Candlelight Processional returns to EPCOT on November 27: narrators announced, packages book October 14 from $43
Disney Parks confirmed on X that the Candlelight Processional opens November 27 with the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdventHealth, which runs through December 30. Disney's own pages fill in the rest: three nightly shows at America Gardens Theatre, 15 narrator blocks with two still unnamed, and dining packages at 16 restaurants that book from October 14, at $43 per adult at Regal Eagle Smokehouse up to $109 at Le Cellier Steakhouse.
Disney Parks used its own X account to put a date on the holiday season at EPCOT: the Candlelight Processional returns Friday, November 27, the same day the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdventHealth opens. Disney's park and dining listings now carry the rest of the detail the post left out, including a 15-slot celebrity narrator schedule, three nightly showtimes, and a list of 16 restaurants selling dining packages from October 14 at $43 to $109 per adult.
Key Details
- Festival dates: November 27 through December 30, 2026
- Candlelight Processional: nightly at 4:45 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at America Gardens Theatre
- Narrators posted: 15 date blocks, two of them still to be announced, with Robin Roberts, Jason Kelce and Lacey Chabert new to the show
- Dining packages: 16 restaurants, bookable starting October 14, 2026, from $43 to $109 per adult and $26 to $59 per child before tax and gratuity
- Presenting sponsor: AdventHealth
- Plan at: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/holiday-festival/
What Disney posted
The post went up on the Disney Parks account on September 8 and said only that "The Candlelight Processional kicks off November 27 with the start of EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdventHealth," tagged to Walt Disney World under the hashtag #DisneyHolidays. The link attached to it went to the Disney Parks Blog announcement of this year's narrator lineup, which is where the night-by-night schedule first appeared.
Everything below is drawn from Disney's own festival, entertainment and dining pages rather than from the post itself, which carried the start date and nothing else.
The narrator lineup, night by night
Fifteen date blocks are published. Two of them, December 2 and 3 and December 13 and 14, are listed as to be announced. Disney flags Robin Roberts, Jason Kelce and Lacey Chabert as first-time narrators; the rest are returning names, and Jodi Benson again takes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
| Dates | Narrator | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| November 27 and 28 | Auli'i Cravalho | |
| November 29 to December 1 | Gary Sinise | |
| December 2 and 3 | To be announced | |
| December 4 and 5 | Whoopi Goldberg | |
| December 6 and 7 | Robin Roberts | New this year |
| December 8 and 9 | Jason Kelce | New this year |
| December 10 to 12 | Neil Patrick Harris | |
| December 13 and 14 | To be announced | |
| December 15 and 16 | Lauren Daigle | |
| December 17 to 19 | Ralph Macchio | |
| December 20 and 21 | Henry Winkler | |
| December 22 and 23 | Lacey Chabert | New this year |
| December 24 and 25 | Jodi Benson | |
| December 26 and 27 | Simu Liu | |
| December 28 to 30 | Eva Longoria |
Disney's schedule page carries the usual caveat that entertainment and artist appearances can change or be cancelled without notice, so a narrator booked for a specific night is not a guarantee.
What the show is
Candlelight Processional is a retelling of the Christmas story, read by the celebrity narrator and set against a massed choir, herald trumpets, a live orchestra and the Voices of Liberty. Disney Parks Blog puts the choir at more than 150 Disney cast members and community singers. The two Disney pages disagree on the orchestra: the park's entertainment listing says 50 pieces and the blog says 51.
Disney counts 2026 as the show's 55th year at Walt Disney World and its 32nd at EPCOT. Performances run nightly through the festival at America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase, at 4:45 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern.
Seating is the part worth reading twice. Guests without a dining package are seated first come, first served, and Disney notes capacity is limited. Guests holding a package enter through a separate queue and are seated first come, first served inside a reserved section, so a package guarantees a seat but not a particular view, and turning up early still decides where that seat is.
Dining packages open October 14
Candlelight Processional dining packages go on sale October 14, 2026, and are sold only for the festival's run. Sixteen restaurants take part, and the adult price runs from $43 at Regal Eagle Smokehouse in The American Adventure pavilion to $109 at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada.
Each package includes one guaranteed seat per person at a same-day performance plus a meal. At most restaurants that means an entree and dessert, or a full buffet where one is offered, with a nonalcoholic drink, or an alcoholic drink for guests 21 and over with valid identification. Spice Road Table in the Morocco pavilion works differently: two small plates, a shared tagine, a shared dessert platter and a drink, and at $63 for an adult it sits in the cheaper half of the list.
Prices below exclude tax and gratuity, and reservations require a credit card guarantee. The dining plan column is what the package costs a guest on a Disney Dining Plan.
| Restaurant | Location | Adult (ages 10 and up) | Child (ages 3 to 9) | Dining plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akershus Royal Banquet Hall | Norway pavilion | $87 | $59 | 2 table-service meals |
| Biergarten Restaurant | Germany pavilion | $75 | $40 | 1 table-service meal |
| Chefs de France | France pavilion | $89 | $37 | 1 table-service meal |
| Coral Reef Restaurant | The Living Seas | $82 | $34 | 1 table-service meal |
| Garden Grill Restaurant | The Land pavilion | $73 breakfast, $86 lunch or dinner | $46 breakfast, $55 lunch or dinner | 1 table-service meal |
| La Crêperie de Paris | France pavilion | $59 | $31 | 1 table-service meal |
| La Hacienda de San Angel | Mexico pavilion | $86 | $37 | 1 table-service meal |
| Le Cellier Steakhouse | Canada pavilion | $109 | $44 | 2 table-service meals |
| Nine Dragons Restaurant | China pavilion | $70 | $30 | 1 table-service meal |
| Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts & Barbecue (same-day packages only) | The American Adventure pavilion | $43 | $26 | Not eligible |
| Rose & Crown Dining Room | United Kingdom pavilion | $68 | $31 | 1 table-service meal |
| Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya | Japan pavilion | $85 | $40 | 1 table-service meal |
| Spice Road Table | Morocco pavilion | $63 | $26 | 1 table-service meal |
| Teppan Edo | Japan pavilion | $89 | $40 | 1 table-service meal |
| Tutto Italia Ristorante | Italy pavilion | $85 | $36 | 1 table-service meal |
| Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria | Italy pavilion | $71 | $33 | 1 table-service meal |
A few things fall out of that grid. Le Cellier Steakhouse and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall are the only two packages that cost two table-service credits, so on the Dining Plan the Canada steakhouse and the Norway banquet hall each cost two meals rather than one. La Crêperie de Paris is the cheapest package a guest can book in advance, at $59. Garden Grill Restaurant is the only one with a separate breakfast price, $73 against $86 later in the day.
One entry carries a caveat. Coral Reef Restaurant closed on September 8 for planned maintenance, and the closure notice on its page still says only that it will reopen later in 2026, although Disney's operating calendar now shows its hours resuming on November 4. It is on the Candlelight list at $82 per adult and $34 per child, which puts a November 27 deadline on the work.
Guests collect a Candlelight Processional seating badge at the restaurant after the meal, printed with the date and showtime reserved. That badge is what gets a party into the package queue at America Gardens Theatre. Packages are subject to availability and Disney warns they may not be offered on peak dates. Theme park admission is required to enter the park and is not included in the package price, and a park reservation may also be needed.
The same-day option
Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts and Barbecue at The American Adventure pavilion sells a same-day package only, at $43 for adults and $26 for children, and it is the one restaurant on the list that takes no Disney Dining Plan credit at all. It covers a walk-up meal without a reservation that day plus guaranteed seats at a later performance, which is the one route left for a trip planned too late to book ahead. Availability is checked at the restaurant itself and is not promised on a peak date. Full package terms are posted at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/epcot/candlelight-dinner-packages/.
What to do on October 14
Disney opens new dining reservation days at about 6 a.m. Eastern. Decide the showtime before that morning, then pick the restaurant by the price worth paying for the seat, because the performance is identical from every package. Disney's standard dining window runs 60 days out, which from October 14 reaches to roughly December 13; Disney has not said whether the rest of the festival opens that same morning, so anyone holding a late December date should keep checking after the 14th. Standard reservation terms apply: a card guarantees the table, changes are not accepted inside two hours of the seating, and a no show or late cancellation is charged per person. The terms attached to a specific booking are stated at reservation and repeated in the confirmation email, and seasonal packages do not all use the same rule.
The rest of the festival
Candlelight Processional is one piece of a park-wide event. Holiday Kitchens set up around World Showcase for the run of the festival, and the Holiday Cookie Stroll ends in a treat once guests have worked through the cookies on the card. JOYFUL! A Celebration of the Season, a tribute to Christmas and Kwanzaa built on gospel, R&B and holiday songs, plays daily at CommuniCore Plaza Stage from November 27 to December 30.
Character meets run alongside them. Goofy as Santa poses for photos daily at The Odyssey across the same dates, and Santa Claus meets guests at CommuniCore Hall daily through December 24. Two more additions round out the festival: Living with the Land: Glimmering Greenhouses, which lights the ride's greenhouses for the season, and Olaf's Holiday Tradition Expedition, a scavenger hunt built around traditions Olaf has collected and mislaid.
Holiday storytellers by pavilion
The storyteller roster is the festival's oldest tradition, with a performer or act in most World Showcase pavilions. Disney lists performance times in the My Disney Experience app rather than on the festival page.
- Mexico: Las Posadas Celebration, with dancers, piñatas and the music of Mariachi Cobre
- Norway: a mischievous Barn Santa who turns up on Sigrid, an unsuspecting Christmas storyteller
- China: a Chinese Lion Dancer, plus the Si-Zhu Trio playing traditional folk music for the Lunar New Year
- Germany: Micha's Adventskalender, a puppet theater show of German holiday traditions
- Italy: La Befana, the kindhearted witch who visits sleeping children on the Eve of the Epiphany
- Japan: the Daruma Storyteller, on the Daruma doll and Japanese new year customs
- Between Morocco and France: a Hanukkah storyteller on the music and traditions of Hanukkah around the world
- France: Père Noël, retelling Christmas through a child's letter
- United Kingdom: Father Christmas, on the traditions of the United Kingdom
- Canada: the Canadian Holiday Voyageurs, a musical tour of holiday customs across Canada
The full entertainment schedule, including the storyteller lineup and the Candlelight narrator calendar, is at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/holiday-festival-entertainment/.
What this means for holiday planners
The date that actually matters is October 14, not November 27. Dining packages are the only way to lock in a Candlelight Processional seat, they cover a single same-day performance, and the strongest narrator nights tend to go first. The cheapest way in is the $43 walk-up at Regal Eagle, which cannot be booked ahead at all, and the dearest is $109 at Le Cellier. Guests skipping the package should plan to queue well ahead of a 4:45 p.m., 6:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. show, since seating is first come, first served against limited capacity. Anyone holding out for the December 2, 3, 13 or 14 blocks is waiting on two names Disney has not filled yet, and anyone counting on Coral Reef is waiting on a refurbishment that has no posted end date on the restaurant's own page. Package prices and participating restaurants are posted at DisneyWorld.com, and the narrator announcement is at https://disneyparksblog.com/wdw/epcot-holiday-traditions-and-candlelight-processional-narrators-announced/.