Sixty-eight Plainfield East High School band and choir students will spend their Thanksgiving break bringing music, pride, and school spirit to the most magical stage in the world as they perform at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Students will depart early Sunday, November 23, and return late Saturday, November 29, marking PEHS’s return to Disney as part of the school’s tradition of offering a performance trip every four years. This schedule ensures each music student has the opportunity to participate at least once during their time in the program.
Throughout the week, students will visit all four Disney parks, but the highlight of the trip will be two major performance opportunities:
Band Performance: Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade of Bands 
The PEHS band has been selected to perform in the 2025 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 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 even sent a guest clinician to PEHS to work with students on their performance music.
Choir Performance: 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, November 28. This treasured Disney tradition features a mass choir, full orchestra, and a celebrity guest narrator.
“I'm so excited to hear how all the people in the mass choir will sound in unity,” said PEHS sophomore choir student Dani Padilla.
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience
According to PEHS Band Director Jenna Wojdula, students are eager for the thrill of the parks but even more excited for the honor of performing on a Disney stage.
“It is such an incredible honor to have been selected,” Wojdula said. “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 with them.”