Honor Society

Around the world with Pennsbury High

Their fans call them the "Mickey Mouse Band," and they've now performed at every Disney park on the planet, thanks to the efforts of director Frank Mazzeo.
by Mac Randall

At 3:00 p.m. on March 24, 2008, the Pennsbury High School Marching Band from Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania began its march down Main Street at Hong Kong Disneyland as part of Disney Magic Music Days. The parade was the culmination of a campaign that took nearly three years and half a million dollars to complete. It also gave Pennsbury High a unique distinction, as the only band that can claim to have gone literally around the world with Disney.

"Our unofficial nickname is 'the Mickey Mouse Band,'" says band director Frank Mazzeo, "and that doesn't have anything to do with the music we play—it's because we've made all these trips."

The Pennsbury band made its first Disney trip in 1983, performing at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. In 1986, they traveled to Disneyland in California. Then they decided to get a little more ambitious. "Almost everybody does Florida, and a lot of people do California too," Mazzeo says. "But we took it a step further in '88 by going to Tokyo Disneyland. And when Disneyland Paris opened up, we said, 'Okay, let's do France too.' That was in 1993."

After the Paris trip, the band became known as the one group in the world to have performed at every Disney park. "But then in the fall of 2005," Mazzeo recalls, "somebody told me, 'You know, you can't really say that anymore because Disney just opened a new park in Hong Kong.' I said, 'You're kidding me.' I was immediately on it to get an invitation. Organizing these trips is an absolutely huge process, but there is a consistency with Disney; you know that wherever you go, the kids are going to have a great time, so why wouldn't you take this opportunity for them?"

Seeing Pennsbury's "Long Orange Line" marching in Hong Kong made that "huge process" worth all the sweat: "When we went down Main Street, one of the parents traveling with us was in tears. At that point, it dawned on me just how special it is for the kids to do these things."

Now that they've achieved their goal of Disney world domination, what's next for the Mickey Mouse Band? "Disney probably knows that better than I do," Mazzeo says with a chuckle. "But obviously, whenever they open a new park, wherever it is, we want to keep this tradition going."

Fast Facts:

The Pennsbury High School Marching Band

Established: 1949

Most recent destination: Hong Kong Disneyland

When: March 21-April 1, 2008

Size of party: 153 people

Sign up your band or learn more by visiting www.disneymagicmusicdays.com