Disney has started naming the celebrity narrators for this year’s Candlelight Processional at EPCOT, and the early list leans on familiar Disney faces. The announcement, reported by Mickey Visit, covers first-time narrators and returning favourites, but it is only a partial roster so far.
Who is on the list
The lineup includes two Disney Princess voices: Auli’i Cravalho, who voices Moana, and Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel. Simu Liu, who plays Shang-Chi and appears in Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in theaters December 18, is also in. So is Lacey Chabert, the lead in the first Hallmark Christmas movie set at Disney World, airing November 28. Robin Roberts and Whoopi Goldberg join Benson as the three Disney Legends among the narrators, each with decades of work for the company. One of the most popular podcast hosts in the world is on the bill too.
Two sets of dates have been released. Gary Sinise takes November 29 and 30 and December 1. Sinise has a small piece of EPCOT history: he starred in a now-defunct version of the preshow for Mission: SPACE. Neil Patrick Harris narrates December 10, 11 and 12.
What to expect at the show
The Candlelight Processional is a Christmas pageant in which a celebrity narrator reads the traditional story of Jesus’s birth. EPCOT’s Voices of Liberty perform Christmas songs alongside dozens of Disney cast members from across the parks and a 50-piece orchestra.
It plays in the outdoor American Gardens Theatre three times a night, at 4:45 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., during the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, which runs November 27 through December 30, 2026. The festival also brings specialty food booths, a Christmas lights overlay on Living with the Land and live storytellers sharing cultural traditions in each World Showcase pavilion.
Nobody buys a ticket for the show. It comes with park admission, and seating is first come, first served through a standby line. The only guaranteed seat is through a dining package, with reservations for 2026 packages opening October 14.
