The Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses walking tour is returning for the 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. It will run November 27 through December 30, 2026, with three nightly time slots. Reservations open September 24th. Here’s the latest.
Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses Tour | 2026 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- The tour returns for 2026, and we have details on dates, times, and a booking date
- A look back at how the overlay and its companion tour have grown since debuting in 2019
Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses | 2026 Dates and Booking
The Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour returns for the 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. It runs November 27 through December 30, 2026. Reservations open September 24th. Guests can expect a one-hour walking route that includes The Land Pavilion’s greenhouses, decorated for the season with the same light displays visible from the Living with the Land boats.
Three nightly time slots are set for 2026: 6:00pm, 7:00pm, and 8:00pm. That matches the schedule the tour settled into for the 2025 season, after debuting with just two nightly times in 2024. The standard daytime Behind the Seeds tour continues to run alongside it. Expect the same format that’s defined the tour since 2024: crops tied to holiday food traditions, brilliant light displays, and a look at the growing techniques used throughout The Land Pavilion.
The History Behind Glimmering Greenhouses
The overlay didn’t start under the Glimmering Greenhouses name. Living with the Land has carried some form of holiday decoration for years. Disney first marketed the display as a distinct seasonal offering in 2019, under the name Merry and Bright Nights. That version returned in 2020 and 2021. Disney renamed it Glimmering Greenhouses in 2022, and the name has stuck since. Confirmation for the ride overlay’s 2026 return came in June, when Disney announced the full festival lineup.
The overlay’s popularity led to a separate ticketed offering, a holiday-specific version of the Behind the Seeds walking tour. Disney announced the first Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour in September 2024. It’s an after-dark walking tour through the same greenhouses guests see from the boats, with a focus on the crops behind holiday food traditions. That first tour ran nightly from November 29 through December 30, 2024, at $45 per person. It follows the standard Behind the Seeds route, walking guests through four greenhouses and the Aquacell fish farm.
Guests on the tour get an up-close look at the light displays. Holiday-specific additions include a hidden glass pickle tucked into a vegetable canopy and themed wrapping paper created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Tour guides weave in holiday food traditions tied to the crops on display. In the past, guests received a parting gift of a gingerbread recipe card used by Disney’s own chefs. Pricing has crept up since the tour’s debut. It started at $45 per person in 2024 and reached as high as $59 for the 2025 season.
Pricing remains at $59 per person in 2026.
Story So Far
- September 2024: Disney announced the first Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour for the 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays.
- November 2024: We toured the greenhouses and shared 170-plus photos of the Glimmering Greenhouses light display as it debuted for the season.
- December 2024: We reviewed the first Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour in depth, covering the full walking route and whether the experience is worth the price.
- October 2025: Disney confirmed the tour would return for the 2025 Festival of the Holidays, with bookings opening October 9th.
- June 2026: Disney confirmed the full 2026 Festival of the Holidays lineup, including the return of the Glimmering Greenhouses overlay on Living with the Land.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!