Dig World — Attraction in Katy

This place is a scam, stay away!

We paid $600 for a 2-hour birthday part, nearly all the rides were broken or not working. We ordered 8 pizza's with them, when they turned up, they had no sauces or crushed red peppers/cheese, the manager came over and said that they don't offer them for free anymore (The pizzas are from Pappa John's) and she said that they had to pay for them but would not charge us, I called Pappa John's and they said they do offer them for free, so the manager just lied to us. This place is a joke, and I would stay away, we now have a very unhappy 5-year-old that was expecting a great experience but left very sad and disappointed. Never again will we visit this place.

Follow up to business response.

We received a voicemail from Amanda the general manager/co owner after posting this.

Well, she is correct it does help if the review is thorough and correct, so I will elaborate and explain more in detail.

1. The review is fair and valid, over half of the rides were not operational, now for whatever reason that may be, broken, maintenance or just rotating as the response said, that would still mean they are not available for use. And when it’s over 90 degrees outside it would be beneficial to have as many machines operating at the same time so people (children) are not just waiting around in the sun.

2. as I advised to Amanda on the phone when we were in line waiting for a space on a ride the 2 operators were more interested in pouring water on each other and having a water fight than serving the customers.

3. Amanda was rude and condescending, and I told her that on the phone, she made it her point to let us know that she went out of her way to get sauces for the pizzas and when gave them to us made it her point to make sure we knew that she went out of her way and that she had to pay out of pocket for them, great, maybe next time when you have people order pizzas from papa John’s ask the customer is they want it, and if they do add a charge seeing as you care so much about the little things.

4. The concession stand was empty, only a few drinks and chips left, and they are mostly over prices. $8 for a coke and small bag of lays chips is expensive.

5. The place is clean for what it is, the rest rooms are clean and the AC is working.

6. The party package is just extortionate, $600 and the pizzas come from Pappa John’s, would be nice to know beforehand.

7. When I spoke to Amanda, she was again, argumentative and was telling me that she didn’t have to call us, she wanted to, but then proceeds to tell me again she doesn’t have to call she has other things to deal with also like no power at home and her roof needs to be fixed, sorry don’t bring personal issues to work, keep them separate because it’s affecting her work manners.

8. All the staff there are young, they all seem to take more time chatting/flirting or messing around with each other as...

Although this has been open, apparently three years, I only heard about it recently. Apparently it appeared on an episode of Shark Tank. I did not know that and I still have not seen that episode. That being said, I took my oldest grandson and youngest son to visit. When I looked it up on Google maps I was a little underwhelmed to learn that it was located in the parking lot of the Katy Mills mall. However, let me put your mind at ease, it is actually a perfect location in my opinion. It looks like a construction site! It doesn’t look like an amusement park. And being located at the mall means that it is close to many different places to eat and shop. Dig world had restrooms, water, fountains, a misting station, and a shaded sitting area in addition to an air-conditioned gift shop. All of those things work together to keep you cool in the heat of summer. Apparently, while I was there, I briefly spoke to the man that I learned was the founder and owner. He just seemed to be working and was very polite and helpful. In fact, all of the employees were polite and helpful when we were there. My six-year-old grandson was in hog heaven, or should I say CAT heaven? Being able to sit in a real excavator and dig in the dirt was a dream come true. He has been fascinated with earth moving equipment for all six years of his time on earth. And then being able to sit in excavators that were set up to put a golf ball, pick up safety cones, pick up Lego blocks, we’re all a blast for him. Although he was tall enough to drive the equipment himself for the activities that involved a machine that was driving along the path he wanted me to drive it while he sat on my lap. And that was something that we were allowed to do. It was something very unexpected and yet very dream fulfilling. I love the fact that it speaks highly of construction and trade roles and normalizes working with this equipment. Whether my grandson goes on in life to be in this field or not remains to be seen. But what I have seen is that this was money well spent and time well spent together as a family. I highly recommend this. I will add as a final note. I saw many groups of adults. Who were there seemingly without children, enjoying operating the...

TLDR: Worth at least one visit if your into construction equipment. Don't know of anywhere else for city folk to be able to operate this kind of machinery. My group (12 yr olds) had fun, but wouldn't want to return unless there we new things to do.

TIP: Be sure to complete the waiver online before your visit. It's good for one year since they don't have paper ones on site. I had to do it on my phone before we could buy tickets at the door.

I took three 12 yr olds on 8/7/2022 at around 1:45pm. It was hot as it's been all summer this year. There is sun cover in all the lines and they have a covered pavilion with lots of picnic tables. Not any lines during or visit. Two hours was more than enough time to do everything.

Everything is height based. At 48" or taller you can do everything by yourself. Yes that includes you dad. 😁

There were 3 types of machines to operate. (1) An excavator with a dirt digging station and a separate area with the same machine for trying to pickup things. (2) The skid steer and (3) the UTV can be driven around the track.

You can do all the activities as many times as you want, but my group didn't have the desire to repeat anything.

There's also a gem mining station, which has an extra cost (from $10 to $50) depending on the size of dirt you want to mine.

Refreshments available were a (1) snow cone stand and (2) bottles drinks and snacks near the gem mining station. Small snow cone was $5 and a 20oz soda was $3.50.

The staff was great. Cheerful and helpful. Kudos to the team there, especially in the heat we've been having.

For my group, the entry cost was $25 per person (rounded up and before taxes). I won't make a judgement on if it's worth it, since each family has there on calculus for that.

In closing, my group had fun but didn't have any desire to return unless there were new machines to operate. And even though it's probably a one a done for older kids like my group, I still recommend you at least make that one visit. Especially if you've always wondered what it would be like to operate one of...