It was big news last week when a Disney Parks employee was seen on video snatching a ring during a ruined proposal moment. The incident happened at Disneyland Paris, and went so viral that ultimately the House of Mouse made a public apology. Now, however, the young man who was down on one knee – and claims he’d gotten permission to propose in the area – has spoken out about his feelings regarding the incident and what happened after Disney reached out.
Disneyland Paris has had its share of viral moments, but if you have yet to see what happened in this case and how it went down, you really need to see the full footage, below.
pos_destroyed_my_best_friends_moment_he_asked_for from r/iamatotalpieceofshit
The young man was mid-proposal when a Disney cast member snatched his ring and moved he and his partner aside (while a large crowd watched to boot). After the incident, the 31-year-old German I.T. employee whose name is Ante, says his mind “was empty” when the moment happened. Afterwards his 26-year-old now-fiancèe spent the rest of the day “at the same time very happy and sad.” He also noted:
Disneyland stands for dreams. Our moment was destroyed.
The two were huge Disneyland fans, which was mainly the reason Ante wanted to propose to his partner while they were in the parks. The man, who spoke to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity, said he’d bought his girl a rose a la Beauty and the Beast in a dome on an early date. They've also made a habit of watching Disney classic films together.
To note, Ante has maintained he asked for permission to step up onto the platform that housed great views of the castle before he got on one knee. That part has not been verified. But it can easily be seen in the video that in front of a crowd of onlookers, the young man was in the middle of proposing when another cast member walked up, snatched the ring and then said the proposal would be better elsewhere.
This isn't the first time that a marriage proposal has been thwarted at a Disney theme park. For Disneyland’s part, I’m sure the company doesn’t want viral videos running around of couples getting to propose in restricted areas and I’m sure training goes down with cast members about how to handle situations such as this. Having said this, the optics of snatching a ring in the middle of the proposal to loud boos from the crowd is probably not the look the theme parks would be hoping for either.
Which is likely why Disney apologized and offered a free trip to the couple, who would be allowed to spend a free weekend at any of the parks around the world. Yet, from the sounds of things, they don’t want it:
I don’t want to visit Disneyland any more. They can’t give us the moment back and that’s the only thing I want — to get a second chance.
Ante said that after the moment, he wasn’t even sure if he’d gotten a yes, as things had taken a turn so swiftly. He sat down on a bench afterward with his partner, gave her the ring and they watched the video of what had happened go down, as he’d handed his phone to a bystander to record the moment, which will now live on in perpetuity on the Internet. From the former theme park guest's point of view, there's simply no way for him to turn the proposal blip into a happy moment, even at the place where magic gets real.
