EVERYTHING Confirmed (So Far) for the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays

Time to get festive!

While summer may have just technically begun a few days ago, Disney already has us in holiday planning mode. In recent weeks they’ve released details on the 2024 version of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and confirmed that Jollywood Nights is returning to Hollywood Studios for a second year. Now, they’ve dropped information on this year’s edition of EPCOT’s International Festival of the Holidays, confirming several returning favorites. 

This year’s installment of EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays will take place from November 29th through December 30th. Unlike Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights, the International Festival of Holidays takes place during regular operating hours and is included with EPCOT admission. 

The headlining attraction of the festival, as it is most years, will be the legendary Candlelight Processional. The long-running show is staged in the American Adventure pavilion’s America Gardens Theatre, and features “the stirring story of Christmas with a celebrity narrator and glorious massed choir—accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra, herald trumpets and the Voices of Liberty.”

In addition to the Candlelight Processional, the Festival of the Holidays will also feature several other live entertainment offerings including:

• A meet & greet and photo opportunity with Santa Claus, complete with a massive sleigh, held at the Odyssey Pavilion.
• The Holiday Storytellers, who “share holiday legends and lore from around the world” throughout World Showcase.
• The “joyous tribute to Christmas and Kwanzaa” known as JOYFUL! A Celebration of the Season, which features Gospel, R&B, and holiday songs.

As in years past, there will be Holiday Kitchen booths spread around the park that will allow you to “Delight in heartwarming culinary traditions from countries near and far.” Last year, there were approximately 15 booths, each themed to different winter holiday celebrations around the world. 

In addition to the Holiday Kitchen booths, the popular Holiday Cookie Stroll will return. If you purchase any five eligible cookies from ANY of the cookie stroll locations featured in the Festival Passport, and get your passport stamped, you’ll be eligible to collect a prize. Last year, those who completed the stroll received a Wish-themed sugar cookie and a peppermint chocolate milkshake!

One of EPCOT’s few remaining opening day attractions, Living with the Land, is given a beautiful holiday overlay entitled Living with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses. The ride’s functioning greenhouses are decked in Christmas lights and other decorations, which leave them “aglow with dazzling lights.” 

Finally, there’s Olaf’s Holiday Tradition Expedition Scavenger Hunt. This educational scavenger hunt throughout World Showcase acts as a quest to find “holiday traditions that Olaf has gathered—and lost—along the way!”

While this is all confirmed, there’s still much to learn about the 2024 International Festival of the Holidays, including the identities of this year’s Candlelight Processional narrators, as well as the themes of the Holiday Kitchen booths. Stay tuned to AllEars for further updates on the festival and Disney’s other holiday offerings. 

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Are you a fan of EPCOT’s International Festival of the Holidays? Let us know in the comments below.