EPCOT Festival of the Holidays 2026: Dates, Food and What Is On

EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays runs from 27 November to 30 December 2026, opening the day after Thanksgiving and finishing the day before New Year’s Eve.

It is included with normal park admission, which makes it the cheapest way to see Disney World at Christmas. The food is charged separately.

The basics

Dates confirmed by Disney. Verified 18 August 2026.

What is on

• Candlelight Processional. A celebrity narrator reads the Christmas story with a mass choir and a full orchestra, nightly at the America Gardens Theatre. This is the part people build trips around, and it has its own guide.
• Joyful! A Celebration of the Season. Gospel, jazz and R&B, covering Christmas and Kwanzaa traditions.
• Voices of Liberty Dickens Carolers. The American Adventure a cappella group in Victorian dress, singing traditional carols.
• World Showcase Holiday Storytellers. Each pavilion presents how its country marks midwinter, daily. Ten storytellers take part, from Mexico and Norway through to the UK and Canada, including a Hanukkah storyteller between Morocco and France.
• Holiday Kitchens. Seasonal food booths through World Showcase, in the same format as Food and Wine.

The Cookie Stroll is worth planning

Buy a cookie at five participating Holiday Kitchens, collect a stamp for each in the Festival Passport, and the completed passport earns a bonus treat.

It is a gimmick, and it works anyway. It routes you around World Showcase in a loop with a reason to stop every few hundred metres, which is a much easier sell to children than a lap of the lagoon on its own.

What Disney has not announced yet

Disney named the 2026 Candlelight Processional narrators on 6 October 2026, and dining packages open for booking on 14 October (checked 13 October 2026). Still to come:

• The narrator for 27 and 28 November, which Disney lists as to be announced.
• Dining package prices and the restaurant list. Disney says the packages open for booking on 14 October 2026, with reserved seating and a meal at select EPCOT restaurants.
• The Foodie Guide. Disney publishes the Holiday Kitchen menus closer to opening, so the number of booths and what they serve is not yet known.

Anywhere quoting 2026 booth menus before Disney’s Foodie Guide appears is guessing. Narrators can change, so check Disney’s list again before booking a dining package around a particular performer.

How it fits with the rest of the Christmas season

Three separate things run at Disney World in December, and only one of them is free.

If the budget is tight, this is the one to keep. You get a full evening of Christmas entertainment for the price of a park ticket you were buying anyway. Very Merry and Jollywood Nights both need a second ticket on top.

Practical notes

• Budget for the booths. The festival is free, the Holiday Kitchens are not. Two adults grazing across World Showcase will spend more than a table service meal would have cost.
• The last week is the busiest of the year. Christmas to New Year is peak crowding at EPCOT. If you have a choice, go in the first week of December instead.
• Candlelight seating is the constraint. Everything else at the festival is walk-up. The Processional is the only part that needs a plan.
• It ends on 30 December. If you are travelling for New Year itself, the festival will have closed. Jollywood Nights runs to 5 January and is the only holiday party still going, though Disney’s holiday decorations stay up to 6 January 2027, according to the Disney Parks Blog.

See the full events calendar, the EPCOT guide, and our best time to visit guide for how December compares to the rest of the year.

Sources

• Disney Parks Blog, 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays dates and details. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
• Walt Disney World, Candlelight Processional and holiday festivities at EPCOT. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
• Disney Parks Blog, EPCOT Holiday Traditions and Candlelight Processional Narrators Announced. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
• Disney Parks Blog, Holidays at Disney World Christmas Lights Deals and More. Retrieved 13 October 2026.

We check every date and price against Disney’s own listings before publishing, and say so plainly when Disney has not announced something. How we work is set out in our editorial standards.

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