In a phone interview on Monday, Ante, 31, who lives near Stuttgart, Germany, and works in I.T., said he and his fiancée, 26, were perplexed and saddened after his proposal was waylaid.
“Disneyland stands for dreams,” he said. “Our moment was destroyed.”
He said that he had been planning the proposal since Christmas, when his fiancée gave him the tickets to Disneyland. In the four years they have been together, Ante added, the magic of Disney has played an important role in their relationship.
Early on in their relationship, he said, he gave her a rose in a glass dome, similar to the enchanted rose in “Beauty and the Beast.” They’ve watched nearly every one of Disney’s films, he said, adding that he had agonized for months over exactly where, how and when to propose.
By the time they got to the theme park, Ante said, he felt he could no longer wait until the fireworks show in the evening. “I was too excited,” he said. Before climbing up to the stage, he said, he whispered into an employee’s ear, asking her for permission.
Disney did not immediately answer questions about whether that was the case, or whether the employee who shunted them off the stage had faced disciplinary action.
In the aftermath of his marred plan, Ante said, he and his fiancée weren’t even sure if she had said yes. He said they had settled on a nearby bench, where he put the ring on her finger, and together, they quietly watched the clip of the proposal on his phone (which he had initially handed to a stranger to film with).
