Candlelight Processional and Dining Packages

[kace08]

I've never been to this event in Epcot, but I wonder if it is really necessary to buy a dining package to get a seat? We'll be there in early December when crowds are supposedly pretty light. There are 3 shows each night. Are any of them less busy? I have children that are 6 and 10 and waiting in line is not their thing, especially for this type of show which is not very important to them. My husband will be with us too. Is this the queue set up in a way that I can get in line and have him join me with the kids later right before they open the doors? Do you have any tips?
Thank you!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

1. If you get in line and then bring in 3 others expect a LOT of non Christmas spirit statements to be thrown at you. It's INCREDIBLY hard to get in this and the CMs try to count and let people know where they are on the odds. So people playing the "wait here's my entire family" game get trashed. Plus you will be pushing people farther back in the seating and they may not like that. I would not suggest you try it.
2. We are back to it's an incredibly long line. For example, some people really wait through one whole show just to get a seat for the 2nd. Disney sells LOTS AND LOTS of Dining packages (Heck you can get breakfast packages this year) so there are not a lot of standby seats. All shows are popular.

I would suggest the package if you really want to go and don't want to stand in line. Even then if you want an upfront seat you will need to be in line, but if you just want in the theatre you can show later.

 

[kace08]

Thanks for the warnings. I want to go, but where in the theater isn't important to me. If we get in line maybe a half hour before the show starts on a weeknight, will that be enough to just get in? As I said before, my kids could care less, but since it is my first visit during the holidays, I want to experience it. In addition, my family just isn't a foodie family. They are all picky eaters including my husband and to know that they won't enjoy the meal (which really irks me), I just can't justify any special dining.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Thanks for the warnings. I want to go, but where in the theater isn't important to me. If we get in line maybe a half hour before the show starts on a weeknight, will that be enough to just get in? As I said before, my kids could care less, but since it is my first visit during the holidays, I want to experience it. In addition, my family just isn't a foodie family. They are all picky eaters including my husband and to know that they won't enjoy the meal (which really irks me), I just can't justify any special dining.

In my experience if you get there half an hour before the first show you probably have the best shot at getting in, but I think a lot depends. Who is your narrator? If it's a popular one than I don't think it will work. I was there one year for Neil Patrick Harris (who did an AMAZING job) Literally standby people started camping out at least 2 hours before his first show. And the standby line wandered back past Italy!

Now I have heard that for less popular people you can show up as it starts and be in the very back, but I don't recall seeing that the past few years when I was there.

 

[kace08]

In my experience if you get there half an hour before the first show you probably have the best shot at getting in, but I think a lot depends. Who is your narrator? If it's a popular one than I don't think it will work. I was there one year for Neil Patrick Harris (who did an AMAZING job) Literally standby people started camping out at least 2 hours before his first show. And the standby line wandered back past Italy!

Now I have heard that for less popular people you can show up as it starts and be in the very back, but I don't recall seeing that the past few years when I was there.

Wow! Fortunately we won't be there during a Neil Patrick Harris Week In fact the narrator is TBA. Perhaps we'll just take our chances. We'll be going on a Wednesday night. Does it matter at all if it isn't a weekend? I'll be sure to try to catch the first show!

 

[P00H1010]

We were there for the 1st time last year for Christmas events. We were wondering the same thing and was glad we went for the package.

Our trip was Nov 29th-Dec 4th. The narrator for us was Neil Patrick Harris who is normally quite popular for this event so I have heard. Early-mid afternoon while walking through World Showcase the standby line of people for the 1st show (5pm show) was already back to Italy. We had a lunch at Biergarten at 2:25 for our package. We had to wait approx. 15 minutes to be seated and by time we got done and walked over to the pavilion it was 4 something. At that time they had already let people in and most of the pavilion was filled with people. We were still able to get in but did find it challenging to find a place to sit (its just the 2 of us).

So with our experience my advice would be....if you really want to see it, do the dining package. If you want the first show, do a earlier lunch rather than the later lunch that we did so that it isn't so hard to find seating. If you do not want to do the dining package pick up food in World Showcase to take it with you to the pavilion. We saw a lot of people who were already seated that had to go containers.

 

[DebbieB]

Last year I happened to walk by on a Thursday night at the beginning of December and the 8:15 show had a short line about 20 minutes before. I got in line and got right in, got a seat about 3/4 of the way back. It was not a well known narrator - Ana Gasenger (?). I've found the same on other trips, midweek and less known narrator = shorter line.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

Thanks for the warnings. I want to go, but where in the theater isn't important to me. If we get in line maybe a half hour before the show starts on a weeknight, will that be enough to just get in? As I said before, my kids could care less, but since it is my first visit during the holidays, I want to experience it. In addition, my family just isn't a foodie family. They are all picky eaters including my husband and to know that they won't enjoy the meal (which really irks me), I just can't justify any special dining.

Truth: we've been the the CP before - both using a dining package and being in line for SB. I can enjoy the music and atmosphere well enough from outside the theater. We plan on getting an early QS meal at the America Pavilion and enjoying the first show from the outside QS tables. It will be a limited view and the music will be mixed with dining etc people noise, but we won't have a long wait in line and we can fidget and snack. We haven't done this before, so it may be a bad idea; but we've heard the show just fine from the walkway outside the theater before. We know it will be a watered down version of the show compared to what we'd experience in the theater, but we're willing to try it. YMMV

 

[kace08]

Last year I happened to walk by on a Thursday night at the beginning of December and the 8:15 show had a short line about 20 minutes before. I got in line and got right in, got a seat about 3/4 of the way back. It was not a well known narrator - Ana Gasenger (?). I've found the same on other trips, midweek and less known narrator = shorter line.

I'll be there this Thursday. Does anyone know how crowds have been this year? Is the 8:15 show still the best of the 3 for crowds? Thanks