Dollywood’s social media has posted that NightFlight Expedition will operate on Monday, August 31, 2016 from 2pm to 8pm. The ride has been shut down for several days as Dollywood said the manufacturer had asked for additional time to adjust the timing of the ride’s turntable in the flying simulator section. The park hasn’t made any promises after Monday, but the park is scheduled to be closed on Tuesday, September 1st anyway. Dollywood considers the ride in “technical rehearsals” so we can expect the schedule to be fluid, although I’m sure they’d love it operating 100% for Labor Day weekend. I had a chance to experience NightFlight and it’s an extremely ambitious ride with simulator, boat, roller coaster and dark ride elements all together. None of the ride elements of NightFlight themselves were revolutionary, but having one single Mack vehicle do them all in a 5 minute experience was pretty amazing! 

NightFlight Expedition will operate from 2PM – 8PM on Monday 8/31. Check Dollywood social channels for updates for the rest of the week.

I very much like when a park puts a ride in “technical rehearsals”. It creates realistic expectations for guests with regard to availability in the early days and those looking to schedule trips specifically to experience a ride can wait for it to “officially” open. A new ride having a few initial issues is common, but it’s usually quickly forgotten and forgiven once the issues are resolved. Dollywood does more business in December than any other month and that’s the season an indoor ride will shine. Hopefully Mack Rides and Dollywood made some improvements during the downtime to make the ride more reliable so we have regular operations soon.