In July 2014, the Michael W Travels family visited Diggerland, an awesome construction theme park located in West Berlin, NJ.

At the time of our visit, Lucas was 2.5 years old. He was too small to drive any vehicles on his own but still had a great time. He hasn’t forgotten about Diggerland and has asked if we could visit again quite a few times.

We planned to return to Diggerland but it just never happened. Then, I received an invite to the Diggerland 2018 Media Preview Day. This was a great excuse to head to the park again last weekend!

When I told Lucas that we had a surprise for him, he guessed that we were going to McDonald’s. This might sound like an odd guess but we typically only visit McD’s when visiting a foreign country. I told him to guess again and sure enough, Lucas guessed that we were going to Diggerland.

Since our previous visit in 2014, quite a bit has changed. The park has expanded, adding a variety of new rides including five more for 2018.We started of the visit with Lucas getting to take a ride in the Digger Derby. This is a kids only ride and two drivers get to take a spin on the track at a time.

Right after the ride, there was a short event. Besides enjoying some refreshments we got to hear about what’s been going on at the park from the owners. They shared details about the new rides for 2018 as well as another expansion coming next year. We also learned a bit about Diggerland XL, a program where adults can operate the heavy machinery unrestricted! (Yes, I’d love to give that a try one day!)Lucas and I then went for a ride on the Skid Steers. This was his first attempt at driving one of the bigger vehicles. While he had fun, it was hard for Lucas to steer the vehicle and he needed some assistance from one of the park employees.Diggerland also has a Rope Course where you get to wander up high in the sky. I guess the point, besides testing your balance is to see what kind of things construction workers have to walk on while putting up buildings. 
Lucas was very excited for the Rope Course. While you’re roped in for safety, Lucas’s rope was a bit short and kept getting stuck. For me, this was never an issue. While Lucas isn’t afraid of heights, some of the obstacles were a bit scary for him.

We probably spent around a half hour wandering around and I’m impressed that Lucas wanted to try for so long.

Next, we walked to the other end of the park where there were around 3-4 rides including the new Soaring Eagle Zipline. Lucas and I planned to go for a ride but there seemed to always be long lines. Maybe next time!

Lucas and I then took a ride together on a couple of more rides.Another new ride, The Ventracs was a lot of fun. We found this ride to be unique since we got to drive a vehicle which was inclosed. Luckily there was a fan inside or it would’ve been very hot. The Ventracs also moved surprisingly fast. I let Lucas steer a couple of time which he really enjoyed.My personal favorite machine to drive were the steam rollers at Shake N’ Roll.

The steam roller was a lot of fun to ride and Lucas tried to steer it at times but it wasn’t easy. I had suggested to the employee at the ride that it would be awesome if they could throw some things on the ground for us to roll over. Maybe some other time!Lucas and I got great views of the park at the new Elevation Station.Only 5 guests at at time could take a ride almost 60 feet in the air where we could even spot some of Philadelphia’s skyline. I’m glad that we got to go for a ride in this scissor lift.I thought that the Greased Beast was a dumpster on wheels which made for a pretty cool looking ride. It turns out that the ride is a demolition trailer custom fit with 13 seats!At the back, passengers are lifted 34 feet in the air (Kim and Lucas were seated in the front so I could snap some photos of them). Then the front opens up for a “simulated dump of its cargo.”

I could see Kim and Lucas dangling from their seats while having a lot of fun.Kim snapped this photo inside the Greased Beast. Look at their faces- this was clearly a fun ride which I need to try out next time we visit.Some other fun rides:We were lifted up in the air and driven around on the Ground Shuttle. Some of the dirt was loose so the machine had some bounce in it, making for a fun ride.Lucas really waned to drive one of the new Farm Tractors by himself. What’s funny is that he met the height requirement but his feet barely reached the pedals.

He ended up sitting on my lap, steering the tractor for most of our lap. This was another surprisingly fun ride (I expected it to move much slower).To end our visit, I had to sit out the last ride.

Theo was too short to ride just about all of the rides (even on our laps) at Diggerland. Luckily, he really enjoyed the Barrel Train.

When we visited a few years back, the Barrel Train drove through the grounds now it has its own enclosed area.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fun and unique theme park to visit with kids, Diggerland is a great option. Lucas loved it four years back and loved it even more this time around. He’s already asked me a couple of times when we can go again!

Diggerland is located at 100 Pinedge Drive in West Berlin, NJ. It was a little less than a two hour drive from home (Brooklyn, NY) and is also pretty close to Philadelphia.