Dollywood’s Harvest Festival has opened for the season, and this year’s event brings a new nighttime dance party, a reopened thrill ride, a fresh food market, and several additions scattered throughout the park.

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For anyone planning a trip to Pigeon Forge this fall, here is a full breakdown of what has changed at the Great Pumpkin LumiNites festival and what to expect from a visit.

Dollywood’s Harvest Festival

The 2026 Harvest Festival introduces several features that set it apart from previous years. The most notable addition is the Great Pumpkin LumiNites dance party, a nightly event held in Wildwood Grove. This marks the park’s first fall dance party, following the format of the Sweet Summer Nights dance party that runs during the summer season. Unlike the summer version, which includes a drone show and fireworks, the fall dance party focuses on music, choreography, and character interaction rather than aerial effects.

Nightflight Expedition, one of the park’s newer attractions, has reopened after a technical issue forced a temporary shutdown earlier in the day. Park staff resolved the glitch, and by evening the ride was running with virtually no wait. A brand-new food location, the Mountain Valley Apple Market, has also opened in the area near the train station, along with a hand-painted ornament booth near Show Street that supports Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Beyond these headline changes, the festival includes the usual seasonal touches: thousands of pumpkins placed throughout the park, craft demonstrations, a rotating lineup of live entertainment, and Harvest Festival-specific merchandise. Some areas of the park look different this year as well. The memorial displays that once stood near the entrance to the Dolly Parton Experience have been relocated while the park rebuilds the bridge leading into that area, and the netting near the former eagle habitat has been removed since the birds are no longer housed there.

Guests visiting near the entrance can still leave notes and flowers at the relocated memorial area, which now includes paper and markers for anyone who wants to leave a written memory. The park has indicated the current setup is temporary while the bridge renovation continues.

Doggywood and other park services

Guests traveling with a dog can make use of Doggywood, the park’s on-site dog kennel located near the front of the park. This service allows visitors to board their pet for the day while they enjoy the Harvest Festival rather than leaving the animal in a vehicle or at an off-site location.

The Great Pumpkin LumiNites dance party

The dance party takes place every night of the Harvest Festival in Wildwood Grove, with two sessions scheduled at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Guests are welcomed into the dance area by costumed characters, including Poppy Patch and Ruby Lancer, who greet visitors near a set of spiderweb-themed stages before the music starts.

Participation does not require any dance experience. The characters and a DJ lead the crowd through a series of simple, repeatable moves, including step patterns, hip movements, and arm gestures that build into a short routine set to classic and throwback songs. Anyone who prefers to watch rather than join in is welcome to do so from the surrounding area, and the event is structured so that kids and adults can follow along without feeling like they need to know the choreography in advance.

The setting adds to the atmosphere. Fog rolls through a nearby graveyard-themed display, string lights hang overhead, and the surrounding pumpkin displays are lit for the evening. Because the dance party pulls a portion of the crowd into Wildwood Grove for both time slots, nearby rides such as Big Bear Mountain and Nightflight Expedition tend to have shorter lines during those windows, making it a good opportunity to ride with minimal wait.

Nightflight Expedition and ride wait times

One of the most exciting announcements during the presentation was the introduction of a new attraction known as Nightflight Expedition. This ride is planned to become Dollywood’s 11th roller coaster, marking a major milestone for the park’s ride collection. Park leadership explained that the attraction represents one of the largest and most ambitious projects Dollywood has ever undertaken. The ride will be located within the Wildwood Grove area and will expand the story and environment of that section of the park. Nightflight Expedition is designed as an immersive adventure where guests follow glowing lights through the Smoky Mountains in search of a mysterious destination known as Secret Lake. The attraction was described as a family-friendly ride that blends thrilling coaster elements with storytelling moments. This combination allows guests of different ages to enjoy the experience together.

Nightflight Expedition, located in Wildwood Grove, briefly closed during the day due to a technical problem. Staff were not able to give a specific reopening time while the issue was being addressed, but the ride was back in operation by evening with an empty queue, allowing guests to walk on without any wait.

Ride wait times throughout the festival tend to follow a predictable pattern. Weekday visits, particularly early in the week, see noticeably lower crowds than weekends, since most visitors are still in school or at work. On a typical weekday, Big Bear Mountain, Wild Eagle, and the rides in Timber Canyon and Wildwood Grove can often be ridden with little to no wait, especially during the daytime hours before the evening rush builds around the dance party. The park’s water rides remain open throughout the Harvest Festival and will not close until the Christmas festival begins, so guests visiting during the warmer stretch of September can still cool off on those attractions.

Entertainment lineup during the Harvest Festival

The Harvest Festival features a rotating schedule of live entertainment across multiple venues, and the lineup changes throughout the run of the festival. A park map and show schedule, available near the ticket booths, lists which performers are scheduled on a given day, and the Dollywood app also provides updated showtimes.

Confirmed performers and venues include:

Emily Ann Roberts, performing at the park from October 14 through October 18
The Kingdom Heirs, a vocal group performing at the Show Street Palace Theater
Heidi Parton Kennan and Friends, performing at the Dream Song Theater
The Smoky Mountain String Band, performing at the Parton Back Porch Theater
Forever Country, performing at the Valley Theater
Casey Armstrong, performing near the chapel area
A rotating lineup of entertainers at the Pines Theater, since no single show runs there for the full festival
Additional performers, including Mike Snodgrass and Joe Lee Stevens, appearing at a stage near the lake in Timber Canyon

Live entertainment also appears informally throughout the park, with performers stationed along Show Street and other walkways offering short sets as guests pass by.

The Dolly Parton Experience and Show Street attractions

Show Street remains home to several self-guided attractions that stay open during the Harvest Festival. The Song Teller building and the Behind the Scenes building allow guests to walk through exhibits featuring items Dolly Parton has worn over the years, along with video content about her career. A few new pieces have been added recently, including the Coat of Many Colors premiere dress she wore in 2015. These indoor buildings also double as a place to cool off on warmer festival days.

Dolly’s tour bus, referred to in the park as her home on wheels, is also open for guided walkthroughs near Show Street. Nearby, the Pines Theater does not host a single dedicated show during the Harvest Festival, and instead rotates through a number of different entertainers throughout the run of the event, which is why checking the daily schedule matters for guests hoping to catch a specific act there.

Craft demonstrations and new shopping experiences

The Harvest Festival includes several craft demonstrations spread across the park, most of which allow guests to watch the process and purchase finished pieces. A blacksmith demonstration runs on a set schedule, with sessions at 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m., where a blacksmith explains techniques such as planishing (smoothing metal) and working from the neutral flame at the center of the fire.

A pumpkin carving demonstration area in Wildwood Grove features an artist working on new designs throughout the day, including Harvest Festival and Harvey’s Boo Bash-themed pumpkins, a bear, and a sunflower design. The carvings are easier to see once it gets dark, since the detail work shows up more clearly under the evening lighting.

New for this year is a hand-painted ornament booth near Show Street, staffed by a local artist who customizes ornaments on request. Purchasing an ornament made in memory of Dolly Parton results in a donation of two books to her Imagination Library. A separate booth nearby features a different local vendor creating original artwork that guests can watch being made and purchase directly.

For guests interested in a hands-on souvenir, the Mountain Blown Glass experience allows visitors to make their own blown glass pumpkin or ornament for $59.99, with the option to choose the color of the stem. Spots for this experience tend to fill quickly, so arriving early in the day is recommended for anyone who wants to participate.

Several interactive bubble wand stations are placed throughout the park, including locations near the Parton Back Porch Theater and the gem mine. Guests who purchase one of the wands, available in a few different pumpkin and generic designs, can activate the stations to produce bubbles and sound effects, giving kids something interactive to do between rides and shows.

Other craft booths scattered along the main walkways sell handmade items such as heart-shaped bowls, historic-style games like checkers, wreaths, baskets, and other Christmas-adjacent decor for guests who want to get an early start on holiday shopping. Aunt Granny’s and the shops surrounding Dolly’s Tennessee Mountain Home also carry a mix of fall and early Christmas merchandise, with pumpkins displayed along the walkways leading up to the storefronts.

New food: Mountain Valley Apple Market

The Mountain Valley Apple Market is a new food location near the train station, and it introduces several fall-specific menu items, including apple dumplings and fried apple pie priced at $9.99. Season passholders can use their discount at this location, but the tasting pass does not apply here, since the market operates outside the standard tasting pass program. A new pizza option has also appeared on the menu near Iron Horse Pizza in the same area of the park.

Merchandise for the Harvest Festival and LumiNites

Harvest Festival and Great Pumpkin LumiNites merchandise is available at booths throughout the park as well as at the Emporium near the front entrance. Items include t-shirts featuring the LumiNites design in multiple colors, hats, hoodies featuring a butterfly pumpkin design, and smaller pieces themed around the festival’s spider, bat, and pumpkin motifs.

At the Emporium, the fall selection is more limited, with a few standout designs, including a Dollywood-branded item in both lighter and darker colorways and a spirit jersey. Guests looking specifically for fall-themed Dolly Parton merchandise may find the selection lighter than expected on opening day, though the park has historically added more items as a festival progresses.

Giant pumpkins and photo spots

Market Square features several oversized pumpkins on display, with markers indicating their weight. Two of the largest recorded pumpkins this year weighed 1,139 pounds and 1,400 pounds. A giant pumpkin tree display near this area is lit at night and serves as one of the more popular photo backdrops during the festival.

Additional photo opportunities include the entrance sign near the front of the park, a Dollywood sign surrounded by pumpkins just past the entrance, and a large pumpkin display near the casket-themed decorations along the path leading toward Wildwood Grove.

Once the sun sets, several pumpkin displays that are difficult to see clearly in daylight become much more visible. Owl-shaped pumpkins along the pathway near Blazing Fury have received additional lighting this year specifically to address that issue, and the sunflower displays along the same wall are noticeably easier to see after dark. The park’s quilted pumpkin display, a longtime favorite among returning guests, and a pumpkin display built to look like a guitar with an accompanying music track are both located along this same stretch of path. A giant spider pumpkin, complete with smaller spider pumpkins tucked into hanging webs near the Tennessee Tornado, is another popular stop once the lights are on. The gray pumpkin LumiNites area near Blazing Fury also includes a musical pumpkin that plays a short tune as guests pass by.

A bird show continues to run during the festival near the area where the park’s eagle habitat used to be. Since the eagles have since been relocated elsewhere, the netting that once covered this section of the park has been taken down, giving it a more open feel than in past years.

Candy Corn Country

The area of the park previously known as the Country Fair has been converted into Candy Corn Country for the Harvest Festival. This section includes several rides along with a candy corn-themed conveyor belt display and a family of candy corn characters positioned throughout the area, each accompanied by a rotating set of jokes.

Prize options at the midway games here and at similar games near the Tennessee Tornado include a cinnamon bread plushy, a bear holding a smaller cinnamon bread plushy, a plush owl, and a giant plush gerbil. One game near the Tennessee Tornado is noted for offering a guaranteed win, along with fall-themed cupcake prizes that can be traded in for one of the larger pumpkin plushies after collecting two.

VIP guided tours and timesaver passes

For guests who want a structured experience with front-of-line access, Dollywood offers a Great Pumpkin LumiNites guided tour for $89 per person. The tour runs for two hours, starts at 7:00 p.m., and requires sign-up by 5:00 p.m. the same day. It includes a collectible tour lanyard, one-time frontline access to Mystery Mine and Blazing Fury, and a complimentary candle-dipping experience. This option suits visitors who are unfamiliar with the park layout and want a guide to walk them through the festival’s main highlights, including the lit pumpkin displays.

Timesaver passes are also available in multiple tiers, with higher tiers offering broader access to unlimited ride queues. These passes can be purchased at a dedicated timesaver pass location near the front entrance and are worth considering on days with heavier crowds. Both the timesaver pass counter and the sign-up desk for the guided LumiNites tour are located in the same area, making it easy to compare options before deciding which upgrade, if any, fits a particular visit.

Comparing crowd levels to Harvey’s Boo Bash

Guests weighing whether to visit during the standard Harvest Festival hours or during the separately ticketed Harvey’s Boo Bash event, priced at $129, should note the difference in crowd levels. Late-evening visits during the regular Harvest Festival, particularly after the dance party wraps up, tend to see very light foot traffic, with several rides available to walk onto directly. This lower-crowd atmosphere is similar to what guests can expect at Boo Bash, which is positioned as a lower-capacity, after-hours event built around shorter lines.

Planning tips for visiting the Harvest Festival

A few practical points are worth keeping in mind when planning a visit:

The park map and show schedule, available near the ticket booths, list showtimes and dance party sessions for that specific day, since performers rotate throughout the festival’s run.
Weekday visits, especially early in the week, tend to have shorter lines than weekends.
Water rides stay open through the Harvest Festival and only close once the Christmas festival begins, so warm early-fall days still allow for cooling off.
Experiences with limited daily capacity, such as the Mountain Blown Glass pumpkin-making session, are best done early in the day before spots fill up.
Craft and carving demonstrations, including the pumpkin carving station and blacksmith sessions, are easier to see in detail once it gets dark, though the blacksmith demonstration itself runs on a daytime schedule.
The Mountain Valley Apple Market is not part of the tasting pass program, so guests relying on a tasting pass should plan to pay separately for items there.

Dollywood’s Harvest Festival runs through the fall season, with the Great Pumpkin LumiNites theming, the new dance party, and the seasonal food and merchandise offerings available on select days leading up to the park’s transition into its Christmas festival. Checking the Dollywood app or website ahead of a visit is the most reliable way to confirm the day’s specific show schedule, dance party times, and any ride closures before arriving.

Frequently asked questions about the Harvest Festival

What time does the LumiNites dance party start? The dance party runs twice each night during the Harvest Festival, with sessions at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in Wildwood Grove.

Do you need to know how to dance to join in? No prior dance experience is needed. Costumed characters and a DJ guide the crowd through a simple set of repeatable moves set to classic and throwback songs, and watching from the sidelines is also an option.

Is Nightflight Expedition currently open? The ride experienced a temporary technical issue that closed it for part of the day, but it reopened by evening with little to no wait once the problem was resolved.

Can the tasting pass be used at the Mountain Valley Apple Market? No. Items at this new food location are not eligible for the tasting pass, though season passholders can still use their standard discount there.

How much does the Great Pumpkin LumiNites guided tour cost? The guided tour is $89 per person, runs for two hours starting at 7:00 p.m., and requires sign-up by 5:00 p.m. the same day. It includes a lanyard, one-time frontline access to Mystery Mine and Blazing Fury, and a complimentary candle-dipping experience.

How does the Harvest Festival compare to Harvey’s Boo Bash in terms of crowds? Late-evening hours during the standard Harvest Festival tend to be lightly attended, similar to the lower-capacity atmosphere that Harvey’s Boo Bash, a separately ticketed event priced at $129, is designed to offer.

Are the water rides open during the Harvest Festival? Yes. The park’s water rides stay open through the Harvest Festival and do not close until the Christmas festival begins, so they remain an option on warm early-fall days.

How much does the Mountain Blown Glass experience cost? Making a custom blown glass pumpkin or ornament costs $59.99, and guests can choose the color of the stem. Spots tend to fill up quickly, so arriving early in the day is recommended.

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