Epcot is our second favorite park at Walt Disney World during the Holidays. There’s so much to do, and see, plus you always have the chance of running into Neil Patrick Harris (SPOILER ALERT), which is an added bonus. Everything is festively decorated, and even the fountains dance on cue to Christmas tunes. Today, after returning from a weekend celebrating Christmas early at Epcot with our friends D3Tees, we’re breaking down what you can expect for the Holidays at Epcot this year, so you can plan your time (and stomach space), better.
Food and Beverage Booths:
It wouldn’t really be Epcot, if they didn’t utilize the chance to try to sell specialty food and beverage around World Showcase. And David and I wouldn’t be us, if we didn’t take them up on that offer, with cheer, and open wallets. We had a group of four eating that day, and several stand outs where the Stollen in Germany, the Eggnog Beer in America, and the Bouche Noel (which is actually INSIDE the French Bakery, not in a booth).
Holiday Storytellers:
The Holiday Storytellers are a tradition at The World Showcase in Epcot, celebrating the diversity of how each country has different customs this time of year. It’s hard to catch all of them, but some of my favorite are the Christmas Gnome in Norway, Father Christmas (who always seems like he’s been hitting the eggnog a little too hard) in The United Kingdom, and Pere Noel in France. When you enter the park, you can pick up a Times Guide to better plan when you can catch the Storytellers during your day at Epcot.
Holiday Illuminations Tag:
Holiday Illuminations is our favorite Christmas fireworks, because you get to see REGULAR Illuminations, and the Holiday part is added on as a tag at the end, as an extra ten minutes or so. It runs from November 25th, to December 25th. The best Illuminations viewing (in our opinion), is either from the FastPass+ viewing spots, or above the gift shop in Japan.
The CandleLight Processional:
Remember that Neil Patrick Harris spoiler I dropped earlier? WE’RE FINALLY GOING TO TALK ABOUT THAT! Every year, he’s one of the celebrity narrators, that comes and tells The Christmas Story of Jesus being born (before he did the whole redeeming the world thing 30 years later). The CandleLight Processional is accompanied by a mass orchestra and choir, and is well worth your time. You can read all about it here.
Decorations:
The Park is beautifully decorated, starting with Holiday character topiaries, when you enter the park, before Spaceship Earth. The parks main Christmas Tree is at the entrance of World Showcase, and has a ‘World’ theme. All the countries are beautifully decorated as well, in a way that reflects their culture.
Our favorite time of year to visit Epcot is during the Holidays (but we’re biased towards anything to do with Christmas. Some might consider Buddy the Elf my spirit animal.) We know you’ll love it just as much as we do.