Candlelight Processional Dining Packages To Begin Booking October 26

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

October 17, 2021

 

Following a COVID-19 hiatus last year, the much-loved Candlelight Processional is returning to the Festival of the Holidays at EPCOT. And one of the best ways to ensure your seat, especially for certain uber-popular celebrity narrators, is to grab dining reservations at one of the restaurants offering prix-fixe “Candlelight Processional Dining Packages.”

The “Candlelight Processional” is a Disney Parks tradition dating back to 1958 at Disneyland in California, and Disney World in Florida in 1971. The Processional started at the Magic Kingdom, but moved over to the America Gardens Theatre at EPCOT in 1994. The show features celebrity narrators retelling the traditional Christmas story, surrounded by a massed choir and a 50 piece orchestra. The Processional is free to park guests.

 

“Candlelight Processional Dining Packages” go on sale online on October 26, and will be available for four EPCOT restaurants, including:

 

• Biergarten (Germany Pavilion) - $62 per adult, $35 per child

• Coral Reef Restaurant (The Living Seas) - $74 per adult, $25 per child

• The Garden Grill Restaurant (The Land Pavilion) - $71 per adult, $46 per child

• The Rose and Crown Dining Room (United Kingdom Pavilion) - $63 per adult, $25 per child

 

Dining Packages include an appetizer, entrée and dessert, or one full buffet (depending on the restaurant), along with a non-alcoholic beverage. Guests booking the package also receive one guaranteed seat per person to the Candlelight Processional (held on the same day), and will be given Candlelight Seating badges at the restaurant after their meal. The badge will specify the date and show time they have reserved, and will allow guests to enter America Gardens Theatre in a separate queue. Dining Package guests will be seated on a first-come, first served basis. However, their seating is guaranteed.  

 

Guests without a dining package enter through a different queue, and are also seated on a first-come, first-served basis, but as seating in the amphitheatre is limited, seating for non-dining package guests is based on availability and not guaranteed.   

 

(In order to enter EPCOT for the Processional, both a theme park reservation and valid theme park admission are required. EPCOT admission is not included in the price of the dining package.)  

 

So far, Disney has announced the appearance of seven celebrity narrators, with additional narrators to be announced as schedules are confirmed.  The current line-up includes:

 

• Chita Rivera  (November 29 through December 1)

• Jodi Benson (December 2 through December 4)

• Alton Fitzgerald White (December 5 through December 7)

• Lisa Ling (December 11 through December 13)

• Steven Curtis Chapman (December 23 through December 25)

• Blair Underwood (December 26 through December 28)

• Pat Sajak (December 29 through December 30)

Celebrity narrators and dates are subject to change or cancellation without notice.

 

The Festival of the Holidays takes place at EPCOT from November 26-December 30, 2021. The Festival features traditions from around the world, holiday kitchen booths offering up a wide variety of seasonal flavors, costumed storytellers, and activities such as the Holiday Cookie Stroll, Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition Scavenger Hunt, and lots of live entertainment around World Showcase.

 

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

 

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