–No outside food or drinks can be brought in (not even small snacks or water).
–The food options are very limited and VERY expensive. My family of five spent almost $ 70 on two corn dogs, small fries, three icees, a grilled cheese, salad, chicken parm and two sodas.
–The food also took a long time to come out.
–To use the rope course you need to fill out a waiver at the arcade. This would have been great to have this online so I can fill it out at home and not have 3 kids running around an arcade for 15 minutes.
–You are given wristbands to wear in the park. They are plastic, annoying and make your wrist sweat. And if you do the rope course you get a second paper wristband to wear.
–Absolutely no trees within the park so if you go on a hot day you are doomed. They have plenty of umbrellas (think 9′ umbrellas you would have over a home table) near the ride entrances but on a hot day they are just not enough. We had a slightly overcast, 75 degree day and it was very hot.
–One bathroom near the entrance to the park.
–Thirsty? Plenty of vending machines all around the park but drinks are $ 3.75!!! On a semi-​hot day my 3 kids were constantly thirsty!!! Would have been great to bring in at least of few of my own drinks to save some money.
–Exit through the gift shop… I ABSOLUTELY LOATHE THIS! Please change this!!! I felt like I was exiting a ride at Disney.
My advice… pack a cooler in your car and load it up. The food was gross and extremely overpriced (and we rarely bring our own food to theme parks). Bring sunscreen and maybe even a personal umbrella. If you can go on an overcast or cooler day it’s a great idea.
The price we paid for tickets was very reasonable, I’m not so sure I’d pay full price.
They definitely need to add some areas to cool off and get out of the sun.
Overall, very unique theme park that my 9 year old girl, 7 and 4 year old boys loved. My husband even loved having the opportunity to drive real equipment! Worth a visit!

My 3 kids (11,9,7 yo) and I had a great time and decided to upgrade to the annual pass. We all got to drive fun tractors and dig in the dirt. The kids loved that they were all tall enough to drive by themselves. It was a great 3 – 4 hours of fun. The staff were friendly even in the cold (48 degrees) and windy weather. Everything is outdoors, so plan it on a good day.

Cool concept, but execution is terrible. The teacher in me wanted to reorganize the whole place. The kid with me likes trucks, so he was pretty content.
My thoughts:
1. If you already have tickets, you should not have to stand in line with people who don’t have tickets.
And if they don’t want to change that, there needs to be a sign stating that, so people don’t keep trying to cut through the ticket line, only to find out they still need to get in line, which is now 4 families longer.
2. Rides need large signs above them. We had no idea what was what.
3. Signs need to have simple markings to show who can and cannot ride. That sign and ruler should not be hidden by half the people waiting in line and shouldn’t take all day to decipher. Plenty have other amusement parks have figured out how to simplify «the rules.»
4. Color coded bracelets would help eliminate the need for the pole to be pulled out for each kid on each ride. Or, color code the fence posts and have the kids stand next to it.
5. Workers could pretend like they want to be there. It is a place filled with kids, so at least fake a smile.
All in all, it’s a fine way to spend a few hours if your kids like trucks and you live close by. I wouldn’t come to the area just for Diggerland, especially with kids under 42 inches.

Fun but very small theme park. I suggest getting coupons or promo codes online and go during off-​peak days and hours.

This place is amazing! Actual real live working construction equipment they let you play with, no joke! And it was all brand new!
Of course, to limit their liability some functionality is removed. No one wants a 6 year old breaking through the fence on an excavator and terrorizing the town. But you can dig as big and as deep a hole you want to.
They’ve set up some of the excavators in unique ways to test your skills. Picking up ducks, knocking over pins, etc…
You can also drive skid steers, mini dumps, and large backhoes.
Very good concept, and a lot of fun for kids of all ages. Would definitely recommend checking it out. Just make sure to go early or late or off hours so that you’re not waiting in line the whole time.
The food is meh and wayyyy overpriced. You can go in and out the gate though so perhaps bring a lunch and eat in the car if you plan to stay the whole day.

A good day for the little ones. This place has a lot of good elements and some that need work.
The good first. My 3.5 yr old got to sit in my lap and dig a huge hole with an excavator and a mini digger. The lines were short, though not always fast. They don’t rush you off the machines once you get on them, especially if you arrive early. For example we were the first on the excavator at 10 and we got to dig for a good 15 minutes. Enough to dig about 10′ down and then fill in that hole. There was a good variety of rides from the diggers to skid steers to backhoes to more carnival type rides with digger themes.
Now the downside. The park and especially food are overpriced. I’m ok with $ 30 for my kid, he had a blast. Tack on two parents at the same price, that’s too much. Especially when the adults are just watching the kids. The food was slow and low quality, but the prices were beyond chuck e cheese expensive. The staff was amusement park quality (read: college kids on summer break that are punching the clock).
Overall I’d do the trip over again with everything I know now. Id pack a lunch and eat in the parking lot which is close and convenient.