Dollywood will offer its first after-hours Halloween event next year.
Unlike most other theme parks that offer hard-ticket Halloween parties, Dollywood will not offer a haunt-based event. Like Disney, Dollywood is looking to appeal to families with an all-ages event called Harvey's Boo Bash.
Dollywood is scheduling the inaugural event for just three nights: October 16, 23 and 30, 2026. The event will start at 9pm and run through midnight. Dollywood will set up candy stations as well as other exclusive activities and entertainment, including event-specific food and merchandise.
Guests also will have access to select attractions during the party, which will be "hosted" by Dollywood's pumpkin character, Harvey.
Harvey's Boo Bash will be offered in addition to Dollywood's returning Harvest Festival, which runs from September 14 through October 31 and is included with regular park admission. Next year's festival will offer an expanded Great Pumpkin LumiNights, adding a new dance party.
Next year also will bring the previously announced NightFlight Expedition ride, as well as Dollywood's first-ever Run Dollywood race weekend, on April 25-26, 2026. Dollywood opens for its 2026 on Friday, March 13.
To see more of what is available at the park, including our reader rankings of its roller coasters and our advice for visiting, please see our Visitors Guide to Dollywood.
Oof. We might finally make it to Dollywood with this as the impetus.
Edit: My better half has already said yes. This is happening.
What needle are they even trying to move here? Outside of the three-hour window for this event, I find it hard to believe the financial investment will be anything to really attract and or impress visitors, as they're only gunning for just three days.
At least they’ll get credit for more attendance like Disney does for their separately ticketed events (like 80 of them each year)
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
It will be interesting to see how this sells, because while I do think Dollywood does a great job appealing to families, trying to get them to pay for a separately ticketed after hours event (that doesn't start until 9 PM) might have trouble gaining traction. The fact that they're starting with just 3 nights signals to me a lot of hesitancy about this event. Perhaps they will use this as a way to increase on-site resort reservations, but my understanding is that they're not having a lot of trouble filling rooms, particularly on fall weekends. This is just a bit of an odd decision here, and it seems as if Dollywood isn't really going all in on this idea either.