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! 

It’s no secret that NightFlight Expedition at Dollywood has had some up-time challenges in its early days. I experienced this personally earlier this week with it opening late and shutting down early. We may have an indication of one of the potential issues with Dollywood’s social media post stating, “As part of on-going ride rehearsal, the manufacturer has asked for additional time to adjust the timing of the ride’s turntable to ensure a quality experience for this unique part of the attraction.” It’s rare that you see this level of transparency and specificity by a theme park about a ride issue and it is quite refreshing. The post has now been removed as everything is about Dolly Parton’s passing (and rightfully so), but the bottom line remains that the ride is closed for now.