When Dollywood’s NightFlight Expedition begins welcoming guests on Aug. 19, the journey won’t be entirely the stuff of theme park imagination.

The glowing creatures and mysterious nighttime landscapes woven into the attraction’s storyline have roots just a short drive from Dollywood, inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Now, a new educational program is giving students who live around the Smokies an opportunity to discover the science behind that glow—and potentially experience Dollywood’s newest attraction for themselves.

Dollywood has partnered with Smokies Life and Discover Life in America to launch Glow Life, a science program and contest for fifth grade classrooms in eligible counties across East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

The program explores bioluminescence and biofluorescence, two natural phenomena that help give the Smokies an entirely different personality after dark.

And for travelers planning a Dollywood vacation, the program highlights something that could make NightFlight Expedition particularly interesting: The attraction is designed around a natural world that visitors can continue exploring beyond the park gates.

The science behind NightFlight Expedition

Anyone familiar with the Smokies has probably heard about its famous synchronous fireflies, which draw visitors hoping to witness one of the region’s most remarkable natural displays.

But fireflies are only part of the story.

Bioluminescence occurs when a living organism produces light through a chemical reaction. Biofluorescence works differently, with an organism absorbing ultraviolet or blue light and emitting it in another color, often red, orange or green.

Those phenomena can be found in organisms ranging from mushrooms to salamanders, creating a fascinating nighttime world that most daytime visitors to the Smokies never see.

That world provides some of the inspiration behind NightFlight Expedition.

The indoor adventure coaster sends riders on an expedition through the Smokies, flying above mountain peaks, plunging into rushing rapids and gliding across a shimmering lake while searching for light produced by bioluminescent plants and creatures.

It’s an imaginative theme park adventure, but its connection to the region around Dollywood is very real.

The Smokies are still filled with discoveries

For families who enjoy adding educational experiences to their vacations, Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers an extraordinary opportunity.

More than 22,000 species have been documented in the park through the work of Discover Life in America, while scientists estimate the Smokies could contain between 60,000 and 80,000 species in total.

That means a significant portion of the park’s biodiversity remains undocumented.

The sheer variety of life is one reason the Smokies provide such a fitting setting for an attraction built around exploration and discovery.

Todd Witcher, executive director of Discover Life in America, said synchronous fireflies have helped bring worldwide attention to bioluminescence in the national park, but there is much more for visitors—and young scientists—to discover.

The Glow Life program encourages students to look beyond the famous fireflies and explore other glowing organisms found throughout the Smokies.

Five classrooms will win trips to Dollywood

Glow Life includes free curriculum aligned with fifth grade science standards in Tennessee and North Carolina, along with an educational video and a contest planned for fall 2026.

Students can explore bioluminescence and biofluorescence through almost any creative medium.

A class could write an essay, produce artwork, create a play or video, compose a song or even dream up an entirely new bioluminescent creature.

Five participating classrooms will win trips to Dollywood in spring 2027, giving students an opportunity to experience the attraction inspired in part by the science they’ve been studying.

Eligibility is limited to participating fifth grade classrooms in designated counties in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

NightFlight Expedition could inspire a second adventure

NightFlight Expedition also presents an interesting opportunity for families planning a Pigeon Forge or Smoky Mountains vacation.

Instead of treating a day at Dollywood and a visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park as two unrelated experiences, families can connect the two.

Ride NightFlight Expedition and experience Dollywood’s interpretation of the Smokies. Then venture into the national park and explore the landscapes, plants and wildlife that helped inspire it.

That’s especially fitting for Dollywood.

The Pigeon Forge theme park has long incorporated East Tennessee’s music, food, crafts and mountain culture into the guest experience. NightFlight Expedition extends that connection into the natural world surrounding the park.

Carol Agee, Dollywood’s community affairs and philanthropy manager, said authenticity to the region was an important consideration when developing the attraction and the educational partnership.

“Our newest attraction, NightFlight Expedition, allows us to introduce the fascinating story of bioluminescence found here in the Smokies,” Agee said.

A new reason to explore Dollywood—and the Smokies

NightFlight Expedition opens to the public Aug. 19 at Dollywood, adding another major attraction to a park already filled with reasons to build a Smoky Mountains vacation around it.

But its setting may be what makes this adventure stand apart.

The experience doesn’t end when riders leave the attraction.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is waiting nearby, offering families the opportunity to see the environment behind the story and discover why scientists continue searching its forests, streams and mountains for species that haven’t yet been documented.

For students participating in Glow Life, that connection could even help inspire a future career.

For everyone else, it offers a reminder that some of the most fascinating attractions in the Smokies don’t require a roller coaster track at all.

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(Photo Dollywood Parks & Resorts)