help with engagement

[randal]

I am planning on asking my girlfriend to marry me this month at Disneyland and I was wondering if anybody had some ideas for me. I was thinking of getting a character or two involved, or maybe proposing somewhere before the fireworks start, or combining those two ideas. How do I make this happen and who do I need to talk to? I'm open for ideas. THANKS!

 

[lurkyloo]

I'm not sure if Disneyland does any kind of formal engagement package like Disney World does, but I'm sure you could enlist the aid of any cast member, including the ones handling the characters. The trick is to do it without your fiancee knowing!

My fiance proposed in the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square. You could also propose in the Blue Bayou or on one of her favorite rides (the Haunted Mansion would be cool!). Of course, the fireworks are always a favorite!

 

[wdw4us]

I would call guest services. Are you planning on any special dinners. I'm not that familiar with Disneyland but I was once at Victoria & Alberts at the GF when a CM brought out dessert. A glass slipper on a pillow with the ring in it.

Wow what a shock for the girl with lots of tears. My friend went over to their table and took their camera and snapped a lot of pictures. They never knew she did it. They were too involved with their own celebration to notice. To this day they probably still wonder how all those shots appeared on their film. We had a blast watching the whole thing.

I would make a priority seating at a nice restaurant and tell them to make a note of the reservation of what you plan on doing. When you get to the restaurant, find a way to let your server in on the plan.

Please post and let us know how it went, pictures would be great too, sorry my friend Kathy has no plans to visit CA!!

denise

 

[lurkyloo]

I'm not sure if Disneyland does any kind of formal engagement package like Disney World does, but I'm sure you could enlist the aid of any cast member, including the ones handling the characters. The trick is to do it without your fiancee knowing!

My fiance proposed in the Court of Angels in New Orleans Square. You could also propose in the Blue Bayou or on one of her favorite rides (the Haunted Mansion would be cool!). Of course, the fireworks are always a favorite!

Ooh - how about in a secluded spot on Tom Sawyer Island (aka Pirate's Lair)? Or on the train? There's also a nice spot overlooking the pond between Frontierland and Fantasyland that gets really quiet in the evenings. Really, you can't go wrong!

 

[Kashmir104]

How exciting you are planning to propose in Disneyland!!!

My DF did some research and talked with a ton of people at the Disneyland Resort to find out there is only a list of "suggested" places and no pre-set packages like in Disney World... most of the suggestions were cute, but very public. If you are interested, you can PM me and I can ask my DF who he contacted to get the list (I'm not sure if he still has it)- I know he called around for a good few days before he got some good info.

My DF proposed at a private dinner he set up on the 6th floor balcony (facing Disneyland) at the Grand Californian hotel... they piped in the music from Wishes to the balcony and he proposed right after the last song "When you wish upon a star." It was sooo romantic and private, but very Disney!!! I would highly recommend working with the Grand Californian. He had a great experience with them (even after the waitress was a little slow with everything... very nice, but slow. If you do this I would ask them to make sure the waiter/waitress is attentive and knows (and can understand) the schedule for everything. You can read more about this below.)

He set up our 1st engagement anniversary dinner to be the same exact thing (this time around we had an extremely attentive and super sweet waiter who brought us engagement pins, free drinks, and everything! I don't remember his name, but he was really great!)

You might be able to get Mickey or another character to make an appearance on the balcony, but for a price of course.

You can read more about our engagement here and see some pictures:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=18198022&postcount=10

And here are a few pictures from our 1st engagement anniversary dinner:
The balcony where the proposal took place:

When we came back to our hotel room at the Grand Californian (DF requested this through the Grand Californian):

My only suggestion would be to request flowers for the table or something. That was the one thing my DF forgot (he was so attentive on everything else that the flowers were the last thing on his mind... in the end it didn't matter, but it would've been nice I'm kind of a traditional sap in that case)... notice 1 year later DF requested orange roses (my fav)...

Lots of luck and let me know if you have any questions!!!

 

[randal]

The Grand Californian Hotel is outside of Disneyland right? These are all really helpful ideas, thank you all very much. I don't know if Disneyland has a formal engagement like Disneyworld does either....

 

[randal]

Oh, and if I need the help of a cast member or a character, I guess I would just have to ask them the day of?

 

[Kashmir104]

The Grand Californian Hotel is outside of Disneyland right? These are all really helpful ideas, thank you all very much. I don't know if Disneyland has a formal engagement like Disneyworld does either....

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is part of the Disneyland Resort area (one of the 3 Disney hotels) and has views of either Downtown Disney/Disneyland Park or the California Adventure Park. It is very similar to Disney's Wilderness Lodge in the Disney World Resort area, if that helps any. The lobby area is gorgeous- big and spaci I suggest even if you don't stay there or propose there that you stop into the lobby area and have drinks around the fireplace or a romantic dinner at The Napa Rose.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/dis...landing?name=GrandCalifornianHotelLandingPage

It's one of my favorite hotels!

 

[randal]

You seem to know a lot about this, thanks again for all the help. Do you know how he got ahold of Cinderella's glass slipper?

 

[Kashmir104]

You seem to know a lot about this, thanks again for all the help. Do you know how he got ahold of Cinderella's glass slipper?

I talked to Eric (my DF) and he said that you have to contact Disney Vacation Planning Services, who in turn will put you in touch with the Special Events department. From there you can find out the different options they have for engagements (apparently the slipper was one of their ideas, so I'm sure if you asked it would be no problem.) They probably would even be able to help you if you wanted to get it engraved to commemorate the special event.

I know a lot about it because as soon as he proposed I wanted to find out how he put this all together so well (behind my back at that!)... I'm totally a Disney girl and he never really was into it, so I was curious who he contacted and how he thought up the ideas. Apparently Disney just grew on him too. I found out that the Disneyland Resort was really accommodating and helpful, despite not having a particular package, which really secured us for wanted to have a Disney wedding as well!

It wasn't quite the moment at the castle at night alone in the park swept away by Cinderella's coach followed by dinner at Club 33 that I had always dreamed about since I was a little girl (which, if it was even available at all, would've been outrageously expensive!!) but it ended up being so private and so perfect.

The # to call is: 1-714-300-PLAN (7526)
http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/myVacation/index?name=VacationPlanningServicesPage

If you wanted to buy the slipper yourself, you could probably do so through the Arribas Bros website: http://www.arribas.com/ Look under the crystal section. Or contact Disneyland DelivEARS at 1-800-362-4533 or email dl.delivears@disney.go.com.

I know the special event people have like a 1-2 page list of proposal ideas both in the parks and in the hotels, so I'm sure you'll find something and no matter what you do it will be very special. I'm just partial to my own in particular because it happened to me as I'm sure all girls are!

 

[randal]

WOW, you really do know a lot! Thanks again, I really appreciate it. Sounds like yours went really well, and I'm sure your wedding will be awesome. Let me know how that goes.

 

[lurkyloo]

It wasn't quite the moment at the castle at night alone in the park swept away by Cinderella's coach followed by dinner at Club 33 that I had always dreamed about since I was a little girl (which, if it was even available at all, would've been outrageously expensive!!) but it ended up being so private and so perfect.

You didn't miss anything - your dinner at the Grand Californian had to have been way better than any of the food I've had at Club 33 in the last few years - it's all rubbery seafood and overcooked meat. Your real-life proposal dinner turned out way better!

 

[randal]

SO I called Disneyland, first I called the "PLAN" number then they directed me to City Hall. Surprisingly they weren't very helpful. They tried to get off the phone with me as quick as possible before I asked my questions. So now I'm kind of stuck. All they told me was that they don't get characters involved and they made one suggestion that I propose by the wishing well. Maybe I should just wait to talk to somebody the day I go there? I was disappointed with the call and now I wonder if I will be able to get the help I need when I'm there....

 

[clh2]

Randal - FWIW - I rarely post on the wedding board, and I have no Disney wedding/proposal/vow renewal experience.

One thing I have learned from these boards is - if you call a particular number at Disney and get a CM that is - well - particularly not very helpful, just call back a short time later. There IS a CM that knows exactly what would be helpful for your proposal, you just need to find that CM. KWIM?