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Being proposed to at Disneyland while wearing Mickey Mouse ears isn’t something many people have experienced. But English teacher Alaina Burke has, and not with her husband.
In high school Mrs. Burke played baritone in the marching band and on the band’s trip to Disney World over the New Year holiday she and a friend hatched a plan.
“We couldn’t ride the rides because it was so busy in the park,” she said. “So we thought it would be really funny to get the bride and groom Mickey Mouse ears and fake a proposal in front of the castle.”
After a couple of days of joking around about it they decided to make it happen, although with regular Mickey ears.
“I had just gotten my face painted as Simba and we were wearing matching band t-shirts,” she said. “We were waiting for the electric light parade to start and we decided he would propose on the parade route. We asked a neighbor to borrow a ring and hopped over the barrier. This was in front of my dad, our band director and probably a thousand people. We held hands and were pointing around looking at the different buildings and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes and we hugged and then went back to our seats with the rest of our friends. Everyone believed it. It was awesome.”
The proposal was so convincing that Disney employees gave them free merch.
“It was light-up glasses,” she said.
While it’s a stretch from the Jane Austen books some of her seniors choose to read for their senior papers, the Disney proposal is an unforgettable memory.
Interestingly, her husband, Colin, was also a member of that high school band. They met in third grade.
“He says he had a crush on me from day one which is really sweet,” she said. “I friend zoned him. I didn’t know until college. He was just waiting for me.”
That has led to advice for the seniors she teaches.
“I tell my seniors, ‘Guys, it’s okay if she friend zones you. There’s some hope!’” Mrs. Burke said.
She shares other college advice with her seniors, too.
“I tell them don’t walk or text with your earbuds in. Try to smile at the people that you pass by. Greet them as a sign of their dignity,” she said. “Some students have done that and emailed me after and they said that people are confused about why someone is saying hi or good morning. They also said it’s really good to be challenged to greet people and look them in the eye.”
Mrs. Burke also shares with seniors that they don’t need to know what they’re going to major in at this point.
“I tell them if you don’t know what you want to do, it’s ok to go in undecided. It’s a lot of pressure to know what you want to do when you’re 17 or 18. There’s no shame in saying your major is undecided,” she said.
She has also encouraged them to be open to new experiences as they leave high school.
“I think a lot of them are afraid to be creative or to do something different or to critically think,” she said. “It’s ok to be uncomfortable. School should be uncomfortable because you haven’t learned it all yet.”
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