Pigeon Forge, TN — Rocky Top Mountain Coaster is running its ride after dark this fall with live actors on the hillside. Zombie Invasion, new for 2026, casts riders as civilians in a military evacuation: guests wait inside a staged army base with soldiers and emergency broadcasts, then board the coaster’s sleds and ride down the mountain in the dark past zombies, fog, and effects. It runs on 36 select nights from September 11 through October 31, tickets are $24.99 for adults and $15.99 for children, and it is a separate event from the daytime ride. The company bills it as the longest haunted coaster experience in the world, a claim that rests on the coaster itself, which the company says runs more than nine minutes.
What Happens on a Zombie Invasion Night
A mountain coaster is a rail-track sled ride that winds down a hillside, and Rocky Top’s runs on more than 20 acres above Veterans Boulevard with four uplifts, a count it bills as a world first. Its sleds reach up to 30 mph, and the company calls it the longest coaster in Tennessee. Zombie Invasion is that ride at night with a story wrapped around it.
The story starts in the queue. “Guests will step into the middle of an active military base in the Smoky Mountains, where the experience begins long before the coaster leaves the station,” the release says. “Surrounded by military personnel, themed environments, emergency broadcasts and pre-show elements, guests will become part of an unfolding evacuation as the infected close in and time runs out. The only way to escape is to board a mountain coaster vehicle and descend into the darkness.” The ride itself is “an adrenaline-filled journey down the mountainside featuring soldiers, zombies, military theming, atmospheric lighting, fog, special effects and unexpected encounters throughout the ride.”
“Rocky Top Mountain Coaster already delivers the longest mountain coaster ride time in Tennessee,” said owner Lisa Williford. “Now, Zombie Invasion transforms that record-setting ride into a one-of-a-kind haunted coaster adventure. Guests will not simply watch the story unfold; they will become part of it, from the immersive pre-ride experience to the hair-raising journey through the mountain after dark.”
The guest advisory lists live actors, zombies, military-themed environments and simulated weapon props, strobing lights, fog, loud sounds, darkness, and sudden scares, on top of a coaster ride with high-speed curves, dips, and sudden stops. The regular rider rules stay in force: riders must be at least 3 years old and 38 inches tall, and anyone under 56 inches rides with an adult. Darkness is part of the product, and the company recommends riding at least 30 minutes after sunset for the darkest run. On opening night that means about 8:20 p.m., since the sun sets in Pigeon Forge around 7:48 p.m. on September 11. By Halloween it sets at 6:40 p.m., before the line opens.
Dates and Hours
Zombie Invasion runs on 36 nights. In September it is Fridays, Saturdays, and Tuesdays: September 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, and 29. In October it runs every night from October 1 through 18, then October 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, and 31.
The event line opens at 6:30 p.m., the first sled dispatches at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are sold until 11 p.m., with the ride running until every ticketed guest has gone down the mountain. On event nights the regular daytime coaster runs from 10 a.m. until about 6 p.m., with a cutoff that can move with demand and setup. On non-event days it runs 10 a.m. to close.
Tickets and Tennessee Days
Tickets are $24.99 per adult and $15.99 per child, sold online. Zombie Invasion is a separately ticketed event, and the company will not accept regular ride wristbands, rain checks, re-rides, third-party tickets, coupons, or Smoky Mountain Park Hopper Passes at the gate.
Tennessee residents get three discount nights, September 15, 22, and 29, at $18.99 per adult and $9.99 per child. Guests 16 and older show a Tennessee photo ID, children 15 and younger without one come with a parent or guardian who has one, and the resident price is available only at the ticket window.
The Ride Before It, and the Other Haunted Mountain Coasters
Zombie Invasion replaces Coast & Goblins, the overlay Rocky Top ran through October 2025, according to the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism’s event listing. That listing describes Coast & Goblins as lights, goblins, ghouls, and ghosts along the ride, and Zombie Invasion adds the military pre-show and a storyline on top.
The company sizes the claim two ways: the email that carried the press kit called Zombie Invasion the longest haunted coaster experience in the USA, and the release says the world. Neither is something HAN can measure, but the field is small. Shepherd of the Hills in Branson, Missouri, runs its Haunted Copperhead Mountain Coaster on Fridays and Saturdays in October from dusk to 11 p.m. with flashing lights, fog, and animated statues, rates its scare level “medium,” and promises no jump scares. Greek Peak in Cortland, New York, ran its Freak at the Peak haunted coaster on four nights in 2024 at $18 a person. Rocky Top is running 36 nights with live actors on a coaster it says takes more than nine minutes to ride.
Pigeon Forge already has a fall crowd to draw from. Down the road, Dollywood’s Harvest Festival and Great Pumpkin LumiNights run September 14 through October 31 in the family lane, with carved pumpkins rather than scare actors. Zombie Invasion is the town’s scare-actor option, and its September 11 opening lands on the same weekend as the biggest wave of haunted house openings on the national calendar.
Tickets are at rockytop.events/hauntedcoaster. Rocky Top Mountain Coaster is at 2940 Veterans Boulevard in Pigeon Forge.
