Choosing Our 2026 Candlelight Processional Night at EPCOT

Every year, we look at the narrator list for the Candlelight Processional, the nightly Christmas-story concert at EPCOT, and find two or three dates that make the choice difficult. This year, we have several names we would be happy to build an EPCOT evening around.

Gary Sinise is the old favorite. Whoopi Goldberg is one of my favorite comedians, though Candlelight is a reverent telling of the Christmas story and I am not expecting her stand-up act to arrive with her. My husband is a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, which puts Lacey Chabert into the conversation immediately.

Then there are the rest of the possibilities. Five of the narrators are first-timers, and the first two nights have no narrator named yet. Picking the person is only half the decision. We also have to decide whether a guaranteed seat is worth buying a dining package.

The 2026 narrator schedule

The Candlelight Processional runs from November 27 through December 30 at the America Gardens Theatre. Performances are scheduled nightly at 4:45, 6:30 and 8 p.m. Disney describes the production as a retelling of the Christmas story with a celebrity narrator, a 51-piece orchestra, the Voices of Liberty and a choir of more than 150 singers.

• November 27–28: To be announced
• November 29–December 1: Gary Sinise
• December 2–3: Benjamin Bratt, appearing for the first time
• December 4–5: Whoopi Goldberg
• December 6–7: Robin Roberts, appearing for the first time
• December 8–9: Jason Kelce, appearing for the first time
• December 10–12: Neil Patrick Harris
• December 13–14: Josh Groban, appearing for the first time
• December 15–16: Lauren Daigle
• December 17–19: Ralph Macchio
• December 20–21: Henry Winkler
• December 22–23: Lacey Chabert, appearing for the first time
• December 24–25: Jodi Benson
• December 26–27: Simu Liu
• December 28–30: Eva Longoria

Disney says narrators and dates can change. No narrator has been named yet for November 27–28.

Three names keep coming up at our house

Gary Sinise has become part of the tradition for many returning guests. His dates, November 29 through December 1, come early enough in EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays, the park’s seasonal celebration, to avoid the final holiday rush, and he is the comfortable choice for us, the narrator we already know can carry the room.

Disney lists Whoopi Goldberg for December 4 and 5. She has one of the most recognizable voices on television. The narrator reads a set biblical story, and the music does much of the emotional work.

Lacey Chabert appears December 22 and 23. Those dates are close enough to Christmas to make the whole evening feel different. They are also likely to bring Christmas-week crowds. For my husband, the Hallmark movie connection may settle the question before I finish comparing restaurants.

Our earlier essay on why the Candlelight Processional still undoes me covers the feeling of the show.

What the dining package buys

Disney’s dining package combines a meal with a badge for a guaranteed seat at one Candlelight performance on the same day. Most participating restaurants include an entrée and dessert plus a beverage. Spice Road Table uses a shared-plates menu instead.

Package guests enter through a separate queue and are guaranteed a seat in the reserved section. The individual seats inside that section are still first-come. A package means we will not be shut out when the theater fills.

Theme park admission is not included. Tax and gratuity are not included in the prices below. Disney says reservations open October 14.

2026 dining-package prices

Restaurant	Adult	Child ages 3–9
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall	$87	$59
Biergarten Restaurant	$75	$40
Chefs de France	$89	$37
Coral Reef Restaurant	$82	$34
Garden Grill, breakfast	$73	$46
Garden Grill, lunch or dinner	$86	$55
La Crêperie de Paris	$59	$31
La Hacienda de San Angel	$86	$37
Le Cellier Steakhouse	$109	$44
Nine Dragons Restaurant	$70	$30
Regal Eagle Smokehouse, same day only	$43	$26
Rose & Crown Dining Room	$68	$31
Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya	$85	$40
Spice Road Table	$63	$26
Teppan Edo	$89	$40
Tutto Italia Ristorante	$85	$36
Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria	$71	$33

Prices are per person, and the adult price applies to ages 10 and up. Regal Eagle Smokehouse sells its package only on the day you eat there, so it cannot be booked ahead. For two adults, that means $86 at Regal Eagle or $218 at Le Cellier, both before tax and tip. The range is wide because the meal is part of the purchase.

Standby is still a real option

The dining package is not required. Disney also admits guests from a standby queue as space allows. The trade is time and uncertainty. A popular narrator during Christmas week can draw a line long before showtime, and waiting for one performance can take a large piece out of an EPCOT day.

The package makes the most sense to me when the narrator is the reason for choosing the date, the restaurant is somewhere we already want to eat and the cost fits the day we planned. It makes less sense when we are flexible about the narrator or would rather eat our way through the Festival of the Holidays food booths.

After the 4:45 show there is time for dinner. The 6:30 show fits between an early meal and the rest of the evening. If we take the 8 p.m. show, we get most of the day in the park first.

The decision we still have to make

Booking opens October 14, before the Festival of the Holidays begins, so we have to choose before we can see how busy it is.

I suspect the restaurant will settle a tie. If we can match one of those narrators with a dinner we would have chosen anyway, the guaranteed seat becomes easier to justify.