Plainfield East Band Students To Perform At Disney Over Thanksgiving Break

PLAINFIELD, IL — Sixty-eight Plainfield East High School band and choir students are spending their Thanksgiving break performing at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Plainfield East's return to Disney is part of the school's tradition of offering a performance trip every four years, ensuring each music student has the opportunity to participate at least once while in high school. Students departed Sunday morning and will return late Saturday.

Throughout the week, students will visit all four Disney parks, but perhaps the highlight of the trip will be the opportunity to perform in two concerts: the Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade of Bands and the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.

The Plainfield East band was selected to perform in the Thanksgiving Day parade, joining marching bands from across the country. It will take place Thursday morning in front of the iconic Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, where students will perform six selections, including "Mickey Mouse March," "Star Wars" and the "Disney Patriotic" medley, according to a news release from Plainfield School District 202.

Band students have been preparing for months. They began rehearsals at the end of the last school year and continued through summer mini-camps and fall after-school practices. Disney sent a guest clinician to Plainfield East to work with students on their performance music, officials said.

"It is such an incredible honor to have been selected," PEHS Band Director Jenna Wojdula said in a statement. "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."

The Plainfield East choir will join performers from around the world for the first Candlelight Processional performance of the season on Friday. The treasured tradition features a mass choir, full orchestra and celebrity guest narrator.

"I'm so excited to hear how all the people in the mass choir will sound in unity," said sophomore choir student Dani Padilla, per the District 202 release.