September 18, 2025 Update: Looks like we were all a little wrong as Dollywood has announced NightFlight, which appears to be a Mack “rocking boat” ride. This indoor boat ride appear to be version 2.0 of the combination roller coaster and boat rides like Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando.

Update September 2025: On September 17, 2025 at 11am Dolly Parton will reveal the specifics of the new ride for Dollywood opening in 2026. There have been teaser videos and signs around the park offering tantalizing clues. There are also thoughts that it will be called “Hidden Hollow Aviation” based on the concept art below. Most of the buzz recently has been that we’re looking at a indoor “powered” coaster my Mach Rides, but I guess we’ll know soon!

In their 40th Anniversary preview event for season passholders on March 14, 2025, Dollywood teased their new 2026 attraction which appears to be either a “flying theater” ride or a suspended family coaster taking guests through the Smokey Mountains. Details were few, but Dolly Parton herself called it the most ambitious and expensive project in the park’s history. However, we can get some details from other sources. In an interview Pete Owens, Dollywood’s VP of Marketing & Public Relations, said it’s nearly a $50 million investment (for reference Big Bear Mountain was $25 million). Also, during a September 2024 Pigeon Forge Planning Commission meeting, Dollywood proposed a building with 44,000 square feet to be used as an indoor attraction in the Wildwood Grove area of the park with a path from Big Bear Mountain. To give an idea of size the Hidden Holllow indoor play area is 4,000 square feet. The location is said to be an undeveloped 3.8 acres of the park and the maximum occupancy of the building is ~1000 people, so this thing sounds massive!

The video looked to potentially be preliminary animation for the ride. The video voice over mentioned taking guests, “up, over and through the Great Smoky Mountains and down to the heart of the ancient wildwood tree,” and “follow the light to discover the unexpected,” asking as fireflies danced “what will you find when the sun goes down?” So there appears to be a strong element of story here and not just a panoramic flight through the Smoky Mountains. Several season tickets holders reported both a flying theater concept and indoor coaster ride through the Smoky Mountains being part of a potential new ride surveys they received in the past, so that all matches up.

An indoor roller coaster has been rumored for some time as well, maybe a Mack powered suspended coaster with dark ride elements. I’ve seen people mention that IAAPA Mack was talking about a Dollywood project, but they offer both flying theaters and roller coasters. However, there is this shipping record online showing roller coaster parts coming from Germany (home of Mack). However, it’s also home of Gerstlauer who makes the park’s Mystery Mine roller coaster. The Mack Inverted Power Coaster is something also long rumored for Dollywood and something that appears to fit the park’s vibe.

The originator of the flying theater concept was Disney with their “Soarin’ Over California” attraction opening in 2001 at Disney California Adventure. This was followed by “Soarin’ Around the World” in 2005 at EPCOT and now over 50 “such “panoramic flying theater” attractions have been built around the world. One of the newest flying theaters “Expedition Odyssey” is scheduled to open a SeaWorld Orlando this spring. It is taking over the park’s former “Wild Arctic” simulator ride building and promises an unparalleled range of motion, allowing guests to soar, dive, twist and glide with the fluidity of ocean currents. They are working with Mack Rides on the attraction using their new Airific flying theater model.

Dollywood promises something new and unique with “Take Flight”, so we’re left to conjecture what that might be. If it were a suspended flying indoor coaster with theming could it be similar to the Vekoma Monsters, Inc. “door coaster” being built by Disney? It would certainly launch before Disney’s new indoor coaster with a 2026 opening with Disney not even breaking ground yet. If it’s a flying theater, several rides have already put a twist on the concept such as “Avatar Flight of Passage” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom which added a “riding” experience with guests on a moving animatronic- like figure in front of the giant screen. I wouldn’t see something like this as the likely route for Dollywood, as I’m sure they want this attraction to be a “people eater” with high capacity, but no doubt they will try to incorporate some sort of new technology in their version.

I’ve had a chance to experience several of these including “Soarin’ Over California” (while it was playing at EPCOT) and Emmet’s Flying Adventure at LEGOLAND Bilund. They’ve all been spectacular fun and felt unique just because of the different story even though the underlying technology was similar. If “Take Flight” were a flying theater it wouldn’t be the only flying theater in Pigeon Forge if it is a flying attraction as there’s the “FlyRide” and its 4 story screen at Beyond the Lens and “SkyFly: Soar America” and its 50-foot spherical screen at The Island. Both of these are pretty massive attractions, but I’d expect Dollywood’s version will be even larger. It would be interesting to see what happens if there are three flying theaters in the same town.

It is great to see the park using a new piece of land for the attraction, making it a true expansion rather than cannibalizing something else. Riding the Dollywood Express train you can several decent chunks of land behind Big Bear Mountain for potential future use. Some of that is going to new parking this year, but there’s a lot of land available to continue to grow the Wildwood Grove area of the park.

It’s great to see Dollywood getting a new attraction, especially an indoor one. If you’ve been at Dollywood on a rainy day your choices for rides are pretty limited to Blazing Fury and maybe bumper cars, but of course there are shows and the Hidden Hollow play area too. As Dollywood’s profile rises to approach levels of Disney and Universal and it is open even more days each year, having some indoor attractions for those rainy, cold or otherwise inclement days. It will be fun to follow the construction and get more details as the park makes them available.