Last week, Lucas and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We did crafts with the kids, exchanged gifts, visited Epcot, and at ate our favorite restaurant. It was a good day.

In honor of four years, I wanted to share our proposal story {spoiler alert: It’s pretty epic.}. Here’s a quick, couple of hints: dinner, Disney resort, private boat, fireworks, and Tangled lanterns. Hooked yet? Well, keep on reading to hear the whole story!

1. The Story

First, let’s set the scene…

The Date: March 11, 2017

The Place: Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

The Time: 6:00pm EST

Lucas and I were visiting Orlando that weekend, and he told me that he had a special date planned. Of course, I was on super high alert after the words “special date”, so to be honest, I thought this was the night. We began our evening with dinner at Artist Point. This is now Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White, but at the time, it was Midwestern themed with a similar menu to boot. Now, the restaurant {and pretty much the entire resort’s staff} knew what was going to happen, so the hostess seated us at the best table in the house {overlooking the waterfall} and a complimentary champagne toast was waiting for us when we arrived at the table. I honestly don’t remember what I ordered, but it was great, especially the bread {you know, the important part haha}.

After dinner, Lucas said that we needed to hustle over to Fort Wilderness for the second part of the surprise. We headed to the boats but found that there was a SUPER long line. Lucas started to get concerned that we were going to be late and miss the boat {at this point, I was assuming we were doing a group fireworks tour and if we were late, they would leave without us}, so we beelined for the car. We head to Fort Wilderness, which was only allowing guests with reservations enter. Again, another SUPER long line to get in, and this security guard was not letting us enter. His words were, “You need to go to the end of the line” {which was easily 10 cars long}. Lucas kept pressing him and said “We have a confirmation number. We have plans right now and are going to miss it.” Finally, that perked him up, and he said, “Oh, let me see this confirmation number.” He called the front desk and came back and said, “Next time, you need to show the confirmation number. It’s not my job to know everything going on at the resort.” So not only was he a security guard that didn’t know events happening at the resort he was stationed at, he proceeded to blame Lucas {a Guest} for his mistake of not letting us in. Worst Cast Member experience ever. I still remember his name. Thank goodness Lucas finally said the magic words of “I have a confirmation number.” So, if you are ever in a bind and have a confirmation number, mention the confirmation number.

ANYWAY, we are finally in and now the time crunch is dire, and where we needed to go doesn’t have parking. If you have never been to Fort Wilderness, you need to know that Fort Wilderness is HUGE. They have golf cart rentals, which are extremely popular, due to the size of this resort. So I tell Lucas, go to the marina, start driving around, and I’ll just ask someone if we can park at their camp spot for a couple of hours. We find someone sitting outside their RV, and they are so nice and let us park at their site. I never got their name, but they were the heroes of the night. Seriously, the best. We’re running to the marina, and Lucas gets a call asking where we are. The CM says he’ll wait for us, and we get there……and it’s a boat for just us. A private Wishes fireworks cruise. It was the best surprise.

A little backstory. Wishes is my favorite Disney fireworks show of all time. **gasp** I know, I know. What about Happily Ever After? Illuminations? Okay, Illuminations is also pretty great, but I just am not a huge fan of Happily Ever After. I prefer watching fireworks at Magic Kingdom without the projections because then you can watch it from anywhere in the park. Anyway, I digress. Wishes is extremely special to me. I watched Wishes every night from the Country Bear Jamboree porch during my CP, and that show just gives me the all the feels. Lucas knew this and knew he wanted to incorporate it into our proposal. Okay, time back in.

We are on the boat and making our way to the center of the Seven Seas Lagoon. First off, I have to say that this cruise was awesome. It just your party with one CM, and the first part of the cruise is them driving around the lagoon and sharing fun facts and Disney history. Plus, there are complimentary snacks, and they were like legit snacks. At the end of the cruise, we were encouraged to take whatever we wanted, and I grabbed two Mickey-shaped Rice Krispies {yeah, those were part of the snacks} to thank the couple that let us park on their lot. And of course, you have AMAZING seats for the fireworks show.

So here we are, on the water by ourselves, watching the best fireworks show ever, and then Lucas….does nothing. WHAT?!? I definitely thought he was going to propose on that boat, so when he didn’t, all hopes of a proposal kind of dropped from my mind and I thought it was just a really cool date.

Then….the boat docked at Wilderness Lodge and not Fort Wilderness….

We get off the boat, and I see these people staring and then running off in the distance. I thought it was my friend Karin {turns out it wasn’t}, but instantly, my antennae went up. Lucas takes my hand and we start walking the boardwalk at the Lodge, and we come to a single lantern with the first line of “At Last I See the Light” chorus. As we continue to walk, we pass another lantern with the second line, with the number of lanterns continuing the grow as we reach each lantern. We pass the final line and then turn the corner to see this:

At the end of the aisle is a lantern with our initials and the magic, golden flower. Lucas gets down on one knee and proposes.

Our friends and my family {mom and sister} all come out, and the celebration begins. We take pictures, eat cake {with the best cake topper – we actually ended up using it on our wedding cake}, and celebrate the promise of the marriage to come.

Of course, our amazing friends didn’t let the magic stop there. While we ate cake, they snuck all the lanterns into the room Lucas got for the night for one last surprise, bringing that last bit of pixie dust to a perfect proposal.

2. The Resort

Wilderness Lodge. Wilderness Lodge is my favorite resort. Obviously, I’m a smidge biased, but this place has some really great offerings. First off, the food. There is Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White, which is a character dining experience {obviously Snow White and the Evil Queen}. I have not eaten there since the retheming, but the reviews rave about it. It is top on my list to try once it reopens {closed due to COVID}. The other dining options are Whispering Canyon, Roaring Fork {indoor quick serve}, and Geyser Point Bar & Grill {outdoor quick serve}. All three are truly great and are in our frequent rotation for resort dining.

You know I love a good theme, and Wilderness Lodge’s “lodgey” {yeah, I said it} feel is so fun. They really bring the midwestern theme to life in the best way possible, and it has such beautiful grounds to explore full of fun sites and beautiful views.

Lastly, the location is pretty fantastic. It’s not one of the “Big Three” on the monorail track, but it is just across the bridge from Magic Kingdom and only a quick boat ride away. Bonus, the boats also go to Fort Wilderness, which has a plethora of activity options.

3. The Extras

“So what about all the super cool things, Jasmine?!” Well, let me tell ya.

The Private Fireworks Cruise. Right now, they aren’t running due to no fireworks with COVID protocols in place, but normally, you can book your own fireworks cruise via this link. There are a couple of different options, depending on your desired price range.

The Lanterns. So for the proposal, Lucas played art director, but there were some really good friends that printed and created every single one of those lanterns. Y’all, there were over a hundred lanterns. We have some really awesome friends.

The Cake. Here is the delightful cake that our friends purchased for us to celebrate.

The Toast. Here is the little extra toast that our friends added to our room to toast to our future.

4. The Magic

I’ll say it. Our proposal was epic. And memorable. And magical. And simply perfect.

But behind the scenes, it was definitely a labor of love. We will always be grateful for the friends that put in the hours to make this amazing proposal, specifically:

  • Karin
  • Ryan A.
  • Ryan H.
  • Thomas
  • Kim
  • Jenn
  • Steven

Beyond our friends, there were numerous Cast Members at the resort that went above and beyond to help out, and if you are reading this, thank you .

Lastly, if you are reading this and debating whether a Disney proposal or wedding is worth it, I will always say yes. Disney Weddings is the most magical branch of Disney {and that saying something!}, so if you are leaning towards it, reach out to the team. They are simply the best and will work so hard to make your dreams come true.

That’s all for today!

Until next time…

Stay Magical!

Jasmine

*Disclaimer: All opinions shared are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company. They are completely my own and shared from a Disney guest perspective.