We’re interested in checking out the CP this year while at EP in late Nov/early Dec. Never “been” to it but heard it while passing by last year and I’ve heard so much about it. I would love to know who the celebrity narrators will be…hoping for NPH again! But more importantly - do I need to do the dinner package? If not, what are my options? Can you just enjoy it from outside or do we really need to have a seat and sit and watch etc…This is a completely foreign topic to me that I know nothing about lol. Thanks! 
I believe that you can enjoy it from the outside but it is very hard to see. We did a package a few years ago. One thing, Make sure you don’t have a stroller. They were going to sit us up front but my daughter was asleep. They went ahead and told us to leave her in the stroller but put us toward the back of the auditorium. 
I wanted to be up close but that was ok and my Daughter woke up before it started.
How long does the show last? And does it get crowded outside the area? We don’t have a stroller anymore
When we went in 2014 the standby line started forming nearly 3 hours before the first show. While I’m not a big fan of the F! package I am a fan of the CLP package. We still lined up 30 mins early because the line started getting long. We were there for NPH in 2014. The shows lasts about 45 mins from what I recall. Once the show starts there are CMs keeping the area behind the show clear they don’t let people just stand around behind the seated audience to prevent the whole walkway from becoming clogged. Book a lunch package as it will be cheaper. We did Biergarten and really enjoyed the whole experience.
So if you get a package, even if lunch, you get priority seating? Thanks for the info, I have no idea how this one works!
I believe it was about 45 to an hour. It was crowded but I know they also have to keep it clear because if the choir coming in. Or at least they made an entrance when we went.
Can you get a package as part of the dining plan?
Yes if you buy the lunch package your seating is for the first showing and if you buy a dinner package its for the later showing. Some people prefer the late showing because it’s dark but I didn’t think it mattered and it was a heck of a lot cheaper to do lunch lol.
@larrielaine - Yes you can do this on the ddp. I don’t recall if it was one or two credits though. I know the eat the beat packages during F&W are two. If it came down to that I’d just pay oop for the CLP package and use the extra dining credit on a signature meal.
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Thank you for all the info. @Outer1. I think we will look into a lunch package as you suggested and at Biergarten too. Never eaten there and my husband was just asking if I could work it into our plans, lol. Any idea when they announce the celebrity narrators? NPH was doing in it during our trip the past two or three years it looks like…but we knew nothing about CLP. Hoping he does it again! 
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You can do Candlelight as part of the Dining Plan, but note that it’s 2 ADULT TS credits for each attendee. So if a group of 4 and 2 are kids, you are still chewing up 8 ADULT table service credits for Candlelight. We had one year where we were mistakenly booked for Candlelight where we just wanted a regular meal and I didn’t notice when signing until our next meal we were out of Adult Credits to pay. We had made a phone reservation day of at one of the Epcot Japan restaurants and somehow lines got crossed on our booking. Fortunately the front desk at AKL worked it all out and it wasn’t a big deal, but it was a bit of a shocker, especially since we didn’t attend Candlelight at all that year.
Yes I just read that CLP is 2 per person! I think we will plan to do lunch and OOP this one! Do you book CLP dining online? I don’t see it on the Disney site yet…does that become available when they confirm narrators, etc…?
Yes - you book online same as any other, but it will show as a Candlelight Processional package when you book. Last year they didn’t start taking reservations until fairly late - I’m trying to remember - probably October-ish? Might have been even later. Around the time they announced all the narrators, I think a few days later the CLP packages came online.
Googling I’m guessing it was Mid-October last year, but I’d have to check my reservation emails to say for certain. If you pay attention to the blogs etc., you’ll see when they come out and booking wasn’t an issue for us last year - think I booked a couple until we ironed out the times actually. When you book do pay attention to what time your meal is vs. the Candlelight time - an early meal will give you an earlier CLP.
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OK great, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something now!
We’re fine w/ the earlier CLP time, not too picky on which time, honestly a slightly earlier one vs. the latest one would probably work out best for us. Thanks!
We did this 2015 and it is was 2 TS credits but the Adults were adult and the kids were kids. It didn’t use up all adult TS credits.
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They usually start announcing them in July a week or two before the packages become bookable. It’s not usually one of those things you have to book the second it’s released either. We enjoyed BG just make sure you’re family is comfortable sitting at a table with strangers lol. NPH has done it for years I can’t imagine he wouldn’t continue, as long as his schedule permits.
I will say though, the celebrity reads from a script and doesn’t really interject any of their own talking so in reality other than seeing them it really doesn’t matter which celebrity is there.
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Hopefully they changed it then - we had the issue in '09 with all our credits going away. It didn’t make much sense to me that they wanted to charge Adult credits for kids at the time. Searching online I don’t see mention of Adult, just 2 TS credits, so DIS must have wised up a little. Thanks for the correction…
That would be a complete loss otherwise. That stinks that happened to you. Adult TS credits are GOLD
In our case, we hadn’t intended to book Candlelight & didn’t even realize what it was in '09 so we didn’t go that night. We were just looking for a last minute ADR, called & got one day of and somehow the operator booked Candlelight when I never requested it. The next night we were dining at Boma & they said we were out of credits was when panic set in.
Fortunately stopping by the AKL front desk it all got sorted out & they adjusted our Tappan Edo to 2 Adult & 1 kid TS so we were good. It helped that we didn’t do Candlelight that night - if we had, we might been hosed on getting the credits back…
Yes you can. I believe it is still 2 TS credits. That may change but that is what was when we went!
So if I want to see Illuminations and also CLP I am guessing that the dinner late show for the 8pm option would be cutting it too close for illuminations viewing or would it be put us in the right place at just the right time when CLP ends at 8:45 ish. The lunch package is for the 5pm show the week of 5Dec16