Uncle Dan is one of the main characters from the Illumination film, Migration. Voiced by Danny DeVito, he is the curmudgeonly and adventure-averse uncle of Mack and Pam Mallard who rarely leaves his home pond.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Uncle Dan made his Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade debut in 2023 as a balloon in a rare sighting outside of his New England pond, travelling to tropical Jamaica via New York City.
The balloon features a 32 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 37 feet tall Uncle Dan chowing down on his favorite delicacy—a submarine sandwich as large as 7,300 normal-sized sandwiches. Uncle Dan himself is as large as 14,000 migrating mallard ducks.
The balloon's left wing sprung a leak and deflated during its debut, though it completed its march without any other troubles. For its NBC broadcast appearance, footage of the Uncle Dan balloon from different points along the route were shown as if he were "migrating" to 34th Street.
The Uncle Dan balloon was retired following the 2023 parade as it was only in that parade to promote the then-upcoming movie.