Here’s what happens: This guy whips out a megaphone and proposes to his girlfriend, Erika, whom he met a year ago at Disneyland. Then he and a cast of thousands launch into a polished and professional musical number involving a really awful original song filled with Disney product placements. Or, as Disney puts it, “A magical moment happens on Main Street, U.S.A. when a young man proposes to his girlfriend on a Summer evening in Disneyland® Resort.”
Viewers are sharply divided. Says one romantic on the OC website, “What if the two were or are cast members at Disneyland… and truly met on the job a year ago on MAINSTREET and John talked to the performance department and asked to do the special proposal? Why couldn’t it be true? Seriously… quit being so negative. And so what if it was staged… IT WAS DISNEYLAND!!!” YouTube viewers are harsher. Many, in typically scholarly YouTube fashion, declare the guy to be gay. Others point out triumphantly that it must be staged – because how else does everyone know the words?! And some people actually point out reasonable things, like that this coincides suspiciously with Disneyland’s new “Summer Nightastic spectacular.”
Whether the couple are acting or not – and we hope they are – the video’s caught on: in addition to its views, MousePlanet writes that “A cast member tells us that the resort has seen a recent increase in the number of people who call the Guest Relations and Fairy Tale Weddings departments to inquire about staging their own proposal at Disneyland, but, as MousePlanet reader ‘MrZombie’ discovered when he called, the options are limited.”
Update: Since this ran, we’ve received information from a tipster informing us that the video is a fake: the actress who plays “Erika” has a different boyfriend In Real Life. Which means that this is, indeed, purely for PR, and the Lamest Scam Ever.
Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal [YouTube]
A Disney Princess Bride-to-Be [The Big Money]
Did Disneyland Try Viral Video Promotion of Summer Nightastic? [OC]