My Biggest Regret About Getting Engaged at Disneyland

Even though I’ve always loved classic Disney Princess movies with the extravagant weddings and handsome princes, I never really pictured my own wedding as a little girl.

Don’t get me wrong — I love, love — but that was something that I didn’t daydream about for myself. On the other hand, as a Disney adult, I have always pictured getting engaged in a Disney park…so I was thrilled when my partner popped the question in front of Snow White Grotto in Disneyland. However, I have one major regret about the entire experience and it was ALL MY FAULT. ?

Ready to hop in the time machine? I’m taking you with me back to April 10th, 2023. This was my (now) fiancé’s first trip ever to Disneyland! Naturally, since he was going with a lifelong Disneyland fan (AKA me), this meant we had to hit EVERYTHING, so I planned accordingly. Little did I know there was a different plan all along!

April 10th was the first day of our three days in the theme parks and since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, we got Early Entry which means we got into the park 30 minutes before everyone else. I had a whole itinerary starting in Fantasyland and then running over to the super popular Indiana Jones ride just before the park officially opened. We’d be pushing it time-wise, but I knew we could do it and then relax later in the day (this is almost always my strategy to get the most done).

So we set off on this plan. We rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (nothing like starting your morning off with a trip to Hell), Alice in Wonderland, and Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. There’s nothing better than a morning full of classic Disney rides, in my opinion!

After that, we had about five minutes until the park opened, so, as I had planned, I started to lead us over to the Indiana Jones Adventure.

I later found out this was when my fiancé couldn’t wait anymore. Apparently, the secret code was “I have to use the bathroom” and that indicated to our mothers, who joined us on this trip, that it was about to happen. Everyone started to act a little surprised but I was so surprised that he was really going to cut into our rope drop time for a bathroom break. But hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go, right?

Then, 30 seconds later, he came back from around the corner and said “Nevermind” which I thought was even weirder. Again, I brushed it off because I was so focused on making it over to Adventureland.

After that, my mom said she wanted to take the shortcut by Snow White’s Grotto. I gave her the sharpest look because I knew that she knew that was the WRONG. WAY. Reluctantly, I followed them down the path…but I was not a happy camper.

I insisted that we were going to get stuck in the crowds if we didn’t leave this second. But they would not stop trying to get me to pose like I was throwing a coin into the fountain.”Ugh. We can do this later when all the rides are crowded.”, I thought.

Here you can see just how frustrated I was. Also apparently I made dropping to one knee difficult because I kept moving around. I was antsy — what can I say!

Eventually, it happened and the attitude immediately dropped. It all made sense now! It was actually perfect timing because this area was EMPTY. As soon as I said “Yes”, the regular park guests started rushing up by the fountain to start their day in the parks.

Also, and this might be the funniest part, Indiana Jones Adventure was closed at park opening so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is!

All of this is to say, my one regret about this day is not going with the flow! It’s okay for plans to change. Maybe it’s for an incredible reason you just don’t know about yet! This ended up being my favorite Disneyland day ever, and we still did plenty of rides to keep the Disney Gremlin inside of me happy.

Do you have any fun stories from the Disney parks that you didn’t expect? Did you get engaged or married at Disney? Let me know in the comments!

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