Help
Me
Marissa, my girlfriend
Annette, my travel agent
Prologue
As some of you know, I proposed to my girlfriend on my trip to Walt Disney World this past December. I picked Walt Disney World because….I had no choice.
For a long time, she had told me I could only propose to her on Walt Disney World property so every time we went down, I knew she had in the back of her mind the thought that I could be proposing. Personally, I like for things to be a surprise so I wanted to really surprise her so I coordinated with a travel agent friend of mine to make this happen. Below is what happened on the day I decided to propose. The big day
We woke up at the Boardwalk and had plans to go to Animal Kingdom to meet up with some friends as well as go to an Annual Pass preview for the Finding Nemo musical. We arrived at Animal Kingdom before the gates opened and ran into Lou Mongello (Author of the Walt Disney World Trivia books) and spoke with him for a bit before Len Testa (coauithor of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World) found us three and invited us to jump in line with him in front. We all eventually made our way into the park and decided to go ride Everest.
When we got to Everest it was actually not running for some reason. We (and the rest of the people in the park) decided to go get a FASTPASS. In the meantime, Lou left to go to a meet while myself, Marissa, Len, Len’s wife and another statistician for the Unofficial Guide went to ride Dinosaur.
For those who don’t know, I’m petrified of Dinosaur. I can’t explain it but I can’t open my eyes and I just cower next to whomever I’m sitting next to. Well, Len didn’t believe me so we rode and as predicted, I was scared and was very glad when it was over.
Afterwards it was time for our Annual Pass preview of the Finding Nemo musical which was cute. If you go, be sure to sit in the seats close to the center and in the back section as those sitting in the front will have to turn around a lot to see performers who sometimes are behind them.
After Nemo Everest was up and running and our FASTPASS’s were valid so we managed to ride Everest very quickly. After exiting Everest, Marissa and I decided we had done everything we wanted to do in Animal Kingdom so decided we should go to Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in and perhaps relax a bit before our plans for the afternoon. On our way out we ran into my travel agents, which is significant because I was conspiring with them to plan the activities for the evening to propose. I was able to mouth a few things to my travel agent, Annette, who was coordinating things on her side.
After exiting Animal Kingdom, we went to the Lodge to check in. Unfortunately our room was not ready yet so we walked around the Lodge and looked at the animals and spent some time laughing at the flamingos which for those who haven’t seen them, are the real life equivalent to the sea gulls in Finding Nemo.
We had a 1:30 ADR at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater so we made our way to MGM and I know what you’re thinking, “Matt, why did you eat the Sci-Fi? Don’t you hate it?â€. I do! But I figure you have to check these places out every so often to see if they’ve gotten better. They didn’t. The food is still overpriced and average tasting at best.
Following lunch I had two Mousefest meets to attend, the first being the Star Tours meet and then the podfest meet. At the podfest meet, another one of the travel agents working with Annette managed to snag me while I told Marissa I was going to mingle with the people there and she told me everything was in place.
Before I go any further, let me tell you the plan now (emphasis on “planâ€). The plan was for Marissa and I to walk down the main street of the Osborne Lights and find a bench near Lights, Motors, Action where we had sat last year to watch the lights where I would then excuse myself to go to the bathroom where I’d meet Annette who would have a bouquet of roses and I would go back to Marissa, surprise her and propose.
Back to reality… we exited podfest and made our way to the Writer’s Stop to wait for the Osborne Lights to turn on. I was incredibly nervous. Marissa had gotten a bucket of popcorn but I was too nervous to eat any of it. I wasn’t nervous because I didn’t think she’d say no, but proposing isn’t exactly an easy thing to do. Plus I wanted it to all go off without a hitch.
Well the lights turned on and we made our way down the street just as I planned and I told Marissa we should go sit in the bench we had sat in last year. Well we got to the spot and…the bench was gone! I quickly improvised and told her to wait here while I go to the bathroom and we would find another bench when I got back. Good recovery, right? Well, here’s what happened next…
Me: I’m going to go to the bathroom
Marissa; OK, I’ll go too.
Me: Umm….no.
Marissa: Why?
Me: Why don’t you just wait here for me?
Marissa: Because I have to go. Why don’t you want me to go to the bathroom with you?
Me: …..no reason, fine, let’s go to the bathroom.
So we both went to the bathrooms by Lights, Motors, Action although I walked in and out and found Annette who had spotted Marissa coming and ducked under a bush or something
We frantickly panicked while I explained what happened. Annette said she would take the flowers to another bench where another travel agent was sitting and I would bring Marissa there and we would pretend to run into each other and I could propose there. Marissa got out of the bathroom and now I needed an excuse to back to an area we had seen. The best I could come up with was “Let’s see the lights from the reverse angle†and she either bought it or knows I’m a dork and went along with it.
We got to the bench and I did my best acting job and pointed out the travel agents to Marissa and we all acted how funny it was to run into them. There were two agents on the bench and one excused herself to go take photos of the lights and Annette invited us both to sit down and talk to her. Just as we were about to sit down, a little girl sat down on the bench instead! Annette and I panicked, not knowing what to do. One of the other travel agents quickly went to the girl’s family and explained what was happening and the family shooed away the girl and we sat down.
A few chit-chats later and Annette excused herself and it was finally just Marissa and I. I told her I had a surprise for her and reached under the bench and pulled out a bouquet of flowers wrapped in a bag that Annette had placed there and gave them to her. Before Marissa could count how many roses there were, I got down on one knee and pulled out a ring I had hidden in my backpack and asked her to marry me. She nodded yes, not able to talk and we hugged and kissed. Evidently the only thing I screwed up was I was supposed to put the ring on her hand but Marissa whispered it to me and I put it on her finger. Afterwards our travel agents who were lurking to watch snapped away lots of photos and we posed for some more. It went off really well and I owe so much credit to Annette who made it all possible.
We met online via this site and then met in the real world. So first us, next up is your son and Colin's daughter :mrgreen:
