Disney Prepares for Presidential Pardon Turkeys
If you have ever wondered what happens to the turkeys that the President pardons for Thanksgiving, then here is your answer. They go to Disney World! According to a recent article the pardoned turkeys have called Disney home since 2005. For over 60 years the President has been pardoning a turkey, the traditional food on Thanksgiving. Normally they had been going to a farm in Virginia before the change was made to Disney.
Disney spokesman Duncan Wardle remembers it a bit differently. One Thanksgiving, chatting about the pardoned turkey over coffee, someone on his staff said, “Doesn’t that make him the happiest turkey on earth? We should bring him to the happiest place on earth.”
Last year’s birds — named May and Flower via online poll_ are currently living the good life at Disney World in Florida, where they were flown by a United Airlines flight that was renamed “Turkey One” for the occasion.
The pardoned turkeys are well taken care of at Disney with a special diet, handling, and private quarters. The turkeys are generally overweight when they arrive, so a new diet is implemented to help them slim down. The turkeys that will pardoned this year will go to Disneyland in California where they will be visible to the public at Big Thunder Mountain Ranch.
