Dollywood’s NightFlight Expedition is the park’s largest single-attraction investment ever at more than $60 million. I rode it twice during the media ride dedication event, and its immersive storytelling and innovative ride system blew me away.

FULL STORY: https://themeparksbydon.com/dollywood-nightflight-expedition-60-million-ride-review/

AND.... not off the shelf.  Innovative, creative, immersive (and many other *.ive adjectives).

AND... you cannot find the experience anywhere else. Got to go to Dollywood. Very cool to have been among the first (a few turnstiles behind you) to ride it!

3 hours ago, Outdoor Man said:

AND.... not off the shelf.  Innovative, creative, immersive (and many other *.ive adjectives).

AND... you cannot find the experience anywhere else. Got to go to Dollywood. Very cool to have been among the first (a few turnstiles behind you) to ride it!

I mention this in my story. 

5 hours ago, Outdoor Man said:

AND.... not off the shelf.  Innovative, creative, immersive (and many other *.ive adjectives).

AND... you cannot find the experience anywhere else. Got to go to Dollywood. Very cool to have been among the first (a few turnstiles behind you) to ride it!

Really nice look at the whole thing, here: 

 

2 hours ago, DonHelbig said:

I mention this in my story. 

great article!

10 hours ago, Outdoor Man said:

AND.... not off the shelf.  Innovative, creative, immersive (and many other *.ive adjectives).

AND... you cannot find the experience anywhere else. Got to go to Dollywood. Very cool to have been among the first (a few turnstiles behind you) to ride it!

AND... 4 months late to open. That you can find / expect at Six Flags. 

IAAPA News reports on how Dollywood and Mack Rides collaborated to bring this ride to life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azIy5RE0CJY&list=LL&index=2

We were very impressed by NightFlight Expedition after our two rides yesterday morning, especially for a regional park. Considering how much it going on logistically with the ride system the entire experience flows remarkably well.

Herschend and Dollywood should be absolutely embarrassed by the opening of this ride. It was clearly not ready, as the ride can’t even stay open for longer than two hours a day. People need to stop giving excuses for parks that rush out barely-operable rides, regardless if it’s Six Flags, Herschend or any other park operator.

On 8/23/2026 at 12:04 PM, Timchat2 said:

We were very impressed by NightFlight Expedition after our two rides yesterday morning, especially for a regional park. Considering how much it going on logistically with the ride system the entire experience flows remarkably well.

Is Dollywood really still a regional

Park though?

On 8/24/2026 at 9:19 PM, brenthodge said:

Is Dollywood really still a regional

Park though?

After this weeks loss of Dolly; I want to say now more than ever, no.

On 8/24/2026 at 5:40 PM, WoodVengeance said:

Herschend and Dollywood should be absolutely embarrassed by the opening of this ride. It was clearly not ready, as the ride can’t even stay open for longer than two hours a day. People need to stop giving excuses for parks that rush out barely-operable rides, regardless if it’s Six Flags, Herschend or any other park operator.

I think we have gotten hints from Eugene this week that, no, it was not ready but there was a deeper push to get this open for Dollys biggest and last new ride opening. Sadly she was not fully able to participate, but now some of the decisions made in the last few days before and right after the opening make more sense. Just shows decisions are made with different filters at Dollywood/Herschend.

On 8/28/2026 at 8:41 PM, IndyGuy4KI said:

After this weeks loss of Dolly; I want to say now more than ever, no.

I fully agree. This past week has thrust this park back into the narrative more than ANY ride opening or new addition ever will. Now more than ever it is SUPER important for the culture, family and experience piece to be exactly as it was /should be. Dolly, in her passing, has given her passion project a renewed spotlight. They’d better be ready (and I think they know that, and will be)

10 hours ago, brenthodge said:

I think we have gotten hints from Eugene this week that, no, it was not ready but there was a deeper push to get this open for Dollys biggest and last new ride opening. Sadly she was not fully able to participate, but now some of the decisions made in the last few days before and right after the opening make more sense. Just shows decisions are made with different filters at Dollywood/Herschend.

I made that comment a day before Dolly's passing. With hindsight, that's certainly a possibility. However, Flying Fox at Kentucky Kingdom was also unfinished when it opened to the public, so I'm leaning on this being more of a Herschend thing than something that's specific to Dollywood. We'll see what happens with Miner's Mountain Express when that opens up next year at SDC.

On 8/24/2026 at 5:40 PM, WoodVengeance said:

Herschend and Dollywood should be absolutely embarrassed by the opening of this ride. It was clearly not ready, as the ride can’t even stay open for longer than two hours a day. People need to stop giving excuses for parks that rush out barely-operable rides, regardless if it’s Six Flags, Herschend or any other park operator.

Welcome to corporate America my friend… movies are rushed out, video games are often rushed out (Atari with their “early release versions”), quality control no longer exists for food products…

Even in education I’m being pushed into teaching things in a hurry and forging ahead even if it means students don’t master the concepts or skills.

7 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Welcome to corporate America my friend… movies are rushed out, video games are often rushed out (Atari with their “early release versions”), quality control no longer exists for food products…

Even in education I’m being pushed into teaching things in a hurry and forging ahead even if it means students don’t master the concepts or skills.

I get that, but Herschend has previously been one of the biggest gold standards when it came to quality control in the amusement industry. If this was at a Six Flags park, I wouldn't be nearly as critical since the lack of quality control is to be expected from that chain.

32 minutes ago, WoodVengeance said:

I get that, but Herschend has previously been one of the biggest gold standards when it came to quality control in the amusement industry. If this was at a Six Flags park, I wouldn't be nearly as critical since the lack of quality control is to be expected from that chain.

You know, that’s definitely fair. It’s exceedingly frustrating when a company known for high quality starts to lower its standards.

One may question whether fast food is high quality lol, but this is an interesting parallel....

"Wendy’s new CEO basically admitted the company cut corners on food quality to save money... and now they’re trying to win customers back.
Which is pretty incredible considering Wendy’s spent DECADES telling us:
“WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
Apparently the answer was somewhere in the cost-cutting spreadsheet. 😂
Wendy’s built its entire brand around quality, fresh never-frozen beef, and Dave Thomas being obsessive about doing things the right way.
Then somewhere along the road, the company started prioritizing efficiency and savings... and customers noticed.
Wendy’s has now fallen behind both McDonald’s and Burger King in U.S. burger sales, while hundreds of underperforming locations have been targeted for closure.
That’s what happens when a brand spends years telling customers what makes it special... then slowly chips away at the exact thing people showed up for.
Dave Thomas spent decades building Wendy’s around quality.
Turns out “WHERE’S THE BEEF?” hits a little differently now."

9 hours ago, disco2000 said:

One may question whether fast food is high quality lol, but this is an interesting parallel....

"Wendy’s new CEO basically admitted the company cut corners on food quality to save money... and now they’re trying to win customers back.
Which is pretty incredible considering Wendy’s spent DECADES telling us:
“WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
Apparently the answer was somewhere in the cost-cutting spreadsheet. 😂
Wendy’s built its entire brand around quality, fresh never-frozen beef, and Dave Thomas being obsessive about doing things the right way.
Then somewhere along the road, the company started prioritizing efficiency and savings... and customers noticed.
Wendy’s has now fallen behind both McDonald’s and Burger King in U.S. burger sales, while hundreds of underperforming locations have been targeted for closure.
That’s what happens when a brand spends years telling customers what makes it special... then slowly chips away at the exact thing people showed up for.
Dave Thomas spent decades building Wendy’s around quality.
Turns out “WHERE’S THE BEEF?” hits a little differently now."

En****ification, or platform decay. It's becoming common across everything in American life right now. Companies that built a reputation in quality eventually shift from focusing on customers to maximizing profits for shareholders.

I hate Wall Street... It used to be that a shareholder was someone who believed in the company, wanted to promote it and give it more capital for growth. But now? In this day? It's people who probably don't eat, shop, pay or visit the companies and locations they "own". Just soulless ghosts who could care less about the actual company or the product.

And it used to be we could fight back with our wallets by refusing to buy, but now these "shareholders" and corporate suits can just shift money around, short sell and more to stay wealthy... And if the brand dies we the consumer just get blamed for it.

23 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

I made that comment a day before Dolly's passing. With hindsight, that's certainly a possibility. However, Flying Fox at Kentucky Kingdom was also unfinished when it opened to the public, so I'm leaning on this being more of a Herschend thing than something that's specific to Dollywood. We'll see what happens with Miner's Mountain Express when that opens up next year at SDC.

Or there is an underlying issue / issues in the industry as a whole? Remember when the car industry had lots full of vehicles, they were unable to sell due to a chip shortage?

54 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

En****ification, or platform decay. It's becoming common across everything in American life right now. Companies that built a reputation in quality eventually shift from focusing on customers to maximizing profits for shareholders.

I hate Wall Street... It used to be that a shareholder was someone who believed in the company, wanted to promote it and give it more capital for growth. But now? In this day? It's people who probably don't eat, shop, pay or visit the companies and locations they "own". Just soulless ghosts who could care less about the actual company or the product.

And it used to be we could fight back with our wallets by refusing to buy, but now these "shareholders" and corporate suits can just shift money around, short sell and more to stay wealthy... And if the brand dies we the consumer just get blamed for it.

"Shareholders" as in people with a 401k?

45 minutes ago, Tr0y said:

Or there is an underlying issue / issues in the industry as a whole? Remember when the car industry had lots full of vehicles, they were unable to sell due to a chip shortage?

"Shareholders" as in people with a 401k?

You got me there.

I guess I don't really have retirement on my radar since I'll never see it myself personally, oh which is a fallacy bias of my own making...

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

Or there is an underlying issue / issues in the industry as a whole? Remember when the car industry had lots full of vehicles, they were unable to sell due to a chip shortage?

Rides today are more innovative and immersive than ever and combine that with the repetitive safety measures it shouldn't be a surprise that a ride like NFE has had opening issues.

It's when rides like Racer, Beast, DB etc. go down it bugs me- probably more than it should. I have often defended a park when a ride goes down but as of recently its been grinding.

We have experienced Disneyland in 2024 & Disney World in 2025 & 2026. Each day no matter the park there were rides down for extended amount of time. Some rides like HM that have existed for multiple decades and others like RoR or SDD that are newer designs but have been around long enough to have the bugs worked out- in theory. Muppets went down early in our day @ HS and we almost didn't get on it. But....even though it was rethemed, it's the same ride system and still goes down. So yes- I believe it is the industry as a whole.

On 8/24/2026 at 10:19 PM, brenthodge said:

Is Dollywood really still a regional

Park though?

I would say at the moment yes. I don't think they get the attendance that KI gets and KI isn't a destination park.. However, Herschend has been investing heavily into Dollywood which could, in the future, position it to be a destination park. Dollywood has added two resorts since 2015 and now a 50+ million-dollar indoor family coaster. A ride that can help them mitigate attendance loss from unfavorable weather, keep people in the park longer and potentially extend their operating calendar.

Speaking of Dollywood did anyone else see the big fat billboard with a Dollywood ad on it, in downtown Cincinnati? Right when you get off 471 north to go 50 west?

On 8/31/2026 at 10:29 AM, WoodVengeance said:

I made that comment a day before Dolly's passing. With hindsight, that's certainly a possibility. However, Flying Fox at Kentucky Kingdom was also unfinished when it opened to the public, so I'm leaning on this being more of a Herschend thing than something that's specific to Dollywood. We'll see what happens with Miner's Mountain Express when that opens up next year at SDC.

Flying fox was operationally complete. A lot of the cosmetic work/landscaping and decor still needed to be installed. I think they knew they needed to get it open when Hollywood nights was happening in HolidayWorld since there would be people in the area checking out both parks. Being open incomplete didn’t affect the running of the ride like NFE opening early seems to have.

2 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I would say at the moment yes. I don't think they get the attendance that KI gets and KI isn't a destination park.. However, Herschend has been investing heavily into Dollywood which could, in the future, position it to be a destination park. Dollywood has added two resorts since 2015 and now a 50+ million-dollar indoor family coaster. A ride that can help them mitigate attendance loss from unfavorable weather, keep people in the park longer and potentially extend their operating calendar.

Speaking of Dollywood did anyone else see the big fat billboard with a Dollywood ad on it, in downtown Cincinnati? Right when you get off 471 north to go 50 west?

Dollywood is definitely a destination park. I’d say at this point KI is WAY more regional than Dollywood. They’ve made it very clear they are intent on being even more of a national destination (Dollywood) in the coming decades.

3 hours ago, Tr0y said:

Speaking of Dollywood did anyone else see the big fat billboard with a Dollywood ad on it, in downtown Cincinnati? Right when you get off 471 north to go 50 west?

I did notice that. Was very surprised and confused. Of course I’ve seen Holiday World advertised heavily in my area lately (Southeastern Indiana).

2 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Dollywood is definitely a destination park. I’d say at this point KI is WAY more regional than Dollywood. They’ve made it very clear they are intent on being even more of a national destination (Dollywood) in the coming decades.

I think that is what he said.

7 hours ago, Tr0y said:

I would say at the moment yes. I don't think they get the attendance that KI gets and KI isn't a destination park.. However, Herschend has been investing heavily into Dollywood which could, in the future, position it to be a destination park. Dollywood has added two resorts since 2015 and now a 50+ million-dollar indoor family coaster. A ride that can help them mitigate attendance loss from unfavorable weather, keep people in the park longer and potentially extend their operating calendar.

Speaking of Dollywood did anyone else see the big fat billboard with a Dollywood ad on it, in downtown Cincinnati? Right when you get off 471 north to go 50 west?

There's several Dollywood ads in Cincinnati. There's another one on I75 south by St. Bernard.

4 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Dollywood is definitely a destination park. I’d say at this point KI is WAY more regional than Dollywood. They’ve made it very clear they are intent on being even more of a national destination (Dollywood) in the coming decades.

Another big part of that is the whole Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area being a huge tourist spot for anybody living within a 4-6 hour radius of it. Including people who live in the Cincinnati area where Kings Island is.

3 hours ago, RollerColt said:

I did notice that. Was very surprised and confused. Of course I’ve seen Holiday World advertised heavily in my area lately (Southeastern Indiana).

There's a Dairy Queen near my house that has discounts for Holiday World tickets. Holiday World is 2.5 hours away and Kings Island isn't even an hour from where I live.

13 hours ago, WoodVengeance said:

There's several Dollywood ads in Cincinnati. There's another one on I75 south by St. Bernard.

Another big part of that is the whole Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area being a huge tourist spot for anybody living within a 4-6 hour radius of it. Including people who live in the Cincinnati area where Kings Island is.

There's a Dairy Queen near my house that has discounts for Holiday World tickets. Holiday World is 2.5 hours away and Kings Island isn't even an hour from where I live.

Nice view of the Great American Tower in the backdrop:

OK - Sorry its long but it is ALL my thoughts after experiencing this personally this past Monday. For context I waited about 45 min Friday only to have a shut down in the last queue room. It was 7:45 so I'm not sure if it came back on-line as I left to go get dinner. We then waiting about 90 minutes on Monday, so this is with a "this better be worth it for this wait 2x and 60 million" review. It was not sadly.

First, I REALY wanted to LOVE this attraction - I’m so disappointed that I don’t. Dollywood has so much riding on it. This is their first REAL entry into the “big leagues” of fully immersive dark ride. This is how they compete with Disney and Universal. The whole of WildWood grove in 2019 was about $36Mil, this was about $60Mil for one attraction. This is also the one that was Dolly’s finale - her last ride announcement, her last ride opening. I know there were issues with the timeline and the whole project was clearly WAY behind schedule, then there was sadly a major push to get it open regardless of being fully complete when it was clear that Dolly was leaving soon. Regardless, there are fundamental design challenges that hold it back from being GREAT.

Why does this ride exist in this form? Dollywood needed a great indoor dark ride that everyone can ride together, yet they chose to go down a “mild thrill” road that still has a 39” height requirement and is advertised on billboards as an indoor immersive rollercoaster - which will instantly turn some off, even BEFORE the water aspect kicks in with some older folks refusing to ride it even if you (incorrectly) convince them “you wont really get wet”. I don’t see the metrics they are using to make growth and expansion decisions, so I can’t speak with any authority, but I don’t see why they went this route. The only other fully indoor ride is the aging Blazing Fury which also mixes coaster elements with a dark ride, so based on that, they still haven’t really filled that niche that an “its a small world”, Navi River Journey, Haunted Mansion or any other true dark ride. They have so much rich lore and history to draw on, and even their own characters of Flit and Flutter as well as Benjamin Bear, so I’m not clear why we needed to add additional characters of Jasper and Cora who, for some reason unexplained, are on a mission to Secret Lake. Secret Lake itself is based on the Cherokee legend of  Lake Atagahi - An enchanted lake believed to be at the heart of the Smoky Mountains, it is said to play host to those worthy enough to find it…if they can, that is. 

The legend surrounding Lake Atagahi paints a picture of tranquility and nirvana. It provided an oasis and healing waters for wildlife. However, for those who dared to disrespect this pinnacle of natural beauty, only death awaited. The legend of Lake Atagahi remains an integral ancient lesson that applies even today. But while some believe it’s just that, others think it’s still somewhere in the Smoky Mountains, hidden away by the animals and rumors of ghosts that roam its lush greenery. 

Now THAT is the foundation for a dark ride. It doesn’t need to have external conflict that gets resolved - that just hurt re-ridability. Even at BigBearMountain we never find the bear, leading us to go on future missions to try again. As it stands in Nightflight, we find the lake… ok…now what? We go up a dark hill to the load platform and we’re done. 

What is this place? Is Hidden Hollow Aviation a new place, old place, mix of the two? The building is “surface aged”, which doesn’t give it any authenticity. It’s an aviation hangar. Yet there isn’t a single airplane parked outside. The inside is too perfect, too clean - which makes the wear and vandalism that the queue is already seeing only a few weeks into being open even more obvious. Why do the lights in the first room get dim and bright for no apparent reason? Why is there no way of modifying the switchbacks to accommodate shorter wait? Just this past week I saw waits of less that 10 minutes, but no way of altering the path. Why do we not walk through the open BAY 1 door into Jasper and Cora’s bay? Doing that would make the other bay doors seem legit, but instead we walk through a standard door beside the bay door, so the other bay doors are obviously tacked on set dressing. The theming is static room sets that look too perfect. where nothing happens. There seems to be a show scene in the second room that maybe isn’t working yet. The lamp randomly dims on and off and there is a blacklight above, but the other lights never dim to take advantage of any glow. There’s a gecko painted on the table leg, but it never glows. The third room “sets up” the story, yet the TimeSaver line totally bypasses it - yet it could easily have been routed into the room, in front of the set, then out along with the standby line and both routed up the stairs the same way. Even the steps up looses the build of the attraction. We’ve just seen this amazing narrative, then we walk into what looks to be outside- join with another line in an airplane hangar that again, has NO AIRPLANE or aviation propping hanging from above. We move to load and the vehicles keep moving, which should be great for capacity, but it makes loading challenging from a non-moving platform. It also makes the hosts frustrated because people keep trying to cross the boat to put things in the bins that are there. Which causes the hosts to keep literally yelling “do not put ANYTHING in the bin” so why are they there? Why have we established the operational standard of “put your stuff in a bin” only to yelled at to not. I see older people and kids tripping like crazy trying to hold everything and step into a moving, and wet, boat/car while you are standing still. It ruins any “magic” that has built to this moment. Then we're off!

Wait - when did we become paintings? Yep, we board the ride and enter an illustrated world - on full view from the load platform. Only in some of the last promo materials did they hint at the art direction for the ride being more flat and presentational. In the queue we saw the Legend of Secret Lake book, but not the inside. We don’t know we are about to enter it… maybe.. did Cora paint these paintings? They whole thing is a muddled mess. Why don’t we leave load and see a realistic nighttime scene, so it seems like we are simply off on a flight through the actual mountains, then as we turn the corner and head to the projection room, something happens with light… a portal… smoke… lightning SOMETHING magical that explains why we just became painted. Then we meet a CGI Cora and Jasper, who seem way older than the set-up implies. Why do we need to see them at all in their weird, CGI way? We’ve only heard them randomly in the queue (never from crackling radio like in the teaser video) from unseen places, so why now, when they can communicate to us through the radio on the tracker vehicle, do we need to see them at all.

Why for a ride all about bioluminescence does nothing seem to really glow? The whole ride feels way over-lit (giving the ability to see too much of the infrastructure and wrinkled backdrops. Why no blacklight painted sets? It feels more like Sunset Expedition as its never really dark unless its jusy pitch back nothing. It never seems truly magical. I did smile as we rode along, but wondered why am I not seeing flashes of these magical glowing animals? Where is the wonder and why are we even doing this? What’s the payoff. Finally we shine out bioluminator on a root and “Here it is!” Drop down to another CGI Jasper and Cora who made it first, we sail along through the first really magical moment and “YEA! We discover hidden lake - which again could be magical if it was so over-lit that you can see all the wires for the magical fireflies and in the center of the lake is what looks like a turned off fountain, that suddenly starts billowing smoke. Is something about to rise up from it? No… Nothing? Lights swirl underwater - it looks pretty - it goes black - we climb a dark lift hill with ALL OF THE WATER IN THE BOAT pouring to the back to soak your shoes - so much for not getting wet. I now have wetter feet that I did on River Rampage. We dock. It’s over - we get out. WHY? Why did we go through all of this to find this lake? Just to say we did? 

For a park that prides itself of telling authentic stories, this one seems manufactured to hit a demographic. The setting feels like it needed to have more story development, or no story at all. We need to meet Jasper and Cora out in the real world so the transition to painted world along with us makes sense - are these people who only live in a painting? Or, just take us on an amazing adventure to secret lake to see the glowing animals and plants come to life. I agree with others that it is an “only at Dollywood” story and attraction, but it misses the mark in so many places, and none of those misses are major revisions, just things that I can't believe they didn’t concept through more during development. This ride cost A LOT and it's getting fairly lackluster reviews. It was rushed because it was so far off schedule and they cared so much to have Dolly see it open, but that doesn’t address the design flaws that happened long before they got behind. Yesterday I saw wait times at 5 minutes, granted the rest of the park was dead as well, but 5 minutes for a 60 MILLION dollar investment? I guess I should be jealous as that wait might have made it feel more worth it than my 2 hour wait did.