Standby for Candlelight Processional changed!

[Dan Murphy]

....I too would love to hear people's experiences with the lesser known narrators at CP.

Over the past 15 years I have attended probably 20 CP events. Some were with well known narrators, some with lesser known. I never found a difference in any of them, they were all excellently narrated. Personally, I feel the narrators have a small portion of the presentation. I feel the choir and orchestra are a bigger part the the presentation. I never cared who was doing the reading.

 

[Disneylover99]

Over the past 15 years I have attended probably 20 CP events. Some were with well known narrators, some with lesser known. I never found a difference in any of them, they were all excellently narrated. Personally, I feel the narrators have a small portion of the presentation. I feel the choir and orchestra are a bigger part the the presentation. I never cared who was doing the reading.

Do you know which show of the day is typically the least/most crowded?

 

[Bronte]

THANKS !!!!
I am going to try to get the wrist bands on dec. 11th for the 8:15 show
Where do they hand them out and can I go get them for my family (4 adults) even if they are not all there with me (my daughters will be coming in at 5:00)

 

[yulilin3]

THANKS !!!!
I am going to try to get the wrist bands on dec. 11th for the 8:15 show
Where do they hand them out and can I go get them for my family (4 adults) even if they are not all there with me (my daughters will be coming in at 5:00)

Everyone has to be in line at whatever time they hand them out for the show you want, you have to be in the standby line (facing the theater to your far right)

 

[Bronte]

Gosh ... I will be there all morning/afternoon but their flight does no come in till 5:00. All the bands for the 8:15 show will probably be gone by that time. I guess we will just have to do the stand by line (they are big fans of battle star galactic and that is the last night for Olmos)

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do you know which show of the day is typically the least/most crowded?

I would say the first is the least crowded, some people prefer it to be dark. I would say the second is most crowded.

 

[justintime]

I would say at least an hour before. Or you will still have a seat but your family might need to be separated.

Are you suggesting an hour before because your response was for someone going on Christmas Eve, or would that apply to most nights? I'll be attending the 6:45 show on December 12 with Joe Morton as the narrator, and was wondering how early we should get in the package line to avoid being separated.

 

[jayohjayoh]

All I have to say is that if I purchased the dinner package for NPH on Sunday, and was that family who was STILL looking for seats when it started and ended up in the VERY LAST ROW behind all the standby people, I would definitely be getting a refund. That was absolutely ridiculous.

Sorry for the run on. LOL

Anywho, my friends were in line around 11am, they didn't take wristbands when offered because our whole party had not arrived yet. They ended up being about 3rd in line after the wristbands were given out so luckily we were still able to get a seat.

 

[MaumeeMom]

We didn't attend but I happened to be taking pics and waiting for kiddo on Saturday near the line when the CMs began handing out wristbands. Jodi Benson was the narrator that night. It was about 1:30 when they started handing out the wristbands and the CM said that they had 100 for each show to be handed out in order. So she had to hand out all 100 for the first show before she could give someone a band for the second. There was a family who wanted the second show because they had ADRs so the mom just kept letting people in front of them until the CM ran out of first show bands.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[Robo]

the CM said that they had 100 for each show to be handed out in order. So she had to hand out all 100 for the first show before she could give someone a band for the second.

There was a family who wanted the second show because they had ADRs so

the mom just kept letting people in front of them until the CM ran out of first show bands.

A good technique for all of the "I want a pass for a later performance" guests.

 

[larryz]

Prediction: Next year, CP will be an FP+ event...

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I had the dining package for when Whoopi was doing the CP. I got in the package line at 4pm and it was already backed up to Morocco.

Needless to say I ended up with an OK seat but I'd hoped for better. I still enjoyed CP (it was my first time) but I wished I'd listened to the person at the table next to me to go right from lunch (I finished lunch at 2:30p) to the dining package line for the 5pm show so I could've had a better seat.

Also - they barely let any standby folks in after they distributed the 100 wristbands - that theater was packed.

And they really need CM's directing traffic afterwards - it was a nightmare trying to get out of the America area - completely packed with people trying to get into the next show plus people just standing around blocking the walkways who wanted to hear the show. Plus people were trying to walk from one country to the next and were stuck - they couldn't move because of all the people.

I can't imagine how bad it would have been for NPH.

 

[csjordan]

Over the past 15 years I have attended probably 20 CP events. Some were with well known narrators, some with lesser known. I never found a difference in any of them, they were all excellently narrated. Personally, I feel the narrators have a small portion of the presentation. I feel the choir and orchestra are a bigger part the the presentation. I never cared who was doing the reading.

I have seen NPH years ago and just saw Jodi Benson a few weeks ago. I would say there was a big difference in the narration! While NPH was great, Jodi Benson as phenomenal! She was not only telling the story, she was FEELING it! She had her niece and family in from GA to celebrate the niece's cancer-free diagnosis! It was very moving. Something I won't forget!

 

[Disnsyncey]

we got in line for the 8:15 show for Sunday night with Joe Morton with our package tickets at about 7:30......we were in front of Japan at that time....we got a great seat, where we usually end up sitting (as compared to my past pictures and perspectives) second section, about 3rd row, in the middle.....

you will probably not be separated unless....well, you separate yourselves when getting into the theater......or show up really late after the standbys are all in....

by the way....Joe was GREAT!

 

[Disneylover99]

Got our standby tickets for the 5 o'clock show at about 1:30pm yesterday. Walked right in at 4:45. By passed both lines.

 

[selina4disney]

we got in line for the 8:15 show for Sunday night with Joe Morton with our package tickets at about 7:30......we were in front of Japan at that time....we got a great seat, where we usually end up sitting (as compared to my past pictures and perspectives) second section, about 3rd row, in the middle.....

you will probably not be separated unless....well, you separate yourselves when getting into the theater......or show up really late after the standbys are all in....

by the way....Joe was GREAT!

Have to agree, Joe was amazing! Enjoyed it so much!

 

[jaysmom4285]

Just chiming in with my CP experience. On Friday, the 12th, we got out of Via Napoli around 8:05 PM and noticed that the standby line for the 8:15 show was very short - it just extended down the wall and stopped short of where it turns back toward the lagoon. So we got in line and were admitted a few minutes later to good seats on the right side. The narrator was Edward James Olmos. On Thursday, the 18th, we checked around 6:30 to see what the 6:45 show looked like, and the line was just a little bit longer than it had been before. Again, we were admitted in a few minutes and had seats on the left side this time. Narrator was Anna Gasteyer. For both shows, I noted that people were still being admitted as the show was starting. This has been our general experience with CP. For the nights with narrators who aren't wildly popular, like Whoopi Goldberg or Neil Patrick Harris, we have rarely had an problem just getting in the standby line very near the time of the show and being admitted.

 

[Otter49]

Just chiming in with my CP experience. On Friday, the 12th, we got out of Via Napoli around 8:05 PM and noticed that the standby line for the 8:15 show was very short - it just extended down the wall and stopped short of where it turns back toward the lagoon. So we got in line and were admitted a few minutes later to good seats on the right side. The narrator was Edward James Olmos. On Thursday, the 18th, we checked around 6:30 to see what the 6:45 show looked like, and the line was just a little bit longer than it had been before. Again, we were admitted in a few minutes and had seats on the left side this time. Narrator was Anna Gasteyer. For both shows, I noted that people were still being admitted as the show was starting. This has been our general experience with CP. For the nights with narrators who aren't wildly popular, like Whoopi Goldberg or Neil Patrick Harris, we have rarely had an problem just getting in the standby line very near the time of the show and being admitted.

This has been our CP experience pretty much every year. Standby is very doable.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

On Saturday the 13th we got to the standby line at 1:40. There was one group in front of us who chose to stay in line till the first show. We got bands for the 5:00 show and had great seats--last row center. You do not get to choose seats but a cm leads the line and everyone fills one row then they fill the next and so forth.
On Wednesday we wanted to go to a later show and went to get wristbands shortly after 1:30. We could only get bands for the first show. The lady said to come back in an hour and they should be giving for the second show. We killed some time and came back over an hour later and she still had TONS of 5:00 bands and so did her coworker. They said Epcot was not crowded and we should be able to get in standby.
We left Epcot a few hours and came back for the last show. We lined up about 20 minutes prior and had amazing seats--the first row in the second section. In standby we got better seats than with the wristbands the other night.
In our days at Epcot, there was never a "line" of people waiting for the bands but more of a group walking up and getting the bands. Of course it could be much busier now
Both days there we told the cms how much we appreciated this new band policy. Hopefully it is done in future years.

 

[si-am]

Wow, this is crazy. It's been several years since I've seen CP, but I can't believe you now have to dedicate almost an entire day at the park to waiting in line for something or other!

We have always gotten the dining package, but even then we had to wait in line longer than I wanted to. Now it seems worse! Seems more convenient to just buy snacks at Liberty Inn and listen to the show from one of the patio tables. You can't hear the narration, but you can hear the music at least!