NightFlight Expedition is now targeting a mid-August opening at Dollywood, moving the Wildwood Grove ride well past its original spring window.
Dollywood Parks & Resorts President Eugene Naughton gave the timing update in an official video posted Tuesday, June 16. The park did not announce a specific opening date.
The new target gives Dollywood a narrower window than the broader 2026 wording that followed the missed spring opening. CrowdLevels covered that earlier shift in May, when Dollywood stopped using spring language in its current public materials while older press materials still carried it.
NightFlight Expedition Opening Target
Dollywood originally announced NightFlight Expedition as a spring 2026 opening. The ride is the largest attraction investment in Dollywood Parks & Resorts history, at more than $50 million.
The attraction combines an indoor family hybrid coaster with a whitewater river raft ride inside a 44,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled building. Dollywood has described the ride as a 5 1/2-minute expedition through the Smoky Mountains with coaster track, water, onboard audio, projections, and lighting effects.
NightFlight Expedition has a 39-inch height requirement. The story follows Cora and Jasper Oakley from Hidden Hollow Aviation as they search for bioluminescence near the fictional Secret Lake in Wildwood Grove.
The mid-August target would put the opening after Dollywood's Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration, which runs through August 2, and before the park's fall event calendar begins in September.
Sources: Dollywood Instagram, Dollywood 2026 season announcement, and Dollywood NightFlight Expedition announcement.
Image credit: Dollywood Parks & Resorts.