[Brian]

Well here we go finally, ready to start the trip report. Thanks again for all the well wishes!

I'm going to start this trip report well before we actually got to WDW, since there was clearly a lot of unique planning to make this all happen. I apologize in advance for such a long post, but a lot went into this vacation. I'm guessing that this will be the longest installment of my report. Here we go...

Well everything really started last fall, as I was approaching my college graduation in December. Nicole and I had been together nearly 6 years at this point. Throughout our college years we planned our entire future, although realistically we knew rushing marriage would be silly with both of us in school. But now that I was prepared to move on and with Nicole finished in May, I figured we had finally reached that point when we were ready to get engaged. She had always hoped it could happen sooner, so I knew I didn't have to worry about her being hesitant.

Our first vacation together was to WDW to celebrate her high school graduation (I am a year older). During my sophomore year I moved to Florida for four months to participate in the WDW College Program. Upon my return Nicole and I had visited WDW at least twice a year, so there was little doubt that this was the perfect place to get engaged. And we had always thrown around the idea of actually getting married there, so it seemed to be the obvious choice.

I started looking into a January trip, when she was in between semesters and I could justify the trip as a graduation celebration for myself. However her mom unexpectedly booked a Carribbean cruise for all of us, so my plans were out. While I certainly could have popped the question there, I decided to stick with my original idea. So as soon as we returned I started planning a March trip, this time during her spring break. I booked a room at POR and airfare and thought everything was set, until I landed a job with the school district I had been working part-time for. Because our spring break was different than Nicole's, I was forced to cancel once again. I began to think that this wasn't going to work out as planned.

We then began considering a move to Florida so that Nicole could attend pharmacy school at the University of Florida. Now I was willing to take the time off of work in order to check on housing and employment, so I booked POR and airfare once again for a long Memorial Day weekend (Tuesday night through Sunday). I immediately began considering exactly how I would propose. I had lots of the obvious ideas in my head (fireworks, private boat ride, beach), but wanted to do something different and that really had a connection to her. I contacted the local planning agency since Disney no longer offers engagement packages. They came up with some great ideas, just nothing that seemed perfect in my mind. The truth is I had no idea exactly what that was.

I then considered her absolute favorite thing at WDW, the Beauty and the Beast show at MGM. Coupled with the show, we had become very big fans of Four For A Dollar (Return 2 Zero off property) who open for the show. I was very pleased to find that they had a website so I had a very convenient means of contacting them without completely embarassing myself. I wasn't sure if this was something they had even been asked, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try. The next day I received an email back from Doug of the group. He explained that this was something they did from time to time, and that they would be happy to be part of it. The best thing was they pretty much had a set plan already so there was very little I had to consider. He simply told me to email them a day or two before we left, which I thought was crazy since it was then almost two months away. My only responsibility was to convince Nicole we needed to go to a specific show and ask for special seats up front, but her graduation was a perfect cover for all of that. Now I just needed to plan everything else!

The ring was going to be the tough part. Nicole's father had passed away a few days after 9-11 after a battle with cancer. Her mom had offered Nicole her engagement ring if she wanted to use it one day, as a symbol of her dad. They talked it over with me to make sure I was alright with that, which of course I was. We decided that we would get the stone put in a new setting when the time came, and her mom put the ring away.

So I first considered privately asking her mom for the ring, but I was worried that she could simply not keep the excitement to herself and ruin the surprise. So instead I decided to try to trick Nicole into asking for the ring, so that the two of us could pick out the setting together since it held such sentimental value. I convinced her that I simply wanted to take care of the cost of this now while I had a good job with so few bills. I constantly reminded her that we could not engaged now and not to get excited, because she still had pharmacy school left and there was no way we could afford a wedding. It may sound cruel now, but it certainly worked perfectly. After finding out what she liked, I secretly had it done quickly so that it would be ready before we left. I even asked her if she wanted to go out to look more when we got back from vacation, so that there was no way she could see it coming in WDW.

The last part of my planning was the resort debate. Since I was still recruiting for Disney's College Program at my school, I receive a significant discount on almost everything at WDW. It had even allowed us a stay at GF with her family in 2002. I had initially booked POR since we had stayed there before and loved it. But I started to second guess myself since it was such a special occasion. So I looked into the deluxe resorts and found that AKL had my discount available and I switched. Still I was second guessing myself because I booked a standard view room since the savannah view was such a jump in price. But just two weeks before leaving I finally went for her all-time wish, the Yacht Club. I knew this would be the last time visiting with my discount, so there couldn't have been a more perfect time to go for it. I then made priority seatings at her favorite restaurants as well as the carriage ride at POR.

Everything now seemed to be planned, and I confirmed my plan with Doug a few days in advance. I decided to plan the proposal for our first full day in Florida, so that we could celebrate our engagement the remainder of our time there.

On to day one...