Now that we’re about midway through the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, let’s take stock and do some math. Yes, we’re updating the leaderboard for the celebrity narrators for Candlelight Processional, a centerpiece of the holiday season at Walt Disney World.

There’s been a little bit of movement at the top, and we’re left with a three-way tie in the category of Most Years Reading for Candlelight.

Absent from this year’s lineup is singer Steven Curtis Chapman, while actor Gary Sinise did not participate last year. So they each have 13 years of duty. Actor Neil Patrick Harris is on the list for both ‘23 and ‘24, bringing him to a total of 13 as well.

Call them co-captains of the Candlelight, if you will.

Just one level back, with 12 processionals proceeded over, are Marlee Matlin, who read last year but not this year, and Whoopi Goldberg, who returned this season after taking last year off. Edward James Olmos is the only other figure in double figures. When he reads on Christmas Eve this year (and Christmas Day and Boxing Day), it will be his 11th go-round.

Candlelight Processional has been around Walt Disney World since practically the beginning. The first event, narrated by Rock Hudson, was at Magic Kingdom in 1971. Eventually, it moved to Epcot and grew to include a live orchestra, mass choir and a rotation of celebrity narrators.

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And while several stars seem omnipresent –— folks like John Stamos, Isabella Rosellini, Jodi Benson — the current streak for most consecutive Candlelights is a mere three, held by Harris. He was last absent in 2021.

Chita Rivera had read for four years in a row before missing the 2023 season. She died in January 2024.

This year’s lineup only had three new narrators: Nico Santos, Tituss Burgess and Ralph Macchio, who will be on the big Epcot stage Friday and Saturday. In 2023, there were nine newbies on the list, and three of them — Chrissy Metz, Brendan Fraser and Sterling K. Brown — are scheduled for ‘24.

With Fraser’s appearance, the list of Academy Award winners to appear in Candlelight
Processional was expanded. He joined Geena Davis, Helen Hunt, Cuba Gooding Jr., Louis Gossett Jr., George Kennedy, Rita Moreno, Mira Sorvino, Matlin and Goldberg.

Candlelight Processional, which happens three times nightly through Dec. 30, is included with regular Epcot admission.

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