Marshmallow, the National Thanksgiving turkey, has a lot to be thankful for this year. In addition to receiving the obligatory presidential pardon, he and his understudy Yam are being flown first class to Disneyland, where they’ll appear on a float as grand marshals of Disney’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Previous presidential turkeys have suffered a far less glamorous fate.

After evading the White House chopping block, the turkeys are traditionally shipped off to FryingPan Park, a farm in Virginia where they generally die within a few months thanks to a combination of allegedly poor living conditions and all that fattening up in preparation for the slaughter that never comes.

Marshmallow and Yam can thank the people at PETA for the VIP treatment and the happy ending; PETA’s been lobbying the White House for years to provide the birds with a more humane retirement.

No such luck for a fellow fowl in Iowa, however; Governor Vilsack has vetoed the traditional pardon in a show of solidarity with turkey farmers who fear that consumers worried about the avian flu might shun turkey. Governor Vilsack has stated that he wants people to feel “safe and secure” about eating turkey this year. How’s the turkey feeling? Desolate in Des Moines, I’m guessing.