Mickey Mouse Pardons Donald in 48th Annual Disney Thanksgiving Duck Pardon

Crowds in Disney’s Magic Kingdom let out a monstrous roar of celebration this morning as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck took center stage in front of Cinderella Castle for Disney’s traditional Thanksgiving Day Duck Pardon.

First started in 1973, just 2 years after Walt Disney World opened its gates to visitors, the annual Thanksgiving Duck Pardon shucks the American tradition of the annual turkey pardon to instead focus on duck, a beloved symbol of Disney Parks and Animation.

Michael Reiss, General Manager of Food and Beverage in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, puts it this way: “While the nation collectively celebrates the Pilgrims’ first breaking bread with Native Americans by carving into turkey, we here at Disney have our own tradition: Thanksgiving duck.”

In fact, die-hard Disney fans know that you can’t find a single bite of turkey to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day. Instead, crowd favorites like turkey legs are replaced with duck legs.

Today’s ceremony went off without a hitch, with Mickey stating to the jubilant crowd “Ha-ha, Donald has been such a good duck this year ha-ha! He is hereby pardoned and will live out the rest of his days at Jedediah’s Poultry Sanctuary in Plant City, Florida ha-ha!”

Today marks two firsts for the annual Thanksgiving Day Duck Pardon – in its 48-year history, a Disney character has never been the pardoned duck, and a character has never been served as part of the Thanksgiving Dinner at Walt Disney World. With this comes bad news for fans of Daffy Duck, as he will be served as the main course at Epcot’s Garden Grill Thanksgiving Day Celebration. The meat from Daffy alone is expected to serve upwards of 500 diners.