Dollywood took four Golden Ticket Awards on Saturday, more than any park in the world, including a Best Guest Experience trophy no other park has ever won. The Harvest Festival started the next day.
Dollywood had a good weekend.
On Saturday, the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee park collected four first-place Golden Ticket Awards at the industry ceremony in Austin, more than any other theme park on the planet. On Monday, its Harvest Festival opened for the season.
Disney World won nothing at that ceremony. Dollywood won four.
What did Dollywood win at the 2026 Golden Ticket Awards?
Most Beautiful Park, Best Guest Experience, Best Kids’ Area for Wildwood Grove, and Best Family Coaster for Big Bear Mountain.
The Guest Experience one is the headline. Dollywood has now won it seven years running, and it is the only park that has ever won the category since Amusement Today created it.
Wildwood Grove also hit seven straight for Best Kids’ Area, going back to the land’s opening in 2019. Big Bear Mountain took Best Family Coaster for the fourth consecutive year since it opened in 2023.
Dollywood placed in two more categories without winning. It finished No. 2 among the best theme parks in the world, behind Germany’s Europa-Park, and its wooden coaster Thunderhead landed sixth globally.
All-time, the park has collected 67 Golden Tickets.
Park president Eugene Naughton kept it plain in the announcement: “We don’t set out to win awards.”
When is Dollywood’s Harvest Festival in 2026?
Sept. 14 through Oct. 31, presented by Humana.
The centerpiece is Great Pumpkin LumiNights, which lights the park after dark with more than 12,000 carved pumpkins. During the day, it runs on fall food, live music, and the Smokies turning color, which is its own draw in October.
Harvest Festival has been nominated again for the USA Today 10Best award for best theme park Halloween event. That poll closes Sept. 21 and winners are announced Sept. 30.
What is Harvey’s Boo Bash?
New this year, and it is a real change in how Dollywood runs its fall.
Harvey’s Boo Bash is the theme park’s first separately ticketed after-hours event, running three nights only: Oct. 16, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. Limited capacity, treat trails, dance parties, themed food and rides after dark.
If that structure sounds familiar, it should. Separately ticketed Halloween nights are how Disney and Universal have run their fall seasons for years. Dollywood has spent decades doing the opposite, folding the seasonal event into regular admission.
Three nights is a careful way to test whether their guests will pay extra for something they have historically gotten included.
What else is new at Dollywood this year?
NightFlight Expedition, which opened this season in Wildwood Grove and cost more than $60 million, the largest attraction investment in the park’s history.
It came out of a partnership between Dollywood, Herschend Creative Studios and German manufacturer Mack Rides, and the ride system behind it won Amusement Today’s innovation award last year. The story picks up on characters connected to Big Bear Mountain, which is the kind of continuity most parks do not bother with.
Worth knowing that the price tag moved. When Dollywood announced the ride in 2025, the figure was more than $50 million. By the Aug. 14 dedication, it was more than $60 million.
After Halloween, the park rolls into Smoky Mountain Christmas from Nov. 6 through Jan. 3, 2027, with six million lights.
Seven straight years of Best Guest Experience, and nobody else has ever taken it once. Whatever they are doing in the Smokies, the rest of the industry has been watching it for a while now.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Amusement Today (Sept. 14, 2026), the four category wins, the consecutive-year counts and the Harvest Festival dates
Dollywood via the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism media room (Sept. 14, 2026), the Naughton quote and the additional category placements
Dollywood (Aug. 14, 2026), the NightFlight Expedition dedication and the revised cost figure
Coaster101 (Sept. 13, 2026), the full Golden Ticket winners list and coaster rankings
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