Thrill seekers can drive life-size Tonka toys and move massive mounds of earth thanks to Ed Mumm's $1 million heavy- equipment theme park in Las Vegas called Dig This.
Visitors operate either Caterpillar D5 track-type bulldozers or CAT 315CL hydraulic excavators in a five-acre sandbox.
It all grew out of using a rented excavator for a home project in Colorado, Mumm told ENR.
"I really began having fun," Mumm, who holds an agriculture degree, told ENR's Tony Illia. "I thought other people might enjoy it, too. Nothing like this has ever been done before. It was a hell of a risk."
Speaking of risk, Mumm said, "It took us a year of searching just to find insurance.
Mumm ran an off-Broadway version of Dig This is Steamboat Springs for three years to work out the kinks before heading to the big time.
