Dollywood · Under construction · 2026

NightFlight Expedition

30 ft · 29 mph

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Kid rideDollywood Official park siteWildwood GroveMack Rides30 ft · 29 mph

The world's first indoor family hybrid coaster and whitewater river raft ride — a 1,255-foot Mack track through soaring, rapids, ridge, and bioluminescent lake scenes. Public opening August 19, 2026.

Specifications

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Ride profile

Scaled against Dollywood's operating coasters

Steel

Park intensity

Height

30 ft

Height30 ft

Speed29 mph

Length1,255 ft

InversionsNone

Ride experience

Hybrid
Indoor
Mack Rides
Steel
Water

Ride details

Min height

3'3"

Specs from dollywood.com

Learn more

All guides

Rocky Mountain hybrid coasters

Steel track on reinvented wooden structures — steep, twisted, and often relentless.

Wooden vs steel coasters

Structure and maintenance differ, but the question for riders is feel — vibration, sound, and how the train moves.

Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC)

Hybrid conversions and custom I-box coasters with twisted, airtime-heavy layouts.

Track compliance — why wood feels alive

Wood flexes; steel is stiffer — the same forces feel different on each structure.

History

Sourced timeline and background for NightFlight Expedition.

Timeline

2025
NightFlight Expedition announced
Dollywood reveals the world's first indoor family hybrid coaster and whitewater raft ride, billed as its largest attraction investment ever.
Source

Background

Following Big Bear Mountain's 2023 debut as Wildwood Grove's largest investment to date, Dollywood set out to top it with an attraction combining two ride formats that had never been merged indoors at that scale: a hybrid coaster-and-raft vehicle built by Mack Rides.

Announced September 17, 2025, NightFlight Expedition sends amphibious vehicles through a fully enclosed show building depicting soaring flight, whitewater rapids, a mountain ridge, and a bioluminescent lake across a 1,255-foot track, blending coaster-style drops with a river-raft-style splash finale in a single continuous ride.

Dollywood has billed the project as the largest single attraction investment in the park's history, and as the world's first indoor family hybrid coaster and whitewater raft ride — a distinction that pairs two previously separate genres of family attraction under one roof.

NightFlight Expedition is scheduled to open to the public on August 19, 2026, positioned as the new signature ride of Wildwood Grove alongside Dragonflier and Big Bear Mountain.

History primarily sourced from dollywood.com. See also our data policy.