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Dollywood’s NightFlight Expedition: A Smoky Mountain Surprise
The new attraction marries new technology with storytelling
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (IAAPA NEWS) - Flying over Great Smoky Mountain National Park, voyaging over raging rapids, and dropping into a luminescent lake. These aren’t different rides, but rather one entire experience at Dollywood—opening this week.
IAAPA News was invited for a sneak peak at NightFlight Expedition—the largest investment in the history of Dollywood—ahead of its August 19 opening. The grand adventure inside the “Hidden Hollow Aviation” show building expands the park’s footprint.
While the park strove to make sure its exact contents remain a secret until the public opening, The Dollywood Company President Eugene Naughton spoke with IAAPA News to share more about this collaboration between Dollywood, Herschend, and Mack Rides.
“We started with the story first, believe it or not, and then together we created the conveyance system and the use of all the tricks inside of this 44,000 square foot building,”
Naughton tells IAAPA News. “They [Mack Rides] helped us define what was the capability for their technology. So, they were side by side with us the entire time,” Naughton shares.
NightFlight Expedition marries an innovative ride system with a story authentic to Dollywood and the park’s roots. After Dollywood and their partners at the Herschend Creative Studio developed the story they wanted to tell, Dollywood and Mack Rides collaborated to create the right ride system that would best tell the tale.
“In May of 2023, when Big Bear Mountain opened, just a few weeks later, I was on a plane to Germany to test the conveyance system for NightFlight Expedition,” Naughton says.
“So it's been a labor of love for almost three and a half years.”
The core ride experience utilizes the innovative rocking boat ride system from Mack, which allows the passenger boat to seemingly free-float while still on a track, allowing it to do unexpected elements such as roller coaster-like drops.
In November 2025, Mack’s ride system won IAAPA’s Impact Award for Best New Product, alongside the debut of the NightFlight Expedition ride vehicle on the show floor.
With only one other installation thus far, at Futuroscope in France, Dollywood was able to harness the rocking boat and add more elements to help deliver a unique, indoor experience.
With the concept proven in France, Herschend Creative Studio looked to push boundaries, by adding what Naughton calls “500,000 gallons of water rushing by the boat.”
“It's a really interesting and unique use of the conveyance system. But what's also unique is we have almost like a virtual reality experience in the media turntable.
It allows us to bring people to fly through the Smokies virtually, and you're totally immersed in there, which is really cool. And of course, a big drop-down finale moment into finding Secret Lake, and then we have 1,200 synchronous fireflies that are active in the grand finale, which is spectacular.”
Park officials aimed to expand the lore of the existing Wildwood Grove, the family-oriented area added to the park in 2019 and expanded in 2023, while also providing an experience rooted in America’s most visited national park.
“With our love of the Smoky Mountains and Dolly's love of the Smoky Mountains, it was sort of a natural fit to extend our story from Wildwood Grove, and we introduced a couple of new characters,” Naughton explains.
As guests wind their way through the indoor queue line, they are introduced to the workspaces belonging to new characters Jasper and Cora Oakley, who are related to Ned Oakley, introduced in 2023 with the opening of Big Bear Mountain.
“They're botanists and they're studying all of the cool things about the Smoky Mountains that are alive that people don't get a chance to see,” Naughton explains.
“So we're opening the door to the bioluminescence of the national park that's just a few miles away from here that we so adore.”
As guests move closer to the ride’s loading platform, they notice diagrams and research being conducted on the bioluminescent natural world, culminating with a scene that comes alive with light every few minutes.
The new story goes together with a season full of park-wide festivals and shows, with NightFlight Expedition providing a reason to bring guests back and create new memories with family and friends.
Naughton smiles as he describes all that Dollywood guests can look forward to in 2026 and beyond.
“There's a lot of fun and interesting things still left to do this year that everyone's looking forward to, and NightFlight can be the icing on the cake,” he concludes.
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