Extreme Sandbox in Hastings is a POWERFUL Date Experience
What a UNIQUE date adventure!
My fiance and I drove real excavators for fun at Extreme Sandbox in Hastings!
It was a “Dueling Date” and you and your partner can drive bulldozers, excavators or wheel loaders together, and even compete on the obstacle course if you want. It’s perfect for Valentine’s Day or any day. Check out their Dueling Date deal and other current deals, or use my code FrugalMom to save $50 on any package.
You can take your teenagers, friends, family- anyone who wants a memorable outing! And yes – the equipment is temperature controlled so you can go anytime of year.
We had a blast! Here’s a recap of our experience.
First check out my reel:
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Here are the details!
What to Expect from a Dueling Date Experience – or any Dueling Experience!
The whole experience is about 1-1/2 hours.
First, you choose beforehand which vehicles you will drive – bulldozers, excavators, or wheel loaders. This way they can get them all ready for you.
Then after you arrive, you watch 2 short videos about what to expect and how the vehicle operates.
After that, you put on a vest and a headset and climb into the vehicle. It’s a good step up but they will help you. And yes – you each get your own to drive and you drive together!
For any adventure, you get your own instructor, and they will talk to you via your headsets. The nice thing is you can talk to both your partner and your instructor through the headsets through the whole thing (so yes, you can talk “dirt” to each other – no pun intended – maybe).
It’s nice and warm in the cab! You can control the temperature however you like so it’s warm in winter and cool in summer.
You can also take your phone/camera on board too to take selfies and other pics.
The first part of the experience is learning firsthand how to drive the excavator, bulldozer or wheel loader.
A few years ago, my friend and I drove bulldozers here, so I can compare bulldozers and excavators. Many say the excavators are easiest to drive, but I thought bulldozers and excavators were about equal – not hard but not super easy either. It takes a little practice no matter what you’re driving. For example, some of the controls do the opposite you might think they do, like you have to pull back the controls to go forward. Don’t worry though – you get time to practice and the instructor is always helping to guide you.
We added the photography package to ours – I recommend this! You get AMAZING pictures that you couldn’t have taken yourself.
We loved being able to try different moves with the excavators like lifting the “bucket” super high and dropping dirt on the ground. It was actually quite satisfying! Digging in the dirt and making big piles – it’s literally why they call this place “Extreme Sandbox.” It’s playing in a sandbox times 100!
Then we had an obstacle course where we lifted basketballs off of cones, and flipped and stacked tires. It was tricky! We did it though (well, I admit, my fiance did better than me…).
We had so much fun! Our instructor Nicole did a great job and I of course had to pose for some funny pictures afterward.
The photography package included so many pictures and they turned out so great.
DEALS!
Check out their Dueling Date special! It’s only $350 for EVERYTHING we did! That includes the photography package too.
You may be thinking that’s a lot of money for an ordinary date, but if you can afford it, I think it’s worth doing for any occasion – an anniversary, a birthday, or anything else. It’s definitely a memorable way to celebrate!
Also, check out my year-round deal – save $50 off any package with my code FrugalMom!
Visit their website for more info.
(Disclosure: We received a complimentary experience in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.)
JCPenney offers free kids events at their stores every second Saturday of the month! 
