January 1st – 6th Trip (With my longwinded engagement story)

Well, it’s been over a month since the trip, but I still feel like sharing this trip report with everyone, just in time for Valentine’s Day. My girlfriend and I had been planning this trip to Florida for quite some time. She hadn’t been to Walt Disney World in the two years since our College Program in fall 02 (when we met), and we would be visiting with other friends of hers from the same program. I still try to visit WDW a few times a year; as a College Program campus rep to my school, I still receive the same perks as hourly cast members. We had talked about being engaged for quite some time now, but exactly when and where I would do it remained a mystery to her. We’ve been in a long distance relationship since returning home from our college program, yet it had turned out wonderfully, and I promised her the best week of her life. Anyone could propose at Christmastime or New Year’s, but a Disney proposal had to be the way to go for me.

We arrived in town on New Year’s Eve (lots of Iowa and LSU fans in town for the bowl game.) We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, beautiful resort might I add. Location was great, actually right next door to our former CP housing at Vista Way.

We went to downtown Orlando for New Year’s Eve which was alright, though I later heard from a CM friend that The Boardwalk is the place to be with entertainment and fireworks from several parks to be seen at midnight, and there is no admission. The crowds on New Year’s Day were fairly large at MGM. This would be her first time seeing Osborne Family Christmas Lights or Fantasmic. Despite living at WDW for several months, she really hadn’t seen much of what the parks had to offer in my opinion. We went to Magic Kingdom after Fantasmic to watch SpectroMagic. We watched Spectro from the roped off area at the Hub. This has been my favorite place for parade viewing since this was where I caught most all the parades (Spectro, SACT, MNSSHP, MVMCP) when I worked Parade Audience Control.

On the 2nd, we went to Epcot hoping to visit The Land before it closed. However, we were greeted with a construction fence as I realized this was The Land’s first day closed, not its last day open. She had worked at the Sunshine Season Food Fair during her CP, yet was not as bothered as I was to see The Land closed. We saw Turtle Talk with Crush for the first time, a great show that you just don’t hear enough about. Among other things, we also caught the Dragon Legend Acrobats (very talented kids), Off Kilter (always a great show), and Mission Space (her first time there, apprehensive at first to ride, but enjoyed it after I convinced her to ride.) We then made a quick trip around the World Showcase for a few essentials (hers - funnel cake in USA, mine - beer in Germany.) We made it back to a saved spot on the front of World Showcase Lagoon just in time for Illuminations (her favorite.) :sohappy:

On the 3rd, we went to Animal Kingdom, (her first time visiting DAK), crowds were fairly small. No wait on Dinosaur, good seats at Tarzan, shorter lines at Bug’s Life and Safari, etc. I got to show off why eating in the rear seating at Flame Tree Barbecue makes a trip to DAK worth alone, as the musical boat w/ Chip & Dale and others came by, and Everest continues to grow. At night we went to Pleasure Island, (cast members get in free night) as she loves to dance, and I caught the Comedy Warehouse show for the first time. (Good show, lots of older Disney memorabilia for decorations.)

On the 4th, we went to Cocoa Beach. The water was pretty cold, but when you live 1500 miles away, you don’t mind the cold temps as much. That night we went to Jellirolls (free on Tuesdays for CMs as well.) By the end of the evening, everyone in our party (except my girlfriend of course) knew I planned to pop the question the next night at the Magic Kingdom....

 

[he-guy]

On the morning of the 5th, we were “walkin’ right down the middle of Main Street USA” when I received quite a shock. The entire Hub was closed off, this was very surprising as we had just been there three days before and I had hadn’t heard anything about a Hub rehab either from CM friends or online. This completely eliminated any plans of a proposal nearby or relating to the Partner’s statue.

We spent a few hours in the MK, talked to some old CM friends and found out about why Hub was closed. In the afternoon we had to take a friend to the airport, which gave us a chance to go back to the resort and change before our priority seating at Cinderella's Royal Table.

This was the first night that we had done anything just the two of us without all her friends, so she thought that if I were going propose in Florida it might be at dinner, but that’s not quite what I was planning. I tried to never give the impression that it would happen at a certain time. She had tried to get me to hint at this throughout the week, for example on our way into the MK, she asked if we really needed to dress nicely for dinner at the castle, but was surprised when I said “no, we can go back to the resort and change into jeans, no big deal.” This kept her guessing as much as when I had her grab some film from my suitcase earlier in the week – I had nothing to hide (even though the ring was right there in a zipped jacket pocket.)

This was our first time dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My steak was a bit undercooked from what I’d ordered, but I wasn’t about to let that take away from my evening. We had both gotten up from the table at separate points during the meal, so there would have been plenty of opportunity for me to meet with a host or server if I had actually needed to, yet no special ring in glass slipper dessert would be ordered for our table tonight. While that is a nice touch for some, I wanted our event to be more unique, as the added Disney elements (and expense) wouldn’t really be that important to her.

So after dinner we left the castle and people were all getting in their spots for Wishes, I’m actually glad the Hub was closed at this point, it would have been much too crowded there anyway. We found a great place in the Rose Garden – fireworks, flowers, somewhat off the beaten path, the castle in the background – the perfect setting.

After finding a nice location for Wishes viewing, I needed her be away for just a moment so I could get some help. I asked her if she wanted something to drink like a bottle of water or something. I knew she wouldn’t, yet when she asked me the same, I had her go to get a bottle of water from a vendor that didn't exist. They were just some random umbrellas over benches on the path from the Hub to Fantasyland/Tomorrowland.

So I immediately walked over to some nearby guests, and asked if they were like to help me make some magic by taking pictures of me proposing right after the fireworks. I showed them I had two cameras (film and digital) and the shocked couple excitedly agreed to help me out. As I noticed she was starting to come back and stopped talking to these other guests, this raised her suspicions a bit, but she later said she didn’t know for sure as I was probably just talking about some Disney related knowledge.

She said she became less hopeful that I was going to propose when she came back and I still didn't propose, then Wishes started and I still didn't do it. She was even more doubtful, when standing next to me during the fireworks I didn’t appear nervous or anything. My mind was racing out of control thinking of what I was about to say and do, yet apparently my heart rate hadn’t noticeably increased. So at this point she's thinking maybe I'm not to do it at all, maybe I would wait till we got back home or something....

 

[he-guy]

This was her first time seeing Wishes, so at some point we talked about the characters and wishes etc, (this would tie in later) She enjoyed the show; I did too as it may now be more of a sentimental favorite over Fantasy in the Sky which I watched daily during my program. So after Wishes the lights came back on and I realized it was time to do what I had on my mind all week.

So I said we should get our pictures taken in front of the castle since we were there and dressed up and everything. I pretended to look around for someone to take our picture and hey, sure enough, there were a couple that seemed eager to help us out.

So then I turned back to her and started to say a few things, wanting to be say something memorable, yet also tied into the Wishes viewing and Disney experience as well. Apparently I was squeezing her hand and unknowingly poking her with my finger, but I did manage to ramble out a line something to the effect of: “We’ve had a great time over the past two, two and a half years, and my wish, if I were to have one, would be to spend the rest of my life with you.” Guests had just been moving about their business heading for the exits and such, but when I got down on my knee and pulled a ring box out of my pocket, the whole crowd in the rose garden just kind of stopped, forming a semicircle around us. I asked her”Will you marry me?” she said yes, I stood up, the crowd of guests cheered. Apparently one lady stated "I've never seen this here before" as if we were part of Disney entertainment show or something.

We had our picture taken on my two cameras, and then some lady came up, and said she had some still shots on her camera, handed me her business card and said to e-mail her if we wanted some more pictures. People kept coming by and saying congrats and we just sat on bench in the rose garden for about an hour or so afterwards. It was great, perfect, the best!! We finally got up and headed to my old stomping grounds in Tomorrowland, when who should see taking pictures with Extra Magic Hour guests, none other than Buzz Lightyear himself.

This was pretty exciting as I am big Buzz fan. The character handler was immediately concerned that we weren’t wearing wristbands, but I explained that I was busy in the rose garden proposing to my girlfriend, and simply hadn’t gotten one. I thought that was a pretty good reason not to have one on, and wasn’t trying to go on any rides or anything, just wanted to take a picture. He took our picture with Buzz, who appeared very happy for us; and gave the impression he liked my fiancée and her ring as well.

So we left the Magic Kingdom for the evening, headed back to our resort to share champagne with our friends as we now had a better reason than just spending New Year’s in Florida to celebrate.

The next day we returned to MK for some attractions we had previously skipped out on. No longer needing to play the “former attractions CM” card to gain faster entry, we could now use the “engaged last night as Disney” card, and skipped right in to Mickey’s Philharmagic. After leaving the park for the last time of the trip, we played a round at Fantasialand Mini-Golf (try it on your next trip, it’s worth it). That night we all dined at Ohana’s, later going back for one more night of Pleasure Island (free for CMs on Thursdays as well ). The next day we stopped at Downtown Disney as we had pretty much put off any shopping until the last day, then headed back home…..happily ever after.

 

[he-guy]

I finally added some pictures now, which makes the story better I think.

 

[rainfully]

Aww.. that's such a cute story! Thanks for sharing!

 

[jesserin]

Aww - that was precious - congratulations! Do we have a date set yet?

 

[DCL]

Thanks for sharing that story! Congratulations! :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[disneymagic16]

aww

:sohappy: awww, that's soooo sweet! Congradulations!

 

[LouDisney]

Congrats!!! :sohappy:

 

[WDWTestDummy]

congrats!!!!!!!!:sohappy:

 

[nibblesandbits]

Ohh...congrats!!! That is SO how I'm hoping my b/f does it! That is probably only the most romantic thing ever. (If I were to propose, I would get people to "take" our pic and then drop to one knee too, but I want him to do it) We'll just have to see in May.(Crossing fingers)

 

[amykissangel]

That is SO the best proposal ever! Congrats to you both - the story is even better because she thought you WEREN'T going to propose - that was adorable!! Good luck with all the wedding plans!!

 

[he-guy]

Aww - that was precious - congratulations! Do we have a date set yet?

Its all set for October 15th, then of course a quick trip to Florida for a Honeymoon a la WDW.

 

[jesserin]

Sounds familiar... We got married Sep 20 and then headed to WDW for a long honeymoon.. it was wonderful! Highly recommended - Disney really does honeymoons right... just about everywhere we went we got free desserts, or celebrations - one family we sat with (at the Sci-Fi Cafe) totally paid for our dinner without us knowing! It was awsome - we had alot of fun with the family when they sat down - they asked the their two girls (ages 7&9) to "watch the lovebirds" and then the waiter brought out a "just married" sign for our bumper (which we later got to take home with us!) Our whole table kept getting tons of attention so by the time we ordered our milkshake for dessert the family turned around and told us they had taken care of our check and handed us 4 Fast Passes to Tower as they had to run and get in line for Fantasmic... it was so neat... we took a picture of all of us together and I have it on my desk right now... So fun! You guys are going to have a blast - honeymooning in WDW is like no where else on earth.

 

[stranger]

Its all set for October 15th, then of course a quick trip to Florida for a Honeymoon a la WDW.

:sohappy: Congratulations!!!

The story was so cute and thanks for sharing the photos with us. It was nice of that lady to take pictures and offer to send them to you.

 

[NHBelongsToMe]

It's WAY too early for me to even be thinking about marriage down the line, but by god, if it comes to that, the ideas are racing...Congratulations, and the best of luck to the both of you. :sohappy:

 

[SnowWhite5669]

Awesome! Congrats! Disney is so magical. We go for our anniversary every year and the cast members are always so nice to us. We were married on Feb 14 so it's always been a romantic day anyways but this last time the staff at Wilderness Lodge outdid themselves and we were upgraded to the honeymoon suite! We had such a great time that we are going back next month! It will be our 22 time since we married 6 years ago!
I wish all the happiness in the world!