Plainfield East High School band and choir students will spend their Thanksgiving break sharing music, pride and school spirit as they perform at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The students, 68 in all, departed Sunday and will return late Saturday, marking PEHS’s return to Disney as part of the school’s tradition of offering a performance trip every four years, a news release from Plainfield School District 202 stated.

This schedule ensures each music student has the opportunity to participate at least once during their time in the program, District 202 said.

“It is such an incredible honor to have been selected,” PEHS Band Director Jenna Wojdula,Wojdula stated in the release. “Our students get to experience something that so few others ever do, performing at Disney alongside professional Disney performers. We are absolutely thrilled to share this experience and the magic of Disney.”

Throughout the week, students will visit all four Disney parks, but the highlight of the trip will be two major performance opportunities, the District 202 release said.

Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade of Bands

The PEHS band has been selected to perform in the Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade of Bands, a mass performance featuring marching bands from across the country.

Their performance will take place on Thanksgiving morning in front of the iconic Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom.

They join a distinguished group of ensembles selected for the parade, including schools from Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois, the release said.

The band will perform six selections, including:

• “Mickey Mouse March”
• “Disney Celebration” medley (“It’s a Small World,” “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” “Pirates of the Caribbean”)
• “Star Wars”
• “Mary Poppins”
• “Disney Patriotic” medley
• “Disney Holiday” medley

Band students have been preparing for months, beginning rehearsals at the end of last school year and continuing through summer mini-camps and fall after-school practices.

Disney sent a guest clinician to PEHS to work with students on their performance music, District 202 said.

Candlelight Processional at EPCOT

The PEHS choir will join performers from around the country for the first Candlelight Processional performance of the season at EPCOT on Friday.

This Disney tradition features a mass choir, full orchestra, and a celebrity guest narrator, the release said.