Do not imagine a magical world all in yellow, the usual color of construction machinery, and cut off from the world at Disneyland. In all, Dig’n Zone – “to dig”, for “digging” in French – will offer 25 attractions. They will, for example, allow children and their parents to drive a bulldozer or an excavator. A modified dump truck can even make you slide as if it dropped its merchandise !
The park’s website conducted a survey on the machines that arouse the most impatience of future visitors: the excavator comes first with 73.5% of the votes, the compact loader second with 16.6% and the road roller third with 9.9%. All this equipment is supplied by Caterpillar, the giant in the sector. The American industrial group also plans to organize demonstrations or presentations of its equipment on site and to take its employees there for special days. Dig’n Zone will also install a maze in a cornfield in the fall. Construction started in August.
It’s almost a personal project. Weston O’Dell was watching the show sharktank with his wife, a kind of tele-hook where the candidates present business ideas to investors. A similar concept was brought up and his wife suggested he think about it. O’Dell posted about it on Facebook and, seeing the reactions, he thought it might work. With other investors, he raised 25 million dollars to build the park on ten hectares – three and a half times smaller than Parc Astérix.
The park will open in Sevierville, Tennessee, and is expected to create around 100 jobs in an area that is already rich in attractions. There is a half-scale reproduction of the Titanic, a course ninja warrior to test themselves physically and, above all, Dollywooda park created in homage to Dolly Parton.
While waiting for the opening, expected in the spring of 2023, it is possible to go to Minnesota, to Extreme Sanbox – “extreme sandbox” in French. It is a similar concept except that, unlike Dig’n Zone, it is reserved for adults, for safety. There is also diggerland in New Jersey, near New York and also nearby, in the United Kingdom. Almost no more excuses to play Bob the Builder!