The 2025 season and Dollywood’s 40th anniversary are underway. For 2025 there’s no big new ride or attraction, but instead we’re getting a new restaurant, a bunch of refreshes/refurbishments and improvements to the guest experience. The park is already looking forward to 2026 with a reported $50 million expansion, the largest in the park’s history, and a major new attraction. An announcement this year teased a “Take Flight” theme with rumors of an indoor suspended roller coaster or flying theater coming to the back of Wildwood Grove. However, the additions for 2025 still represent millions of dollars in significant improvements that will make the park more enjoyable for years to come and help put the “theme” in theme park.

The biggest addition this year is new Wilderness Pass restaurant in the area near FireChaser Express. The restaurant’s menu is big on meats and BBQ and will seat 400 people adding another dining option to Dollywood’s already excellent collection. Another highly visible addition will be a new “DOLLYWOOD” sign modeled after the iconic HOLLYWOOD sign located on the hill in Rivertown Junction. No doubt this will make for a great picture spot.

With regard to rides we are getting a couple refreshes. Tennessee Tornado is getting a repaint Blazing Fury is getting a refurbishment. Tennessee Tornado is a classic “Arrow looper” that many consider one of the best of its kind that blends beautifully with the hills in that corner of the park. Blazing Fury is a classic roller coaster dark ride combo that is probably best known as one of the few things you can still do in the rain at Dollywood other than shows. It’s not dramatic like the “Fire in the Hole” rebuild at Silver Dollar City, but updates to the dark ride scenes, special effects and water features could breath new life into this old attraction. For Dollywood’s youngest guests the County Fair is getting a splash pad and the Heartsong Theater is now the Imagination Playhouse where they can see plays based on books from Dolly’s Imagination Library book program.

In addition to the new Imagination Playhouse shows, there’s a new 40^th anniversary show, which debuts Memorial Day weekend with highlights from the parks 40 years, a sort of “greatest hits” show. There’s also a new drone and fireworks show and a new opening ceremony at the beginning of each operating day. There’s even a new tour highlighting the history of Dollywood.

However, the thing you may notice first is that there’s a new parking lot. If you’ve been to Dollywood on a holiday or busy weekend you’ll know it’s not uncommon for the parking lot to be filled to capacity requiring guests to get creative or shuttle from offsite. The new lot under construction is on the bluff above the parking tram station and will provide 750 new spots to help cope with the park’s increasing attendance.

2025 may at first seem like a bit of a filler year after another seemingly slow year in 2024 with the addition of the Dolly museum and Lightning Rod chain lift install, but that’s not the case. the park is keeping classic rides in top shape, adding dining options, increasing infrastructure and making the park more guest friendly as a whole. Dollywood has been growing like crazy and is poised for more growth in 2026 and beyond. When growing it is often wise to pause and shore up the foundation to support the growth that is to come. 2026 will be an exciting year with a huge addition that will again transform Wildwood Grove like Big Bear Mountain did a couple years ago and with new parking, dining and other amenities the park will be ready for the influx of new guests discovering Dollywood.