Anyone Purchase CP Package This Year? Question for You....

[JulieWent]

In the description of the Candlelight Processional Package, it says that if you purchase the package, you are guaranteed seating in the "first few rows." Does that mean that after your dinner you don't have to go stand in an hour long line to get in? (I'm worried that if I booked a 4:30 dinner seating for the 6:45 CP and then found that I should have been in line at 5:30 to get a seat.... You get the idea.) Do they really hold seats for people who have CP Packages?

Julie

(Thinking ahead for next year already!!!)

 

[paigevz]

we were late to ours..........well, not exactly late, but we didn't get there until 6:30 and it started at 6:45. I do know that we came from the Mexico side, and they said I had to go to the other side of the theater to enter........even though there was no line on the right side and people were just walking in.........I don't know if the left side gave me a better seat or not.......we were by the first trees in the open seating.........I liked our seats, except for a big pole down front that was a bit in the way. Our 2 year old wouldn't sit through it, and dh and I took turns watching from the rope barrier they had up after all the seats were taken. I did notice that eventually they stopped letting people in, right before the show, but then a line formed and a few minutes later, they brought a line of people in and seated them on the wall to the side of the theater. Later, I saw the people lined up for another show with their tickets, and it had about 30 min. to show time. I asked one of the women how long she'd been waiting and she said 30 min. So, she was going to have waited an hour to get in, and she was about 25 people back in line. The line (and this was for those WITH CP tickets) stretched all the way out of the American pavilion.............

 

[jaysmom4285]

Yes, they really do hold seats. The line for people with CP packages forms to the left of the theater, and the general admission line forms to the right. We got in line about 6 PM for our 6:45 show, mostly because we happened to be in the area. They started letting the reserved line in around 6:10 or 6:15. It isn't necessarily the first few rows (we were six or seven rows back), but the place isn't all that big. They know how many reserved tickets they sold and how many seats to hold. We saw people coming in from the reserved line just as the show started, after general admission peole had been seated, and they still got seats in the reserved section.

 

[WDWFAN9]

DH and I did CP for the first time this year. There were package holders waiting in line for the show as soon as the prior show was admitted. We got in line about 45 minutes before our show time and the line had already extended from the theatre to Morocco, with many more people lining up after us. The entire front section of the theatre was filled by time we made it in, we ended up to one side about 8 rows up in the main section. I wonder how many people in the stand-by line actually got a seat once the package holders were all seated. The show is absolutely amazing, and well worth the wait.

 

[JulieWent]

I guess I don't care if I sit in the front. I just want to make sure that my family (there's only three of us) will get in and be able to sit together if we show up maybe 20 minutes or so before the show (if we've paid for the CP, of course). The theatre is so compact and nice, being up front isn't really an issue. (We sat in the back last May and watched Woody Guthrie. It was a real treat.) My worry was that the theatre would be so full that people who had paid for the CP package would end up being turned away or standing, is all. Thanks for your responses!!!

Anyone go Christmas Eve? How hard was it to get reservations for this one?

Julie

 

[Paul Samanant]

We went on Christmas Eve this year. We called plenty early. I think that if you plan on going around Christmas in the future, you should reserve as soon as the allowable period commences.

As a note, the seating area is generally the first third or so of the theater - although if you prefer to sit farther back, you can do that as well (they let in CP guests first).

Also, this year, the very first few rows were a premium because there was light rain, and the first few rows are under cover. Not all CP guests were able to sit under that canopy.

Finally, during the period we were there, every sit down restaurant at Epcot was booked - so if you did not make priority seatings or CP in advance, you were out of luck.

 

[Feralpeg]

We did the dinner package and ended up in the front row. I wish we'd been back further. We were on the right side and I couldn't see Gary Senise at all except when he walked on and off stage. It was still a great show, but next time, I'm sitting further back so that I can see. I did get a really up close view of the back of one of the members of the orchestra!

 

[DebbieB]

We saw it on Dec 6th with Jim Caviezel with the package. We got in line about 6:00 for the 6:45 show. For the first time, we were able to get in the front section but over on the far left side. We actually preferred the second section that we had in prior years, closer to the middle. They have a rope up in the theater where to separate where the standbys can sit. It is usually about 1/2 to 3/4 back in the second section (I guess they vary it by the numbers of packages they sold for the particular show). We thought we had better seats when we saw the show standby later in the week. They were close to the back but they were in the center.

We are undecided about next year. If someone popular is narrating, we may buy the package (I heard the standby lines were long for Jim Caviezel). If not, we'll just do standby.

 

[paigevz]

we booked it with Garden Grill, as I thought the Christmas story followed by a character dinner would be a great Christmas Eve experience for my kids.................we booked just as soon as we knew what we wanted.........it was about 90 days out. However, we ate Le Cellier earlier in the week, and if we ever go again at Christmas and do CP again, I'll choose that one for our package. We had a great view, to the left side, about half way back, outside of the overhang, by some trees with twinkly lights........it was very nice.