2026 Guide to EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays

EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays takes place November 27 to December 30, 2026. This guide covers everything you need to know about this special festival.

In this post: 

• Holiday Kitchens
• Storytellers & Other Entertainment
• Meet Santa & Santa Goofy
• Cookie Stroll
• Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition Scavenger Hunt
• Voices of Liberty
• Candlelight Processional Standby and Dining Packages
• Behind the Seeds Glimmering Greenhouse
• Ride Overlays
• Spaceship Earth Beacons of Magic

Holiday Kitchens

The food! The food is reason enough to visit EPCOT during Festival of the Holidays! With more than 19 kitchens spread out around the park, you’ll be able to find lots of tempting dishes. Nearly every single dish (with the exception of some poutine plates and funnel cake creations) will qualify as 1 Disney Dining Plan Snack Credit.

Kitchen menus typically have holiday dishes from around the world. A few regular stars that are not to be missed include:

• The New Year Celebration Soba from Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen in the China Pavilion
• Potato Latkes from L’Chaim
• Beef Bourguignon from Yukon Holiday Kitchen

Note: The holiday kitchens do not accept cash.

We’ll post the 2026 menus as soon as they’re available. For now, have a stroll through the menus from last year:

2025 EPCOT Festival of the Holiday Menus 

Holiday Storytellers & Other Entertainment

The Storytellers are one of the best parts of this festival! They include:

• Mexico Pavilion – Las Posadas Celebration
• Norway Pavilion – A Mischievous Magical Barn Santa
• China Pavilion – Chinese Lion Dancer
• Italy Pavilion – La Befana
• Japan Pavilion – Daruma Storyteller
• Between the Morocco and France Pavilions – Hanukkah Storyteller
• France Pavilion – Père Noël
• United Kingdom Pavilion – Father Christmas
• Canada Pavilion – Canadian Holiday Voyageurs

Each storyteller performance is about 15 minutes and they’ll run multiple times a day. We’ll post performance schedules here once they are released.

Joyful! A Celebration of the Season is an ensemble performance with Gospel, R&B, and holiday songs celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa. There are multiple performances each day at the CommuniCore Plaza Stage.

Meet Santa and Santa Goofy

You’ll be able to meet Santa at Festival of the Holidays…

… and Santa Goofy! We’d recommend making time for both just to be sure your Christmas wish list is covered. Each Santa will have a posted schedule each day.

Cookie Stroll

The Holiday Cookie Stroll is an excellent way to get rewarded for eating cookies. Grab a Festival Passport when you enter EPCOT, then purchase 5 qualifying cookies and receive a prize!

Read our full guide on How to Complete the Festival of the Holidays Cookie Stroll right here!

Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt is based on the Disney’s 2017 short film, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. If you haven’t already, we suggest watching this 28 minute film to understand the significance of the “traditions” scattered across EPCOT. Olaf is his usual hilarious self as he searches for new holiday traditions for the Frozen sisters to adopt as their own.

The scavenger hunt map is $11.99 before tax and Annual Passholder discount. There is one prize per map purchased and redemption is allowed at any time. We’ll post prizes here as soon as they are released!

Voices of Liberty

The a cappella group, Voices of Liberty, will switch from their standard patriotic tunes to holiday favorites during Festival of the Holidays. Check them out in the rotunda inside the American Adventure in World Showcase. Showtimes will be available on the TouringPlans Lines app and the My Disney Experience app.

Candlelight Processional Standby and Dining Packages

The Candlelight Processional is a celebrity narrator-led recitation of the story of Christmas accompanied by a choir and an orchestra. There are three performances each night of the Festival and admission is included with your EPCOT ticket.

See the 2026 Celebrity Narrators here

If you’re looking for guaranteed seats for a particular narrator, you’ll want to book a Candlelight Processional Dining Package! You can read all about those and how to book one right here. 

Behind the Seeds Glimmering Greenhouse

This special after-dark walking tour of the Living with the Land greenhouses is only offered during EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays! Reservations are now open ~ you can find all of the details here. 

If you aren’t able to manage the walking tour, you can ride Living with the Land after dark to enjoy the greenhouse all decked out in holiday lights! It’s truly a spectacular sight so don’t skip this one!

Ride Overlays

There are a few holiday overlays in EPCOT:

• Living with the Land: You’ll be able to see a bit of holiday decor if you take this cruise during the day, but after dark is when this ride is really going to shine! Make time for at least one spin if you’re in EPCOT during Festival of the Holidays.
•  Guardians of the Galaxy: From November 25, 2026 to January 6, 2027, Guardians will have holiday music including:
  • “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams
  • “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
  • “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses
• Journey Into Imagination With Figment & the Figment Meet & Greet at ImageWorks: See Figment in his holiday sweater on the ride and snap a photo with him in the same festive jumper as you exit!

Spaceship Earth Beacons of Magic

We firmly believe that the lights on Spaceship Earth was the best thing to come out of Disney World’s 50th Anniversary and Beacons of Magic drives that home night after night. Our team was clear on the other side of World Showcase near the Italy Pavilion when the Spaceship Earth lit up for the first time during park hours and the sound of the gasps and cries of joy still give us chills. Sit a while in front of Spaceship Earth during Festival of the Holidays and have a long weep as you bask in her light. There are PhotoPass Photographers stationed all around the fountain and entrance area, so get your shot before you have puffy happy-cry eyes!

We’ll update all of the information on this guide as the season moves on, so be sure to check back. Thank you for reading!