The holiday season at Disneyland is full of cheerful decorations, Christmas music and a variety of holiday parades and shows, but there is one holiday tradition in the park that is invite-only.
Disneyland’s Candlelight Processional is a lesser-known event that takes place two nights a year.
Here’s a closer look at what the Candlelight Processional is and how visitors can attend.
What is the Disneyland Candlelight Processional?
The annual tradition was started by Walt Disney in 1958 as a way to thank local and community leaders for their support, according to Travel + Leisure.
It has turned into a Christmas celebration with a stage production featuring a live orchestra, sprawling choir and celebrity narrator.
The decades-old tradition is held on two nights during the weekend of December each year.
During the production, there is a 45-minute musical retelling through classical song and narration of “The First Christmas Story,” the birth of Jesus.
It all begins with a candlelight choir of 600 parading down Main Street to Town Square. When they take the stage, the choir becomes a “living Christmas tree” as many performers stand on a tree-shaped riser.
In between songs such as “Silent Night” and Handel’s “Messiah,” performed by the Disneyland orchestra, vocalists and fanfare trumpeters, the celebrity narrator reads portions of the biblical story.
The choir for the processional includes both community groups, Disneyland employees and Walt Disney Imagineers.
This year, the processional was held on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7 with two shows each night, according to Mickey Visit.
Who was this year’s celebrity narrator at Disneyland’s Candlelight Processional?
Each year, there is a different celebrity narrator, and in the past, narrators have included Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Earl Jones, Dick Van Dyke, Brie Larson and Viola Davis.
The celebrity narrator in 2024 was Kathryn Hahn.
This year, the celebrity narrator was Benjamin Bratt, who is known for his roles in TV shows and movies such as “Miss Congeniality,” “Andor” and “Coco,” according to Travel + Leisure.
How to see Disneyland’s Candlelight Processional
The event is meant to be invite only and includes seating for just several hundred people. Invitations to the processional are limited to Club 33 members and personal guests of Disney, according to Travel + Leisure.
Since the show is on Main Street, it is possible for other park visitors to see the show from outside the reserved seating area. It is common for the general public to line up at the park’s opening as early as 8 a.m. to reserve a standing-only spot outside of the main viewing area.