Dolly Parton had planned to be at Dollywood for one of the park’s biggest events of the year, but her doctor had other plans.
The 80-year-old country icon missed the Aug. 14 dedication of NightFlight Expedition in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and instead appeared in a prerecorded video from Nashville. Parton explained that she was dealing with dehydration and had been advised not to travel.
“Sometimes I get a little dizzy, and I get dehydrated,” Parton said, according to Just Jared. She joked that her Nashville doctor had “clipped my wings,” telling her, “You ain’t traveling this week.”
Parton also offered reassurance amid the broader health issues that have affected several of her public appearances over the past year. She said “all is going well on the medical end of things” and emphasized that she is continuing to work while following her doctor’s advice.
Her Doctor Told Her Not to Travel That Week
Parton had expected to attend the NightFlight Expedition event in person and apologized for having to remain in Nashville. “I’m still in Nashville, and I’m sorry about that,” she said in the video. “I was supposed to be in person, like we planned.”
Playing off the butterfly imagery long associated with Dollywood, Parton said her “butterfly wings” had been flapping through multiple planned opening dates for NightFlight Expedition before turning to her own health.
“Now I’m dehydrated, and so my Nashville doctor kind of clipped my wings, saying, ‘You ain’t traveling this week,'” she said. “All is going well on the medical end of things,” she told guests.
Parton Has Been Working Through Health Issues for Months
The latest absence follows a period in which Parton has repeatedly spoken about needing time to recover. In September 2025, she postponed her planned Las Vegas residency after saying doctors had advised her to undergo several medical procedures. The shows, originally scheduled for December 2025 and later moved to 2026, were ultimately canceled in May while she continued treatment.
That May, Parton said she was responding well to medication and treatment but still had healing to do. She also discussed her history of kidney stones and said her immune and digestive systems had become “out of whack” over the previous couple of years, according to Entertainment Weekly.
NightFlight Expedition itself has intersected with those health setbacks before. Parton missed the attraction’s September 2025 announcement at Dollywood after a kidney stone led to an infection and her doctor advised her not to travel.
She did return to Dollywood in person in March for the opening of the park’s 41st season. At that appearance, Parton said her health issues and the grief following the March 2025 death of her husband, Carl Dean, had left her “worn down and worn out.” “I just got myself kind of where I needed to build myself back up spiritually, emotionally, and physically,” she said at the time. “But, all is good. It didn’t slow me down.”
She Says the Health Setbacks Have Not Stopped Her From Working
“I continue working away on all of our other projects,” she said, naming the SongTeller Hotel and Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum in Nashville as well as her Broadway musical in New York. Her Broadway project, Dolly: A True Original Musical, is scheduled to arrive on Broadway this winter.
Parton has previously said she has spent significant time rewriting and reworking the autobiographical production while recovering. The Nashville projects have also kept her busy. The SongTeller Hotel and Life of Many Colors Museum are part of a major downtown development built around Parton’s life, music and career.
Parton quickly turned the focus away from herself and back toward the attraction she had planned to celebrate. “I’ve been wanting to tell everybody about our great new ride, NightFlight Expedition,” she said. “And you have fun, and I’ll see you down the road.”
NightFlight Expedition Is Dollywood’s Biggest Ride Investment
When Dollywood first announced the attraction, it described the project as an investment of more than $50 million. By the Aug. 14 opening celebration, local coverage put the final investment at more than $60 million, still making it the largest single-attraction investment in Dollywood history.
The official Dollywood announcement describes NightFlight Expedition as an indoor family hybrid coaster and whitewater river adventure that combines several different ride experiences.
The approximately five-and-a-half-minute attraction sends guests soaring over the Smokies, climbing a mountainside, plunging into whitewater rapids and navigating a mysterious bioluminescent lake. It operates inside a 44,000-square-foot climate-controlled building in Wildwood Grove.
NightFlight Expedition begins preview rides for eligible season passholders from Aug. 15 through Aug. 18. Dollywood says the attraction opens to the general public on Aug. 19.