On a trip to England six months ago, Ilya Girlya visited Diggerland and decided to try out the Sky Shuttle, a thrill ride that takes brave riders straight up — to 53 feet in the air.

"It was the day before a big wind storm there," said Girlya. "It seems like an innocent ride, but then you go up to about 40 feet and you start to think about it. And then the wind starts to blow."

A modified JCB Telehandler — a construction vehicle made in England — takes riders up five stories and then stays there for a good five minutes, Girlya said.

"It's quite a sensation when you're up there. And the view is awesome," he said.

And the view will be amazing here, too, he said, when Diggerland USA, the first construction-themed amusement park to hit this side of the pond, opens on June 14.

Always into construction — Girlya's family owns and operates SAMBE General Contracting, the company that built Sahara Sam's Oasis — he knew a park based on construction equipment would go over well here.

"Who doesn't want to tinker with construction equipment?" he said. "It's like playing with big Tonka toys."

So he Googled construction-themed amusement parks to see if there was anything like that out there. And lo and behold, there was. In England.

On a tour of Diggerland USA in West Berlin right behind Sahara Sam's, Girlya — along with Chris Peters, director of public relations; Sharon Rushen, marketing manager and intern Shannon Martin — pointed out the park's highlights. The park will have 23 attractions, all made with modified JCB heavy construction equipment.

"Most of the equipment is from the UK," said Peters, adding that they had to wait for them to be shipped over the Port of New York in order to get started.

Right now, the park is slowly coming together. Tracks for some rides are being carved out and some of the bigger, thrill rides are already in place. Diggers, backhoes, tractors, telescopic handlers and mini Land Rovers will give guests some hands-on thrills.

All of the machinery is modified so that kids — and adults — can get their hands on them without having to worry about safety issues. Drive a skidsteer, which is a small construction loader, around an obstacle course, Girlya said.

"It's very easy to drive," he said. "It's basically controlled by one throttle."

And, not to worry, someone will be at every attraction to explain how to operate the vehicles.

"Everything is real construction equipment," Peters said. "It's just been modified."

Certain vehicles have restrictions — arms can only go so far or the vehicle can only turn to a certain point. And some are made to stay stationary, that kind of thing, Peters said.

Girlya's family — he has two sons ages 4 and 8 — already tried out some of the equipment, he said.

"My wife has driven the backhoe," he said. "It was a lot of fun."

Other rides include the Operation Battle Truck, a big Jeep-like vehicle that will take a group of guests on an "off-road" adventure and the Spin Dizzy, a construction vehicle that spins around and around, and, for little kids, the Dig-A-Round, a carousel-type ride.

The challenge was getting all of these rides and equipment approved to the state's specifications, Peters said.

"There's lots of engineering behind it," he said.

But once they were approved in New Jersey — they also got approved for Pennsylvania, too, just in case they ever want to expand — they couldn't wait to get started, adding what they already learned from owning an amusement park (Sahara Sam's) to the plans.

"We also have a play area for little kids," Girlya said. "We wanted to give them their own area."

The Kid Zone, complete with slides and climbing activities is something unique to Diggerland USA, he said.

"We wanted to enhance it with some of the experience we have in the amusement park field," Girlya said. "While the bigger kids play with the construction equipment, little ones have a place to go."

And even though this park is about construction, that doesn't mean your kids will leave covered in dirt and grime.

"People would say, 'we don't want our kids to get all dirty.' Don't worry. Everything is paved and we'll use a water spray on the dirt areas to will keep dust down," Peters said.