Where do the pardoned turkeys go? For years, it was Disneyland.

“Keep calm and gobble on,” President Joe Biden told turkeys Peach and Blossom on Monday, as he pardoned the birds on the South Lawn of the White House. After getting a presidential reprieve from the Thanksgiving table, this year’s exonerated turkeys went back home to Minnesota, where they can enjoy their retirement at the Farmamerica Agricultural Interpretive Center, according to NPR. 

They might seem like the luckiest birds in the flock — but they’re not, not by a mile. For four years, the turkeys pardoned annually by the president lived out their days at Disneyland. You might call them the “happiest turkeys on earth.” After all, Disneyland did. 

“The happiest turkeys on earth,” a sign on their enclosure read, explaining the pardoning process. “Please welcome our new ranch residents!”

The tradition of pardoning turkeys dates back to 1963. People had been gifting the president turkeys for decades at that point, but John F. Kennedy was the first to give the gobbler a reprieve, saying, “Let’s keep him going.” It became a formal tradition in the 1980s: Reagan sent turkeys to farms every November, but George H.W. Bush was the first to officially pardon one in 1989. “But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy — he’s granted a Presidential pardon as of right now — and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” he said in the 1989 ceremony, according to the White House Historical Association. 

In the years that followed, the pardoned turkeys went to a sanctuary near Washington, D.C., called Frying Pan Park. It wasn’t until 2005 that the pardoned turkeys were given a second act as bona fide celebrities. 

“This year is going to be a little different,” George W. Bush said, per the New York Times. “Marshmallow and Yam were a little skeptical about going to a place called Frying Pan Park. I don’t blame them.”

After their star turn at the White House, Marshmallow and Yam headed to Disneyland on a United flight dubbed “Turkey One,” taking up the entire first-class section, per Yesterland. 

On Thanksgiving Day, Marshmallow was the honorary grand marshal in Disneyland’s (no longer running) Thanksgiving parade. Yam, the understudy, was neither officially pardoned by Bush nor honored in the park festivities. (Every year, two turkeys are part of the ceremony: one to be pardoned, one as an understudy in case the first gets sick or has stage fright.)

After the parade, Marshmallow and Yam went to live at Santa’s Reindeer Round-up in Frontierland. The seasonal farm was at Big Thunder Ranch, the area near the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction, where Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue used to serve the beloved all-you-can-eat barbecue dinners that people still talk about, eight years after its closure. All year round, Big Thunder Ranch was home to “the happiest horses on earth” (once tended to by Owen and Dolly Pope, who lived inside the park). During the holiday season, the ranch also hosted Santa Claus for meet-and-greets. Santa’s Reindeer Round-up included Mrs. Claus’ Cookie Kitchen and Santa’s “world famous reindeer” — in addition to “reindeer games,” though likely not played with the actual reindeer. 

The turkeys Flyer and Fryer went to Disneyland in 2006, but in 2007, May and Flower went to Walt Disney World in Orlando. The ceremonial birds returned to the West Coast in 2008, when Pumpkin and Pecan made a last-minute swap: Pecan was originally set to be in the ceremony but fell ill the night before, when Pumpkin swooped in. In 2009, it was Carolina and Courage — but that was the last year Disneyland would host the “happiest turkeys on earth.”

When Barack Obama pardoned Carolina and Courage in 2009, he said, “Today, I am pleased to announce that thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha — because I was planning to eat this sucker — Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate. Later today, he’ll head to Disneyland, where he’ll be grand marshal of tomorrow’s parade.” 

In 2010, the turkeys went to Mount Vernon. The following year, Santa’s Reindeer Round-up closed for good; the legally required size of the fence for their enclosure was no longer logistically possible for the space. Now, Santa greets guests in the Fantasyland Theater in Disneyland, in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Disney California Adventure, and in the resort hotels. 

“It’s been 15 years since a pardoned turkey and understudy were sent to Disneyland, but people still remember that,” Yesterland’s Werner Weiss told SFGATE via email. While the White House does announce where the turkeys go after the ceremony, the birds don’t enjoy the same level of celebrity as their Frontierland predecessors. “Hardly anyone knows where all the pardoned turkeys have gone since then,” Weiss said.