Walt Disney World has set the 2026 Candlelight Processional narrator schedule, and a retired NFL center is on it. Jason Kelce will read the Christmas story at EPCOT’s America Gardens Theatre on December 8 and 9, one of three first-time narrators in a lineup that also brings in Robin Roberts and Lacey Chabert.
The full schedule covers 15 date blocks between November 27 and December 30, with two of them still listed as “To Be Announced”: December 2 and 3, and December 13 and 14. The show runs nightly at 4:45 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. throughout the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdventHealth.
The 2026 Candlelight Processional Narrators
- Nov. 27 and 28: Auli’i Cravalho
- Nov. 29 through Dec. 1: Gary Sinise
- Dec. 2 and 3: To Be Announced
- Dec. 4 and 5: Whoopi Goldberg
- Dec. 6 and 7: Robin Roberts (new)
- Dec. 8 and 9: Jason Kelce (new)
- Dec. 10 through 12: Neil Patrick Harris
- Dec. 13 and 14: To Be Announced
- Dec. 15 and 16: Lauren Daigle
- Dec. 17 through 19: Ralph Macchio
- Dec. 20 and 21: Henry Winkler
- Dec. 22 and 23: Lacey Chabert (new)
- Dec. 24 and 25: Jodi Benson
- Dec. 26 and 27: Simu Liu
- Dec. 28 through 30: Eva Longoria
Cravalho, the voice of Moana, opens the run on the festival’s first two nights. Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, holds Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and Eva Longoria closes out the season with the final three performances.
Three New Faces At The Podium
Kelce is the unexpected name. The former Philadelphia Eagles center now works for ESPN, a Disney company, on Monday Night Countdown, which gives Disney a direct line to him even if a football lineman is not the obvious pick to read the Nativity story.
Roberts anchors ABC’s Good Morning America, so her December 6 and 7 dates keep the microphone inside the company. Chabert’s December 22 and 23 slot comes a few weeks after Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True, the first Hallmark Channel movie made in partnership with Walt Disney World. The film was partly shot at the resort and premieres November 28 during Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas, so she will be on Hallmark screens and the EPCOT stage within a month of each other.
Dining Packages Open October 14
Seating for the show is first come, first served, and Disney warns it often fills up fast. The way around the line is a Candlelight Processional Dining Package, which pairs a meal at a participating EPCOT restaurant with a reserved seating badge for one of the three nightly performances. Packages cover breakfast, lunch or dinner depending on the restaurant, and include an entree and dessert or a buffet plus a beverage, alcoholic for guests 21 and over. Booking opens October 14, with adult prices running from $43 at Regal Eagle Smokehouse to $109 at Le Cellier Steakhouse across 17 participating locations. Disney still recommends arriving early for the best spot within the reserved section.
A 55 Year Tradition
This is the Candlelight Processional’s 55th year at Walt Disney World and its 32nd at EPCOT. Each performance brings together a 50-piece orchestra, the Voices of Liberty, a mass choir, and the night’s narrator for a program of Christmas carols and holiday standards.
The festival runs November 27 through December 30, the same window Disney confirmed when it laid out the full 2026 holiday season calendar earlier this year. Disney says the two open narrator dates will be filled in a later announcement.
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