Dollywood Harvest Festival Opens Sept. 14

PIGEON FORGE, TN – Dollywood's Harvest Festival opens September 14 and runs through October 31, and the park added two things this year that were not there last fall. One comes free with your ticket. The other costs $129.99 and happens on three nights only.

Great Pumpkin LumiNights is still the anchor of the whole event. Thousands of hand carved pumpkins, a 40 foot pumpkin tree, Dolly's glowing giant guitar, and Hoot Owl Hollow with its enormous illuminated owl and dozens of smaller ones across the hillside.

All of it is included with regular park admission, same as always. If your family just wants the glow, you do not need to spend an extra dollar.

USA Today 10Best readers voted the Harvest Festival America's Best Fall Event, and fairly so.

Music and Rides

Daytime is a music festival with roller coasters attached. Dozens of Southern gospel, country, and bluegrass acts play the streets and stages every operating day, and the lineup Dollywood is promoting for this fall includes Rhonda Vincent, The Isaacs, Emily Ann Roberts, Hannah Harper, and John Foster.

Big Bear Mountain is still the longest coaster in the park, and Mystery Mine runs straight through the fall color.

New this season: NightFlight Expedition, an all indoor adventure coaster the park bills as the first of its kind anywhere. Moderate thrills, heavy on storytelling. It stays open after dark, which matters below.

Candy Corn Country

The first of the two additions is Candy Corn Country, which takes over the Country Fair section for the season. Themed characters to meet and decor built around the candy nobody will admit to liking.

This one is included with admission. No upcharge, no reservation.

Harvey's Boo Bash

The bigger addition is Harvey's Boo Bash, and it is the piece that requires a decision. It is a limited capacity after hours event on three Fridays: October 16, 23, and 30.

The event ticket admits you to the park at 4:00 p.m. The exclusive after hours celebration runs from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, but you get five hours of Harvest Festival and LumiNights first.

An event only ticket is $129.99 plus tax for everyone age four and up. Gold and Diamond passholders save $5. Admission includes:

• Park access from 4:00 p.m. until midnight
• A candy bag and access to treat trails across the park
• A commemorative cup with free soda refills all evening
• Complimentary themed kettle korn
• Character meet and greets with Harvey and friends
• Dance parties to open and close the night
• Select rides running after dark, including NightFlight Expedition

Costumes are welcome, with rules. Kids twelve and under may wear masks as long as the eyes stay visible. Guests thirteen and older cannot wear face coverings at all, and nobody gets through the gate with a prop that looks like a real weapon.

Families dealing with food allergies should pick up a teal treat bag on arrival. The treat trails hand those guests tokens instead of candy, redeemable at an allergy friendly station.

Day or Night

So which one do you buy?

A one day Pick-A-Day adult ticket starts at $94.99 and gets you the whole festival, LumiNights included, from opening until closing. That is the value play, and for most families it is the right call. A two day ticket starts at $124.99, which makes the second day close to free.

The Boo Bash ticket runs $35 more than a single day. That buys a window that starts later and ends much later, plus the candy, the cup, the refills, and a park that thins out after 9:00.

If you have kids who live for trick or treating and you are already coming in October, it is a fair upgrade. If your children are small enough that midnight is a theoretical concept, skip it and go in the daytime.

One more number. A season pass starts at $169.99, which is $40 more than a single Boo Bash ticket and covers Smoky Mountain Christmas in November and December. Anyone making two trips this fall and winter should run that math first.

Boo Bash capacity is capped and Dollywood says tickets sell while supplies last. October Fridays in Pigeon Forge are not the nights to gamble on walk up availability.

Harvest Festival Extras

A Harvest Festival Tasting Pass covers up to five festival foods for one price, which beats buying them one at a time. If you would rather eat off property, our Pigeon Forge food and beverage guide has the alternatives.

A guided LumiNights walking tour starts at $89 per person, two guest minimum, and does not include park admission. It includes one time front of line access on Mystery Mine and Blazing Fury.

On Saturday, October 24, HeartSong Lodge & Resort hosts a Harvest Festival Chef's Dinner, ticketed separately.

Dollywood's weather guarantee gives you a complimentary return ticket, good any operating day this season, if rain shortens your visit. Stop at a ticket booth before you leave.

The festival only runs on regular park operating days, so check the calendar before you lock in a date. Fall color in Great Smoky Mountains National Park usually peaks in the second half of October, which is also when traffic on the Parkway is at its worst.

Weekdays in late September are the quiet trade off, and the pumpkins are already lit.