EPCOT's Candlelight Processional moves 15 minutes earlier, and the park keeps a 9 p.m. close, for the 2026 holidays

Disney's Candlelight Processional at EPCOT will play 15 minutes earlier during the 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. Disney's page lists it "Nightly from November 27 to December 30, 2026" at "4:45 PM, 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM". Disney's 2025 release gave the 2025 times as "5:00 p.m., 6:45 p.m., and 8:15 p.m." EPCOT's posted hours close the park at 9 p.m. on every festival night, as currently scheduled.

What changed

• Candlelight Processional times: 4:45, 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. in 2026, against 5:00, 6:45 and 8:15 p.m. in 2025. Disney Tourist Blog: "These times are 15 minutes earlier than last year, and 30 minutes earlier than 2023."
• EPCOT's closing time: the themeparks.wiki copy of EPCOT's posted hours, read Oct. 26, 2026, gives 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on every night of the festival, Nov. 27 through Dec. 30. EPCOT also closes at 9 p.m. on the nights before the festival; the feed's page data gives a 9 p.m. close for Nov. 26, for example.
• What is different is the holiday close. Disney Tourist Blog writes: "The park's default close will be 9 p.m., as opposed to the 9:30 p.m. norm for Festival of the Holidays." BlogMickey calls it "a full 30 minutes earlier than the 9:30pm close the festival typically enjoys".
• The 9:30 p.m. figure for earlier festivals comes from those outlets; no Disney document giving the 2025 festival's park hours was found for this post.
• Extended Evening Hours: the same schedule feed lists "Extended Evening" hours at EPCOT from 9 to 11 p.m. on Monday nights; its page data dates them Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 14, 21 and 28.

When

• The festival runs Nov. 27 to Dec. 30, 2026, in Disney's words "November 27 to December 30, 2026". The first night with the new times is Friday, Nov. 27.
• Reported by Sept. 20, 2026: Inside the Magic reported that day that Disney's calendar shows "EPCOT will maintain its baseline 9 p.m. closing time". Disney Tourist Blog's page data dates its article Sept. 28, 2026, but its comments begin on Sept. 20, 2026.
• Hours can still change. Disney Tourist Blog: "It's possible we will get 9:30 p.m. or even the elusive 10 p.m. closing on select peak season dates".

Where

• Candlelight Processional plays at "America Gardens Theatre at EPCOT".

What it means if you live here

• If you have planned an evening around Candlelight, check your times: each 2026 performance starts 15 minutes earlier than in 2025, and the last one starts at 8:00 p.m.
• If you go to the festival after work, plan on EPCOT closing at 9 p.m., and check Disney's park hours again before you go, since Disney can still add hours.
• Who says so: the show times are on Disney's own page. The 9 p.m. close is read from a third-party copy of Disney's schedule, because Disney's own hours calendar could not be read for this post; three outlets report the same close.