EPCOT Candlelight Processional 2026: Dining Packages, Prices and Narrators

The 2026 Candlelight Processional runs nightly from November 27 to December 30 at the America Gardens Theatre in EPCOT, with three performances a night at 4:45 PM, 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM. A celebrity narrator tells the Christmas story with a massed choir, a 50-piece orchestra, herald trumpets and the Voices of Liberty. The show is included with park admission. A guaranteed seat is not: the only way to reserve one is a Candlelight Processional dining package.

The packages are the hard part, and they are what this page measures. On November 10 there was no package time open for a party of two on any night before December 26. Seats do return, on every night, and most are gone again within minutes; the sections below show where and when. The narrator schedule and all 16 package prices are here too.

What is on this page

• When is the Candlelight Processional in 2026?
• 2026 Candlelight Processional narrators
• Do you need tickets for the Candlelight Processional?
• Candlelight Processional dining package prices
• Dining package availability by date
• Which show time is easiest to book
• How to book a dining package
• Sold out? How seats come back
• Standby line

When is the Candlelight Processional in 2026?

The Candlelight Processional runs every night from Friday, November 27 through Wednesday, December 30, 2026. It is part of the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, which keeps the same dates.

The same narrator reads all three shows on each of their dates, so choosing a narrator means choosing a date. Walt Disney World has presented the Candlelight Processional since 1971.

How long is the show? Disney does not publish a running time and published accounts differ, from about 30 minutes to a little over 45. Allow an hour from sitting down to walking out.

2026 Candlelight Processional narrators

Fifteen narrators share the 34 nights. Five are new this year: Benjamin Bratt, Robin Roberts, Jason Kelce, Josh Groban and Lacey Chabert.

Disney states that all entertainment and artist appearances are subject to change or cancellation without notice, and this lineup has already changed once since it was first announced. Check the schedule again the week you go.

Do you need tickets for the Candlelight Processional?

No. There is no separate ticket. The Candlelight Processional is included with EPCOT admission, and anyone in the park can join the standby queue for a seat.

What you can buy is a guaranteed seat, and the only way to get one is a Candlelight Processional dining package: a fixed-price meal at a participating EPCOT restaurant that comes with one reserved seat per person at a show the same day. You need valid park admission as well. It is not included in the package price.

Candlelight Processional dining package prices, by restaurant

Disney lists 16 participating restaurants for 2026. Prices are per person, before tax and gratuity.

What the package includes

At most restaurants the package is an entree and dessert, or the full buffet where the restaurant serves one, plus a nonalcoholic drink (or an alcoholic drink for guests 21 and older). Spice Road Table is different: two small plates, a shared tagine, a shared dessert platter and a drink.

Every package includes one guaranteed seat per person at a Candlelight Processional show the same day. You get a seating badge at the restaurant after your meal, printed with your date and show time.

Three things worth knowing about that table

Two restaurants cost two Dining Plan credits. Le Cellier and Akershus each take two table-service meals. Every other advance-bookable restaurant takes one. If you are weighing credits, our 2026 Disney Dining Plan guide covers the math.

La Creperie de Paris is the cheapest package you can book ahead, at $59 per adult. It is also one of the scarcest: when we checked, it had 9 reservation times open for a party of 2 across the whole run.

Regal Eagle Smokehouse is the cheapest seat, sold same day only. At $43 per adult it never enters the advance booking system. You buy it at the restaurant on the day, subject to availability, and it is not eligible for the Dining Plan. It is the fallback if you are already in the park without a package, and the reason it does not appear on our availability calendars.

Candlelight Processional dining package availability by date

This is a snapshot from our own availability tracking, taken November 10, 2026 at 9:47 AM Eastern. A "reservation time" is one bookable time at one restaurant, paired with one show.

Every night through Christmas is full for a party of 2. Not a single package time was open on any of the first 29 nights at the moment we checked.

The last five nights are wide open. If your dates are flexible, December 26 to 30 is the easy way in, and you can book it today.

Where the open seats are

Same snapshot. Almost all of this is on December 26 to 30.

Party size changes the answer. Garden Grill had 21 times for two people and 280 for four. Chefs de France had 14 for two and none for four. If a restaurant looks full, change the party size before you give up.

Biergarten, Garden Grill and Akershus carry the package. They are the three largest sources of seats, both in what is open now and in what comes back from cancellations.

Our Candlelight Processional Dining Package page shows the current picture for every date, by restaurant and show time.

Which show time is easiest to book

The 4:45 PM show has the fewest package seats. The reason is in how Disney pairs meals with shows. In every opening we have recorded since bookings began:

• A dinner package is only ever paired with the 6:30 PM or 8:00 PM show. The 4:45 PM show comes only with a breakfast or lunch package.
• Four restaurants have sold dinner packages only: Coral Reef, La Hacienda de San Angel, Rose & Crown and Spice Road Table. None of them has offered the 4:45 PM show.
• Breakfast packages exist at two restaurants: Garden Grill and La Creperie de Paris. A breakfast package can carry any of the three shows, which makes it the way to get the meal done early and keep the afternoon free.

If you want the 4:45 PM show, look at lunch first. If you want a specific dinner restaurant, plan on 6:30 or 8:00.

How to book a Candlelight Processional dining package

1. Pick the date first. The narrator is fixed by the date. Use the schedule above.
2. Book the package, not the restaurant. Search for the Candlelight Processional Dining Package on Disney's site or in the My Disney Experience app. A standard table at Biergarten is not a package and comes with no seat at the show. This is the most expensive mistake people make.
3. Check all three shows and both meals. A restaurant that is full for dinner and the 6:30 show may be open at lunch for the same show.
4. Try another party size. See Garden Grill and Chefs de France above.
5. Have a card ready. Disney requires a credit card guarantee to hold the reservation. Our Disney dining cancellation policy guide explains what that means if your plans change.

Bookings for 2026 opened on October 14, and Disney releases dining reservations 60 days ahead, so the whole run has been on sale since October 31. For 14 of the 16 show dates from December 15 to 30, we recorded the first seats at 6:00 AM Eastern, exactly 60 days out. The full booking rules are in our Disney World dining reservations guide.

On the day: collect your seating badge at the restaurant after your meal. Package guests enter the theatre through their own queue. Seating in the package section is first come, first served, so your seat is guaranteed but its location is not. Arrive early if you care where you sit.

Sold out? How seats come back

A full night is not a closed night. People cancel, and those seats go straight back on sale. For November 27 to December 25, in the seven days before our snapshot:

So the seats exist. The problem is being there in the seven minutes they last. Over the past two weeks they surfaced at every hour of the day, most often in the early afternoon and between 7 and 9 PM Eastern.

Reopenings in that week, by narrator:

For a family of four, Josh Groban and Jason Kelce were the hardest nights of the run: four and nine reopenings in a week.

Catching a package when one comes back

Seats that last seven minutes are not found by refreshing. A PixieWire alert set from the Candlelight Processional Dining Package page covers every participating restaurant and all three shows for your date, or only the restaurants you choose, and messages you when a seat opens so you can book it with Disney. The alert is the paid part of PixieWire, $4.99 for one and never a subscription. The schedule, prices and counts on this page are free.

Candlelight Processional standby line

You can watch from standby. Seating is first come, first served, and Disney says it depends on availability because capacity is limited. For well-known narrators and for the first two shows, plan on queuing well ahead of show time. The 8:00 PM show is usually the easiest of the three for standby.

Two details from people who have queued for it. Undercover Tourist puts the standby line on the Italy side of the theatre and the package entrance on the left. Disney Tourist Blog, whose author has attended since 2007, says the theatre holds more than a thousand people with half to three-quarters of the seats kept for packages, and that the walkway behind the theatre is a fallback view when standby fills.

Two ways to improve your odds without booking ahead:

• Regal Eagle Smokehouse same-day package. $43 per adult, bought at the restaurant that day, with a guaranteed seat at a show that evening. Ask early in the day.
• Go after Christmas. December 26 to 30 had hundreds of package times open when we checked, which also tells you where the crowds are thinner.

Other holiday dining worth planning around

The Candlelight Processional is one of several Disney World shows you can guarantee with a meal. Our Disney World dining packages page lists them all, including the Fantasmic! Dining Package at Hollywood Studios. At Magic Kingdom, the Christmastime Fireworks Dessert Parties at Tomorrowland Terrace and Plaza Garden are on our fireworks dining page.

If your trip is earlier in the year, the same theatre hosts the Eat to the Beat concerts during the Food & Wine Festival. See our Eat to the Beat dining packages guide.

Everything else that is on for the season is in our Christmas at Disney World 2026 guide. At Magic Kingdom, our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2026 guide has the three nights with tickets left and how dining works on a party night. Arriving for the holiday weekend? Our Thanksgiving dinner at Disney World guide lists every turkey dinner for November 26 and which restaurants still have a table.

Sources and checks

• Dates, show times and narrators: Disney's EPCOT holiday entertainment page and the Disney Parks Blog narrator announcement.
• Restaurants, prices and package rules: Disney's Candlelight dining packages page, read November 10, 2026.
• Open seats, how fast they go and which shows pair with which meals: PixieWire's availability tracking. The method is on our how we measure availability page.

Availability on this page is re-read each week until the last show on December 30.