Dollywood will switch on more than six million lights across its Pigeon Forge park as Smoky Mountain Christmas, presented by Humana, opens its gates on Friday and runs through Jan. 3. The seasonal festival brings holiday shows, festive food, twinkling lights and rides under the night sky to the theme park through the new year.
Smoky Mountain Christmas is set to return to Dollywood on Nov. 6, 2026. According to media.mypigeonforge.com, the event officially runs from Nov. 6, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027, and features more than six million twinkling lights strung throughout the park.
Dollywood's own festival page describes the season as a mix of festive flavors, heartwarming holiday shows and seasonal shopping, according to the park's listing on dollywood.com. The festival's headline production, Christmas in the Smokies, returns to the Celebrity Theater for the season, per the same mypigeonforge.com report.
New Tasting Pass Lets Visitors Sample Holiday Treats
Dollywood is offering a Christmas Tasting Pass for guests looking to sample the park's holiday treat menus this year. The dollywood.com festival page notes that visitors can try up to five festival foods for one price with the pass.
The pass costs $45.99 plus tax, or $42.99 for Gold and Diamond season passholders, and can be purchased online or at culinary locations throughout the park, per the mypigeonforge.com report. Dollywood's dining page for the pass notes that park admission is not included with the purchase.
Glacier Ridge Returns With Towering Animated Tree
Glacier Ridge, one of the festival's lighted sections, includes more than a million lights on its own and features a 50-foot animated Christmas tree that lights up throughout the evening, according to the seed facts behind the tourism department's announcement. The area was introduced in 2018 as what knoxnews.com called Dollywood's largest holiday expansion at the time, when it debuted with a 130-foot-long glowing blue passage through Timber Canyon.
That 2018 edition of Smoky Mountain Christmas ran from Nov. 10 through Jan. 5 and was described by Knoxville's paper as including more than five million lights, the Parade of Many Colors, holiday shows, treats and costumed characters. This year's festival, once again presented by Humana, keeps the same formula of lights, shows and seasonal food running deep into the new year for visitors making the trip to Pigeon Forge.
