Dollywood released on social media and email that NightFlight would not open in Spring as originally anticipated. Park President, Eugene Naughton, made the announcement citing the challenges of getting such a new and innovative ride system going. He mentioned they are targeting a middle of August opening day and will work to openly communicate progress going forward. The delay of NightFlight was first noticed when “spring” was removed for the website marketing and train conductor script. It’s now officially delayed, but at least we have a target date. No doubt this delay will soon be forgotten about if NightFlight is as great as expected. Also, even with the late opening in August, it will still have huge 2026 financial upside for the park as this is an indoor ride and Dollywood does huge Fall and Christmas business. Thank you to Dollywood for the candid update, this ride looks groundbreaking and will no doubt positively change the park for decades to come.

The long wait is over. Rampage is back and better than ever! On June 19th, 2026 the ROAR of Rampage will return to Alabama Adventure! The park put out a social media post on June 13th announcing Rampage would be open just 6 days later! This coaster has been SBNO (Standing But Not Operating) since August of 2023. Later in February of 2024 the park confirmed in a very honest video that it would remain closed for that season targeting a 2025 return. Some budget adjustments and plans for a multi-year retrack caused it to miss 2025, but then in February 2026 came word that Rampage would be back for summer 2026!

This was first announced on February 20th during the 2026 ACE Preservation T-Shirt Gala. Marketing manager Alex Ramsey of stated then that the park would likely be reopening their wooden roller coaster Rampage during the summer of 2026! He did a great job candidly describing the tension Alabama Adventure faced with Rampage and the decision to reopen it with a traditional retrack this year. In late May the park posted pictures of work beginning on the track and then on June 9th the park teased an upcoming announcement on social media. This culminated with a June 13th announcement of Rampage opening just 6 days later! No one is probably happier about the opening than Alex and the post below alludes to why. During his presentation at the 2026 ACE event Alex mentioned “When will Rampage reopen?” Is essentially the number one question they get. Thankfully, in a few days he and the park won’t have to answer it anymore.

The park also teases that another announcement is forthcoming as Rampage is not the only thing coming back to the park this year! What else is coming? We’ll no doubt find out soon. However, here’s a huge THANK YOU to Alabama Adventure for getting Rampage going again. This is a family owned park and not a small chunk of change, so be sure to visit and buy some extra nachos to support their efforts!

After 28 years the Tasmanian Tiger roller coaster at ZooTampa has closed and dismantled. The ride itself was simple, but it had some pretty iconic tiger trains. It was also relocated from Wild Adventures where it previously operated as Tiger Terror (great name), but we’ll discuss that more later. The coaster opened at ZooTampa in December of 2008 and has given more than 4.5 million rides to zoo guests during its life. The ride area has a sign by it mentioning this fact and its retirement in general: