NightFlight Expedition Construction Update November 2025

Nightflight Expedition, Dollywood’s new-for-2026 hybrid roller coaster and whitewater river ride, is quickly taking shape at the end of the Wildwood Grove area of the park.

On Saturday, attendees of the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) Southeast Region’s annual Smoky Mountain Coasterfest event were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the NightFlight Expedition construction site. This was my second time seeing the attraction under construction since it was announced in September.

The Mack “Rocking Boat” model will combine four experiences into one, including flight, river rapids, traditional roller coaster and a lake voyage.

To learn more about the Rocking Boat model, check out our in-depth analysis of Mack’s innovative ride system.

Back to the NightFlight Expedition construction site: the five-story-tall, 44,000-square-foot building is still mostly open, but track and additional concrete floors are starting to take shape.

A cluster of supports and one small section of track have been installed on this side of the building.

More track could be seen installed at the other end of the building.

However, there is still a sea of black and unpainted track outside of the building.

NightFlight Expedition’s layout will stretch 1,255 feet in length.

You can get an idea of where each track will be installed based on its color. The unpainted (gray) track will be submerged underwater, while the painted black track will be above water.

This section is likely part of a turntable.

This will be one of the multiple ways the train is able to change direction.

And due to the unique design of the attraction’s trains, they’ll be able to navigate tight turns such as this one.

This section of track is waiting for a friend.

Soon!

Although NightFlight Expedition contains only 1,255 feet of track, the entire ride time will be over 5 minutes (with loading/unloading). It’s safe to assume there will be several slow-moving dark ride segments in the ride.

The show building’s exterior will be themed to an aviation hangar — I’m interested to see how that transition is made from the outdoorsy Wildwood Grove aesthetic.

While steel is rising, you can see there is still much work to be done inside the building, like the infrastructure needed to pump all the water throughout the building.

I imagine it won’t be long before seeing construction from the outside is impossible. With winter fast approaching, I’m sure construction crews want to seal the buildings as soon as possible so that any extreme weather conditions don’t affect the construction schedule.

However, I hope we’re still able to see inside for a little while longer as track is installed, because I suspect it will be very difficult to know the coaster’s layout given all of the advanced movements this attraction’s vehicles will be able to make.

NightFlight Expedition is expected to open in spring 2026. To learn more, visit the Dollywood website. To see how far along NightFlight Expedition construction has progressed since the attraction was announced, see our September 2025 construction update.