Candlelight Processional

The last time I saw the CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL, I was performing in it. This is well over a decade… Or maybe just a decade ago. The tree was higher then, and me, being as tall as I am, got to be the 2^nd branch from the star.
But I digress. I didn’t even know that CP was still going on this week, so I was happily surprised when the familiar strains of Handel’s hallelujah began to play and I started to sing i turn. Old habits die hard.
Ms. Amy Grant was tonights storyteller and her voice rang out strong as she told the story of the Virgin birth and how we might all be saved.

This was my first year attending the Candlelight Processional and I absolutely loved it even though I was stuck in the rain! I booked the dinner package that goes along with one of the three show times and I’m really glad I did! The dinner package guarantees you a seat in the theater which is necessary because of how popular this show is. I got to the theater 30 minutes prior to it starting and found it already packed. The rows under the stage overhang are reserved for another type of group so the guaranteed seats for the dinner package is every other row but those under the overhang and the last four or five rows. Those last rows are all that’s open for general admission so good luck.
The show is made up of a small orchestra, a choir, the Voices of Liberty (the vocal members from the pre-​show in the American Adventure), and a celebrity narrator. The narrator tells the nativity story and in between sections of the story the choir and orchestra perform hymns that accompany the story. It was so beautiful and very moving! It was an absolute delight hearing hymns that are not often performed or heard anymore during the Christmas season. I loved that everyone in the theater stood for the last song ‘Hallelujah”.
The show runs for a total of 45 minutes. Our narrator was Neil Patrick Harris and he was phenomenal!!! He said it was his 8^th year narrating the show and it had become a Christmas tradition for his family. He bopped along with the music and sang a number of songs with the choir. He enunciated and put special emphasis where it was needed. I’m so glad this was my first show and I will definitely do this again next year.

If you’re looking for an awe inspiring family music show at Christmastime, and at the heart of Happiest Place on Earth? This is your show! Right at the American Pavilion stage in the middle of the World Showcase at EPCOT, the Florida Orchestra and choir provided an amazing sound for all our favorite holiday tunes.
It was an enjoyable 30 – 40 minute show with a heartfelt narration from two-​time Tony Award winning actress Chita Rivera!
Awesome show to enjoy with a glass of wine or hot cocoa before the fireworks!

I’m a huge Candlelight Processional fan. I find Candlelight to be different than most of the other holiday offerings at our local theme parks. It simply relies on a beautiful setting, fabulous music and the telling of the Christmas story.
Essentially, the Candlelight Processional is the telling of the Christmas story, narrated by a celebrity narrator. The story is supported by a beautiful choir, typically comprised of members of a Cast choir (who fill the Christmas tree shaped risers) as well as visiting high school, college and church choirs and a full orchestra. As the narrator reads the story, there are pauses to the story with beautiful Christmas music featuring the choir and orchestra. The Voice of Liberty, a very popular year-​round musical act at Epcot, lead the choir and they are fantastic.
There are typically three shows a night at 5PM, 6:45PM and 8:15PM. All shows tend to draw a crowd. There is an option of booking a Candlelight Processional dining package, which guarantees you seating for a particular show if you dine at certain Epcot restaurants. Many people utilize this package, so those with guaranteed seating do end up taking up a lot of the theater. If you choose to use the standby line, which I do as the dining package can be a bit pricey, make sure to get in line early! My friend and I usually get dinner from a quick service spot and bring our food in line while we wait.
This year, I saw Neil Patrick Harris and Joe Morton (Papa Pope from Scandal!) as celebrity narrators. It’s neat to see the different styles of the narrators as well as see celebrities take part in something relatively intimate for a theme park setting.
Such a beautiful annual event!

My office decided to go to EPCOT for a work outing. We found out about the Candlelight Processional dinner package and let me tell you, this is definitely the way to go. With the dinner package, you have guaranteed seating to see the processional in the theatre. The line for those who purchased the dinner package was really, really long. I think that it stretched to Morocco. There is a line that you can stand in if you didn’t purchase the dinner package, however it is not guaranteed and that line was really long, too.
We made a reservation ahead of time at Biergarten and when we paid, the restaurant gave us our tickets to the show. We decided on going to this only about 2 weeks in advance and most of the restaurants were already booked. I would recommend planning and making your reservation much more in advance.
We got in line and it moved pretty quickly. The theatre is composed of a series of really long benches, rather than individual seating. The selection closest to the stage is all reserved seating, and despite the long line, we still found seating in the 2^nd row of the second section. I think that no matter where you sit in the theatre you will still have a good view.
The concert itself was interesting. There is a celebrity of some sort reading a line or two of the Christmas story and then the chorus and orchestra perform a song. They go back and forth until the Christmas story is completed. This was a nice performance but I don’t think that I would necessarily go out of the way to see this again because it’s not really my type of show.

My husband and i have gone the past two holiday seasons to watch this show because the first time we went it was just amazing. I love the fact that this experience is available, and the first year we did the dining experience with it so we could get advanced seating which i recommend for the second time we didn’t do the dining experience and just went at the last minute and we ended up sitting with a tree in the middle of our view and it was not as awesome as the first. The first time we went though was December 2012 and my husband surprised me for our 6 mo wedding anniversary with this because Jodi Benson was the guest narrator and she is my favorite, I am a big little mermaid fan to where it was the theme of our wedding and as soon as he heard she was coming he knew that this would be a great present! Needless to say the dinner was great, but seeing Jodi Benson sing and do the story of Christmas with a choir was by far the best experience for me plus her closing the night with a little mermaid reference was the best! The second time we went was December 2013 and I was sad that last season Jodi was not a guest narrator so we went at the last minute to see Sigourney Weaver, and the show was great as well, but I loved the Jodi Benson one better out of pure bias though =). If you are around Disney during the holidays i recommend catching this show because the choir is amazing whether it be the cast choir that is performing that evening or they also have visiting high school choirs, it is great and there is always a long list of celebrity narrators and from what I hear all of them are amazing so just pick who you want if you have the choice!

What a fantastic Christmas time experience! For those that don’t know, the Candlelight Processional is a concert and reading of the Christmas Story. There is a huge choir, somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 – 300 people, and an orchestra. When I was there Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator. It was such a great experience. The music was beautiful and bookended by a great day at Epcot and the Illuminations show, this was such a magical day. The performance is free, but if you want a decent seat you either need to wait in line for over an hour or get a preferred ticket as part of a dinner promotion at certain restaurants. Mind you the meal promotion is pricey, we went to Tapan Edo in Japan and it was around $ 80/​person. For a one time thing, it’s worth it, just to not have to wait in line. BTW, if you have the special promotional ticket, don’t bother waiting in the ticket line, just wait for everyone in the ticket line to go in the then enter, you’ll still get a good seat. Not front row, but unless you’re a huge fan of the celebrity host you shouldn’t notice much difference in your experience. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

I had not expected while at Epcot to be able to listen to the Christmas story being read from the bible by a random celebrity (the Desperate Housewives plumber– which was a bit odd), while listening to beautiful carols being sung by a large choir, serenaded by a full Orchestra, for no extra charge! Amazing! I guess you can avoid waiting in line by paying extra to get a special package which includes dinner for one of the 3 set times the performance is done each day during the Christmas season. We just went to the early showing 30 minutes in advance, waited in a standby line, and got a seat without any problems.
I guess it is a tradition that was started by Walt Disney himself to put this on, and it is something they have been doing ever since. Very cool.

it was an ok event. disneyland does a better spectacular event bcause the procession walks down mainstreet to town square to form a human xmas tree.
epcot could do better by have half of the procession walk through half of the world showcase, ending up at the american pavilion.
the event would draw a bigger audience, just my 2 cents in addition to the $ 90 admission fee

Im amazed that Disney allows Christ’s birth to be a part of their Christmas celebration! God has been removed from so many aspects of our lives and to know he still exists at the most magical and happiest place on earth is amazing! He is after all the reason for the season. The choir was amazing and the orchestra was just as amazing. If you want to ensure that you can experience this wonderful show make sure you make dining reservations months in advance otherwise you’ll be waiting in line for up to 4 hours before the show starts and you still might not get a seat! And don’t forget the special celebrity narrator. Big plus!

The hype around the Epcot Candlelight Processional is epic. I read online that people had purchased their meal packages for this event beginning in July. Seriously? Here’s the scoop for those of you who have no idea why.
What: the Candlelight Processional is a musical performance consisting of choral singers (sometimes from local high schools, but also professionals), professional musicians and a narrator (changes every few days but is usually a celebrity actor or performer) who sing and narrate the story of Jesus’s birth.
Where: It takes place on a stage in front of the America pavilion in the world showcase of Epcot.
When: Three times every evening starting Black Friday through Christmas. First show is before the sun sets. The shows after the sun sets are far more spectacular.
Why the hype: The musicians are phenomenal and there’s something very inspiring and spiritual — regardless of religious preferences — about all the instruments and voices coming together for a massive live audience under twinkling lights. The brass section and their proclamatory notes are crisp and majestic. The whole experience is a family crowd-​pleaser.
How to see it: There are basically three ways. It’s free for all park ticket holders, but the seating is limited. The first is to purchase a meal package that will allow you VIP seating at the stage. These packages are for any of the Epcot restaurants and range in price from $ 25-​$ 85 pp depending on the place. Nope, it ain’t cheap. But if you gotta eat anyways, may as well get seating for free. The second way to see it is to line up in the first-​come, first-​serve seating line that starts up to an hour before the performance. I hate lines. The third way to see it is simply to stand behind the rope, preferably near an aisle so you have an unobstructed view. We did the latter and it was fine. We didnt mind standing, so obviously this isn’t for everyone. We staked out our spot about 20 min prior to the performance.
In all, this is a performance not to be missed if you’re visiting Epcot around Christmas. It reminds you of what Christmas is really about — a celebration of the birth of Jesus and a time for appreciating family. These two facts are all too frequently forgotten in the holiday haze.

Yes, a definite must-​see if you happen to be at the Disney World theme parks. The show is roughly an hour long and they have 3 shows a day usually (5, 6:45, 8:15). They have celebrities that range from classic Broadway stars, to TV stars, to country singers, that narrate the story of the birth (and life) of Jesus. The «tree» is made up of Disney cast members, and they are flanked on both sides by local church or school choirs. It’s really quite the spectacle.
Get there early as the place fills up rather quickly. A good estimate would be 1 ½ hours ahead of the showtime. More if it’s a very popular celebrity. For reference, when we got there at 6:45 for the 8:15 with Neil Patrick Harris narrating, we barely made it in.
You can also do the dinner-​and-​show package. It’s a set price and available at several (if not all) of the sit-​down restaurants in EPCOT. Make sure you reserve your seats in advance. If you decide to do this package, you will definitely get a seat at the show that you made the reservations for. You still need to wait in a line (albeit separate from the others), though, so don’t get there right at showtime expecting prime seats. As an added bonus, you also get a special viewing area for IllumiNations, EPCOT’s amazing fireworks show.

WARNING, I am a bit biased about this show since my daughter particpates. Having said that, I feel this is one of the greatest shows on Disney property. The best part about this show is it blends Disney talent, with stars and mixes in some local flavor with high school choruses.
The show is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is at EPCOT during the Christmas season.
The place gets PACKED once school gets out and the tourists start to flock down to Orlando. So, get in line EARLY if you want to see the show. There are typically three shows per evening.
If you want to get close to the singers, get the Candlelight Dinner package that includes seating in the front rows for the show. And the food is great.