Alexis & Alec
Gilbert, AZ
My fiancé and I have always loved Disneyland! It is the best place in the world to just be a kid and forget all of the worries and stresses of life. We live in Arizona so it takes about 7 hours to drive there! It is our senior year of college at Northern Arizona University. I had just finished taking the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and my fiancé and I had planned to take a de-stressing trip to Disneyland as a celebration!
It just so happened that my friend from high school lives in Sierra Madre, which is not very far from Disneyland. We planned a joint venture to Disneyland with his girlfriend, girlfriend's sister, and friend. Also, we have celebrated every month of dating since we first started dating on September 7, 2003. So on our 3-year and one-month anniversary, October 7, 2006, we all arrived at Disneyland at 8:00 a.m. when the park opened. My fiancé Alec and I were wearing our matching Mickey and Minnie t-shirts. After a morning of riding all of the big rides, we decided to split up in the afternoon from the others.
Alec had made reservations for us to have dinner at the Blue Bayou Café (the restaurant on the waters of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride). It was the most romantic, luxurious dinner one could hope for after being totally soaked from Splash Mountain. After this delicious dinner and a romantic/exciting/buccaneer atmosphere, Alec said we should get our pictures taken by the Sleeping Beauty Castle before the sunset. Alec asked a Disneyland Castle attendant to take our picture.
When the attendant was ready to take the picture, Alec got down on one knee and told me that he was not promising he would ever be able to buy me a castle like the one we were standing next to. Then he asked me if I would Marry Him! I said, "Of Course!" All my dreams of a fairytale engagement came true. Alec is truly my Prince Charming and he knew the best possible way to propose to me. The rest of the day I was floating on Cloud Nine and when they say that Disneyland is the place "Where Dreams Come True," they are not kidding! We are so much in love and cannot wait to get married this June.
Ken & Shannon
Oakland, CA
It was NOT my finest moment! Sure, I started out with a plan. My proposal was going to be romantic, beautiful and perfect. But my plan got foiled—not once but three times! In the end, I had her staring at the ceiling, saying, "are you sure?" But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Shannon and I have been dating for nearly five years. I guess it's hard to call it "dating" when you've been living together for over three years, but for lack of a better term—we're dating. It had become painfully obvious to everyone but me that it was time to take the next step forward. To me, getting married was not a step—it was a running leap from the roof of one skyscraper to the next. But, I conquered my commitment phobia, and was committed to spending the rest of my life with an amazing woman.
As her 30th birthday approached, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to pop the question. I reserved a room at a nice hotel. I made reservations at a top-notch restaurant that we've been meaning to try. I made plans to get the ring. It was Thursday—her birthday—and a coworker of mine helped me pick out and purchase the ring. My plan was to throw her off a little and do nothing for her actual birthday. We had plans to go out with her friends on Friday, and she knew I had plans on Saturday.
So I was safe until… As soon as my coworker found out that we were going to have dinner with her friends, she said that I MUST pop the question before that. "This is what women want, " she tells me. " They want to show off the rock as soon as possible to as many people as possible!" But I have plans! Foiled #1. Okay, I'll do it tonight. It wont be what I planned, but it will work. I've got the ring in my pocket. I'll take her out to eat, and do it at the restaurant. Maybe I'll have the waiter slip it in her drink. I'm going to have to improvise a little. I'm driving home, and I'm nervous! I'm really going to do this. I'm doing it tonight.
As I arrived home I see a familiar car in my driveway. Her parents are here—surprise—to take her out to dinner. Foiled again. I'm not going to do this in front of her mom, dad, sister and grandmother. While that may be a nice sentiment, I know Shannon, and she would not want that. I don't recall what I had for dinner; I just remember that I couldn't taste a bite. What am I going to do now? All right, I guess I'll have to do it when we get home. I'll take her out for ice cream. That could work. So we all drive back to our house, and I figure her parents will leave shortly—they have over an hour drive home and it's already 9:00 p.m. Except they brought a pie, and want to light birthday candles, and sing "Happy Birthday." Third time Foiled!
By 10:00 p.m., Shannon's family has finally departed, and before I can say anything, Shannon has put on her pajamas, and is headed to sleep. What the heck am I going to do? I have to do this tonight. I'm running out of time. I've run out of options to make it romantic. There is no way it's going to be beautiful. It's anything but perfect. But I've run out of options. It's time to throw the Hail Mary! "Don't you want my present," I ask.
She seems unsure of herself, but I convince her that it will be worthwhile. The ring is in the bedroom—in my sock drawer (it seemed like a good place at the time). I need to get her out of the bedroom, so I can have some resemblance of a nice moment. So I bring her to the living room of our one-bedroom apartment and tell her to stare at the ceiling—it was the best I could do. I run back to the bedroom and fumble around in the sock drawer. After what seemed like an eternity, I find the ring. Meanwhile Shannon is asking if she can stop staring at the ceiling, she tired of seeing cobwebs and spiders. "NO!" I yell.
So there she is, the love of my life in her flannel pajamas, looking up at the ceiling. This is the woman I'm going to propose to. I sneak behind her, get on one knee, grab her hand as she spins around… kneeing me in the face. I really don't recall what I said, and thankfully neither does she, but ring in hand I'm pretty certain I asked her to marry me. I do remember her response—"Are you sure?" Am I sure? Am I sure? You have no idea what I've been through! I'm sure as sure! Thankfully, "are you sure" was soon turned around with a big fat YES! It just took a few moments for her to get over the shock. We will be married this September, and even though it wasn't my finest moment—it was very much one of my finest moments.
Christi & Sean
Wallingford, CT
Christmas of 2006 one of my few wishes came true -- tickets to swim with the dolphins. Sean and I went on a cruise in January 2007 with one of my best friends from high school and his wife. We arrived in Cozumel Mexico at Chankanaab National Park to snorkel and swim with the dolphins for the day. Our group of eight people was called to view the instructions for the dolphin encounter. We walked on the dock and down into the water and spent the most amazing hour with the most beautiful creatures in the ocean. Toward the end of our dolphin swim the instructor threw a floating ring into the water. The dolphin swam and picked it up with his nose. (Unknown to me, there was a 35-millimeter film case duct taped to the floating ring, stuffed with cotton and my ring inside).
I was called up to remove the floating ring from the dolphin's nose (thinking this is still part of the show) and then instructed to open the case taped to the ring. Still thinking nothing of it, I opened the container and immediately began to cry and turned slightly to see Sean down on one knee in the water. "Christi, will you marry me?" I was trying not to cry hysterically in front of the accumulating crowd but I couldn't even blurt out the only word I wanted to say. I just kept nodding my head with tears rolling down my cheeks.
After I collected myself and we went back on the deck, the trainers got all 12 dolphins in a row and had them jump like fireworks at the end for us. The staff was absolutely wonderful! They said they had something very special for us and to come back to the gift shop in 10 minutes. Upon arrival to the gift shop, we were greeted by Mauricio who was in charge, "I have a special video that we put together of the two of you and your experience and would like to show you a private viewing." The staff had edited our one-hour experience including the engagement of just the two of us and set it to music. We couldn't be happier! The staff at the park went above and beyond to capture our moment and make it so very special.
