EPCOT’s International Festival of the Holidays is a global celebration of the Season! The 2024 Festival of the Holidays is NOW running from November 29th through December 30th! In keeping with EPCOT tradition, this event begins the day after Thanksgiving.

During the Festival, guests can enjoy enhanced offerings around EPCOT’S World Showcase (and beyond) and experience holiday traditions from various cultures as expressed through decorations, stories, music, cuisine, and additional special events.

Click HERE to check out the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays Menus and Food Photos!

For many years, EPCOT’s celebration of the season was known as Holidays Around the World. It was an annual EPCOT tradition for years, and the offerings were expanded in 2016 with the addition of Holiday Kitchens.

The BEST of the FEST: Everything You NEED to Eat and Drink at the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays

Holiday Kitchens

Holiday celebrations the world over share something in common: a major aspect of the season is FOOD.

The food booths — referred to as Holiday Kitchens for this event — operate much like the Marketplace Booths for the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival.

Holiday Kitchens for 2024

American Holiday Table

Bavaria Holiday Kitchen

Chestnuts and Good Cheer

Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow

Favorites of Festivals Past

Holiday Hearth Desserts

Holiday Sweets and Treats

L’Chaim! Holiday Kitchen

Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen

Le Marche De Noel Holiday Kitchen

Mele Kalikimaka

Nochebuena Cocina

Shanghai Holiday Kitchen

Shi Wasu Holiday Kitchen

Swirled Showcase

Tangierine Cafe: Flavors of the Medina

Tuscany Holiday Kitchen

Yukon Holiday Kitchen 

MORE Festival of the Holidays Food Offerings

Navigating the Festival of the Holidays

When you enter the park, be sure to pick up a FREE Festival of the Holidays Passport.

It’s an easy-to-carry pocket guide to access all the Festival Offerings once you’re in EPCOT.

You’ll find them tucked in along with Park Maps at the main EPCOT entrance and at International Gateway (between the France at United Kingdom pavilions).

Click HERE to LOOK INSIDE the Festival of the Holidays Passport

There is also an interesting feature in the My Disney Experience app, too, that may be helpful to guests with food allergies or intolerances.

When you click the “View Allergy Friendly Menus,” you can find items that are friendly for guests with gluten/wheat, egg, soy, peanut/tree nut, milk, sesame, fish/shellfish and other allergies. (Please be aware that Disney states the following regarding the Global Marketplace Booths: “We use reasonable efforts in our food preparation and handling procedures to avoid the introduction of the most common allergens into your menu choices. While we take steps to prevent cross-contact, we do not have separate allergy-friendly kitchens and are unable to guarantee that a menu item is completely free of allergens.”)

Holiday Cookie Stroll

Cookie fans are gonna love this! The Holiday Cookie Stroll has become a favorite Festival tradition! To complete the cookie stroll, you’ll need to buy 5 cookies from ANY of the cookie stroll locations featured in the Festival Passport. When you buy a qualifying cookie, make sure to get the matching stamp in your passport to show you’ve made the purchase.

The entire list of options to choose from in 2024 is as follows:

• Spaceship Earth Tile Gingerbread Triangle at Experimental Prototype Cookies of Tomorrow
• Linzer Cookie at Bavaria Holiday Kitchen
• Snickerdoodle Cookie at American Holiday Table
• Black and White Cookie at L’Chaim! Holiday Kitchen
• Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie at Yukon Holiday Kitchen
• Coffee Mocha Cookie at Mele Kalikimaka Holiday Kitchen
• Cinnamon-Spiced Chocolate Crinkle Cookie at Nochebuena Cocina
• Holiday Sugar Cookie at Connections Café
• Peanut Butter Cookie with Festive Red & Green M&M’s Milk Chocolate Minis at Sunshine Seasons

Once you complete the Cookie Stroll, stop by Holiday Sweets and Treats to receive a Specialty Completer Prize when you present your fully stamped Festival Passport.

We love this tasty tradition!

Click HERE to JOIN US on the Cookie Stroll!

Candlelight Processional

Walt Disney World’s EPCOT has always been a beloved destination for guests visiting during the Holiday Season. The Candlelight Processional is an endearing, traditional way to celebrate the Christmas Story.

A celebrity narrator shares the Christmas story accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra and choir (composed of a Disney Cast Member choir along with an ever-changing group of guest choirs from around the country).

Three performances will take place each night at 5PM, 6:45PM, and 8:15PM. 

Candlelight Processional Dining Packages allow guests to pair lunch or dinner at a participating EPCOT Table Service restaurant and enjoy reserved seating for the popular production.

Regal Eagle Smokehouse — a Quick Service restaurant — also offers a same-day Walk-up Candlelight Processional Dining Package. 

Visit our Candlelight Processional Page to see the list of this celebrity narrators along with restaurants and prices for the Dining Packages. You can also find our full review of the Candlelight Processional Dining Package HERE. 

Click HERE to see photos and videos of the Candlelight Processional!

Festival Entertainment

The Festival of the Holidays offers guests a glimpse into how different cultures celebrate the holidays that take place during the Winter months.

Guests are invited to the World Showcase Pavilions to hear Holiday Storytellers share the traditions that are integral parts of the season in the country they represent.

Storytellers can be found in the following pavilions (Performance times are subject to change and can be confirmed each day in the My Disney Experience app):

• Las Posadas Celebration — Mexico pavilion
  • 11:05AM, 11:55AM, 12:45PM, 2:45PM, 3:50PM and 4:55PM
• Canadian Holiday Voyageurs – Canada pavilion
  • 2:20PM, 3:30PM, 4:35PM, 5:35PM, 6:25PM and 7:30PM
• Chinese Lion Dance — China pavilion
  • 12PM, 1PM, 2PM, 3PM, 4PM
• Si-Zhu Trio in the China Pavilion: Celebrate the Lunar New Year with traditional Chinese folk music (Check the My Disney Experience app for showtimes)
• Hanukkah Storyteller — The World Showcase Promenade (between the Morocco and France pavilions)
  • 12PM, 1PM, 1:50PM, 2:50PM, 3:45PM, 5:05PM, 5:50PM and 6:30PM
• Père Noël — France pavilion
  • 10AM, 11:05AM, 12:10PM, 12:50PM, 2:20PM, 3:25PM, 4:30PM and 5:15PM
• La Befana — Italy pavilion
  • 11:15AM, 12:15PM, 1PM, 1:55PM, 3:30PM, 4:15PM, 5PM and 5:40PM
• Learn about the Daruma — Japan pavilion
  • 10:45AM, 11:45AM, 12:45PM, 1:35PM, 2:35PM, 4:15PM, 5PM, 5:45PM
• Sigrid will be visited by A Mischievous Magical Barn Santa — Norway
  • 11:40AM, 12:30PM, 1:35PM, 2:30PM, 4:20PM, 5:20PM, 6:10PM and 7PM
• Father Christmas — United Kingdom pavilion
  • 11:45AM, 12:35PM, 1:30PM, 2:20PM, 3:50PM, 4:50PM, 5:35PM and 6:40PM
• Santa Claus — The Odyssey Pavilion
  • 11AM, 12:30PM, 2PM, 3:30PM, 5PM  (through December 24th)

Performance times are subject to change and can be confirmed each day in the My Disney Experience app.

Take a moment, too, to read about various cultural traditions in the seasonal scrolls artfully presented near each Storyteller’s performance area.

The Storytellers are one of several entertainment offerings throughout the Festival. You can also hear the Voices of Liberty in The American Adventure pavilion.

This acapella choral group dons Dickensian Caroler costumes just for the Festival.

Joyful: A Celebration of the Season

Catch a performance of Joyful: A Celebration of the Season!

This show features gospel mixed with jazz, R&B and more, celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa.

You can catch JOYFUL! daily at the World Showcase Plaza at 1:05PM, 2:10PM, 3:15PM, 4:20PM. However, showtimes may change, so be sure to check the Information Boards in the park and the My Disney Experience app to confirm times and performance location.

Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition

Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition made its debut in 2020, and has returned each year since. 

Get ready for a festive seasonal Scavenger Hunt! Guests can go on a hunt around World Showcase looking for holiday traditions that Olaf has gathered — and lost — along the way. 

In order to help our pal Olaf out, guests can purchase a Scavenger Hunt map and stickers for $9.99 at locations like Creations Shop, and World Traveler at International Gateway. 

Once you find ALL the Olafs, you can visit Creations Shop or World Traveler at International Gateway to redeem the map for a special gift!

The prize was YOUR CHOICE of one of four sets of beverage stencils. 

You can read all about our adventure with Olaf here!

Holiday Attraction Overlays

The classic attraction Living with the Land — located in The Land pavilion in EPCOT’s World Nature — gets dressed up for the season with a lovely light display at night!

It’s Living with the Land — Glimmering Greenhouses!

Special, festive touches enhance the boat cruise throughout the day, as well.

It’s a truly charming and festive display.

Click here for a photo tour of Living With The Land’s holiday decorations!

Don’t forget to pay a visit to Journey Into Imagination with Figment to see the star of the ride (that’s FIGMENT) in his HOLIDAY SWEATER!

And, in fact, YOU can buy Figment’s Christmas Sweater this year!

EPCOT’s iconic Spaceship Earth in World Celebration presents a limited-time light show for the Festival! The show begins when it gets dark outside and plays several times each night.

Walt Disney Imagineering created a light display for the Festival of the Holidays inspired by winter, with images such as candles, snowflakes, and northern lights.

Santa Claus Sighting

Get ready to visit Santa Claus! 

He’ll once again be greeting guests in a festive space inside The Odyssey Pavilion.

There is photo op with Santa and his SLEIGH in this immersive greeting experience.

Jolly Old Saint Nick greets guests daily starting at the following times (for 60 minutes) through December 24th: 11AM, 12:30 PM, 2PM, 3:30PM, and 5PM. (In case appearance times change, you can confirm times in the My Disney Experience app during your visit.)

So… if the Festival lasts through December 30th, what happens after Santa has to leave EPCOT for his midnight ride on Christmas Eve? Weeelll….

… you just may find Santa Goofy in his place!

Father Christmas also appears in the United Kingdom, and Pere Noel appears in the France pavilion, along with even more festive storytellers throughout the park.

Gingerbread Spaceship Earth

This year, EPCOT has debuted a brand-new 8-foot-tall gingerbread creation. Throughout the Festival, be sure to visit CommuniCore Hall to see a NEW Gingerbread Spaceship Earth!

It lights up and “dances” to music every 15 minutes throughout the day and feature 11 hidden Mickeys that represent the 11 countries of the World Showcase.

CommuniCore Hall is also hosting the Glittering Grove Presented by Balsam Hill, an enchanting Christmas tree forest along with an assortment of souvenirs available to purchase.

And Festive Fragrances presented by Scentsy allows visitors to “stroll through a snow globe garden, inspired by Scentsy’s seasonal aromas” just outside CommuniCore Hall.

More Festival Fun

A new backstage tour has arrived at EPCOT for the holiday season. As mentioned above, during the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays, the Living with the Land ride is transformed into Glimmering Greenhouses decorated with lights, ribbons, and all sorts of holiday baubles.

This year, Disney is introduced Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses! This limited-time walking tour is being offered during the festival, from November 29th to December 30th, and is $45 per person. Each tour lasts one hour and takes place at 6PM and 7PM daily.

During the tour, you’ll be able to learn about “crops that bring festive flavors to many of our holiday traditions,” enjoy those incredible light displays after dark, explore the hydroponic greenhouses, and “discover sustainable growing techniques” that Disney uses to bring these greenhouses to life.

To book this experience, visit the Disney World website or the My Disney Experience app. Reservations are highly recommended since each tour is limited.

EPCOT Festival of the Holidays Merchandise

And of course, no Festival is complete without some festive merchandise!

You’ll want to make your list — and check it twice! — for fun finds including Festival of the Holidays apparel like Spirit Jerseys, housewares, collectible Disney pins, and more.

Click HERE to see ALL of the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays merchandise — with prices!

Keep your eyes peeled for Festival goodies all around the park, including locations like World Celebration’s Creations Shop and specialty Holiday Markets around World Showcase.

More Good-to-Know Festival of the Holidays Info

EPCOT typically closes throughout the year at 9PM. However, throughout the Festival of the Holidays, the park closes at 9:30PM nightly.

We hope you’ll visit this page often for ALL of the information about the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays!