Side note: I’d kill for Planet Coaster to add this ride system
News Dollywood Project 2026: NightFlight Expedition
- Thread starter Tacky3663
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Track on site, appears to be a Mack Rides rocking boat.
It’s going to be very different I’d imagine, given it’s a roller coaster.
Side note: the “Take Flight” teaser is still confusing given we know what this is. Is Dollywood insane enough to make this addition 2 separate rides? The building is big enough.
Side note: the “Take Flight” teaser is still confusing given we know what this is. Is Dollywood insane enough to make this addition 2 separate rides? The building is big enough.
I don’t think it’ll be 2 separate rides, but more-so 2 rides in 1. The Mack rocking boat seems to be capable of coaster like sections so I think that’ll be the flight part, then end with the boat parts for the plunge.
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My dream scenario is a dueling dark ride, Mack Rocking Boat and Mack Suspended, that share a few show scenes and coaster sequences. Absolute pipe dream but it would be world class
It’s not impossible there’s 2 rides. I went and saw the site yesterday and there’s tons of footers going in. I can say with near certainty that there’s going to be a rocking boat. There’s a bunch of large diameter water pipes there and they’re digging troughs. You can see my Reddit post here.
Edit to add: there’s posters around the park with white water rafts and the
website has both “take the plunge” and “take flight” teasers.
Edit to add: there’s posters around the park with white water rafts and the
website has both “take the plunge” and “take flight” teasers.
Spoiler alert: there is not even close to enough room
There's no reason to be talking about Kentucky Kingdom in this thread. Please stick to Dollywood's 2026 project.
I hope it's two rides, because there's nothing I like less than getting soaked in street clothing. I like a flume, but that's not usually a drenching. At least in the above pic this looks more like the splash on one of those big splash boat rides like at SFA? I don't want anything to do with that.
How much would it cost to have the exit path back outside just be one long constantly blowing air dryer?
God this thing could be so cool. I hope it does well and sparks a regional park dark ride renaissance
I hope so too, because All parks need a dark ride. #NotAHotTake
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I really don't know what the upkeep budget for a slow-moving dark ride looks like vs a full outdoor roller coaster, but I do think Epic Universe is putting more parks on notice that well-themed immersive experiences are just as sought-after as massive coasters in a lot of respects. I think it took some chains a while to move on from the coaster wars; it feels like they kept fighting after all the records had been broken, hence the made-up record craze of the 2010s.
Herschend is obviously a tier above Six Flags, Cedar Fair, even SEAS/United in most respects, but if this succeeds (on top of Epic Universe succeeding), we might see a thematic (i.e. non-shooting) dark ride emphasis trickle down to the lower budget parks--especially if they lean into nostalgia and bring back some of the classics from when these places were all mimicking Disney. The Justice League rides are shockingly good, but something a little more intimate and set-based could serve a lot of these parks so well. Not every dark ride has to be interactive or a game.
Herschend is obviously a tier above Six Flags, Cedar Fair, even SEAS/United in most respects, but if this succeeds (on top of Epic Universe succeeding), we might see a thematic (i.e. non-shooting) dark ride emphasis trickle down to the lower budget parks--especially if they lean into nostalgia and bring back some of the classics from when these places were all mimicking Disney. The Justice League rides are shockingly good, but something a little more intimate and set-based could serve a lot of these parks so well. Not every dark ride has to be interactive or a game.
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