Marceline, MO – April 1, 2023 – MouseMingle is excited to announce that starting today, any couples who meet on MouseMingle.com and get married to their Mickey or Minnie, can get a full refund of their membership fees while they were paid members of the site. All it takes is to send us a copy of your wedding announcement, a few wedding photos, and to do an interview with us so we can share your story with the world.
Whether you were a member for ten months or ten years, MouseMingle will send you a check for the amount you and your new love spent on your memberships while looking for that special someone. Sure, it won’t be enough money to travel to every Disney Park in the world together, but it should be enough for some turkey legs, corn dogs, Dole whips, and churros (with dipping sauce!) We want to hear your Disney love stories and help inspire others to send a wink or send a message to someone who loves Disney, Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel as much as they do. Magic happens at MouseMingle.com!
If you’ve read this far because you think this is an April Fool’s joke – it’s not. But we hope tons of people think it is a joke and share it all over social media. The more Disney fans we can bring together who are looking for love, the better for those people, and the better for the world – happiness, love, and fun make life worth living.
MouseMingle.com – the dating site for Disney fans.
Kristina and Joe were just meant to be… their paths wouldn’t have crossed if it wasn’t for MouseMingle. She, a Masters of Wine candidate and wine importer in New York; he, an actual Olympic Triathlete based out of Colorado; they connected through the site because a friend of Joe’s created a profile for him (his first and only online-dating experience), and Kristina was a lifelong Disney fan, so it made sense for her to join the site. Long distance Disney romances are simply magic.
Joe spent a lifetime working out, running, bicycling, and swimming, as triathletes do. He traveled the world going from one race to another, and he loved every minute of it. Sadly, before each of the three Olympic trials he trained for, he was hit with bad luck in the form of broken bones and other minor disasters which kept him from achieving his goal to compete in the Olympic Games. But he loved it and kept working at it. He was single much of the time as an athlete, as his schedule kept him extremely busy, and traveling around the globe. His love of Disney even extended to a nickname he got many years ago of “Tigger” because he always had so much energy.
Kristina spent many, many family trips at Walt Disney World, and especially at Fort Wilderness. She loved Disney since she was small, and has wonderful memories of the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. She fell in love with wine and with teaching others about the many differences, and that gave her a career. But she always made time for Disney.
The first wink between the two was on December 2, 2015. The wink led to a message, and the message led to more messages, which eventually turned into a first date. The last first-date for both of them.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]”Hey, I saw him first!”[/su_pullquote]
After sending messages back and forth, and chatting on the phone, it turned out that Kristina and Joe were both going to be in Orlando for New Years, so they decided to meet up at Disney Springs, near Walt Disney World. Joe had a simple plan of going to see the new Star Wars: Force Awakens movie, but Kristina (rightfully) suggested that they go get dinner instead, to get to know each other better. They ended up choosing Morimoto’s, where Kristina showed her New York side and expertly ordered for them. In turn, Joe revealed he inner ‘Tigger’ and was as outgoing and friendly as always – and not just toward Kristina, but to a couple of senior ladies sitting near them who were trying to figure out a cocktail. As he chatted with them and they cheerfully chatted back, Kristina nicely intervened by saying “Hey, I saw him first!” Joe says that’s when he thought “She’s a keeper.”
They had a wonderful dinner and conversation, and decided to wander through Disney Springs while continuing to learn about each other. Joe knew Kristina was afraid of the water, but they somehow ended up at a dock and decided to take a boat to the Port Orleans Resort. He was his charming self, and tried to make Kristina feel safe while they cruised across the lake to the Riverside dock. They spent even more time talking and sharing stories, connecting, and feeling the magic. As they walked and talked, they found themselves at the French Quarter dock, waiting for the return boat to head back. It was there by the lake, a little before midnight on New Years, where they had their first kiss.
The first date was truly special, so a second date was planned soon after. Kristina had mentioned that she had been training to do a Disney Half Marathon, and Joe being an actual triathlete who ran a lot, suggested one of his favorite places to run in Florida… Clay Trail in Clermont, which features a nice view of the Magic Kingdom at the halfway point of the nine mile run. For Joe, nine miles was nothing… but it was still something for Kristina. But she held her own, and they had a great time together. So much so, that they planned yet another date.
Over the next year-and-a-half, Kristina and Joe spent a lot of time together. Their relationship grew and they were in love. During this time, Joe made a big life change and after more than 20 years as a professional athlete, he retired his Olympic plans and decided to move on to a new career as a flight attendant, as he loved all of his years of travel. At the same time, Kristina kicked-up her studying for the Master of Wine, and they began a life together. It was on August 20th, 2017, when they planned a trip to the Polynesian Resort where Joe proposed to Kristina.
Over the months, it was clear to each other that they were going to move forward in their relationship. They enjoyed their adventures in Florida, eating good food together and drinking great wine, and many road trips. And during that time, Kristina even pointed out some favorite rings on Etsy, which Joe made mental notes of, until he finally bought one as an engagement ring… which he showed to all of the women he worked with, to get their ‘professional’ opinions. He knew he had the right ring, and he knew the Polynesian Resort trip was the right date, but he was still nervous. Kristina isn’t a fan of having lots of lots of attention from random people at Disney, so Joe wanted to ask the big question somewhere more private. But, he also didn’t want her to cry and mess up her makeup before dinner… and he didn’t want to fumble and drop the ring somewhere in the dark. But his excuses – and time – were running out. As the weekend drew to a close, and they snuggled on a couch in the lobby of the Polynesian, enjoying their weekend together, Kristina gave Joe a card with their favorite Disney couple on it, Ellie and Carl. It was the perfect time for Joe to give Kristina something… so he took the ring box out of his pocket (which he’d been carrying around all weekend) and gave it to her. Joe says he honestly can’t even remember what he said, but Kristina burst into tears and said yes.
On February 4th, 2019 at Paradise Cove in Orlando, Florida, Kristina and Joe were married, to formally begin their happily ever after.
The beginning…
Check out more of their photos below.
Update: Kristina and Joe appeared on the Tamron Hall Show. Check out the video here…
Kristin and David first started sending winks and messages on MouseMingle in 2016, and were married on May 25, 2019. Kristin sent the first wink to David, then he sent her a message. Her response was a geology pun and David immediately knew this was someone he wanted to get to know.
While they lived about 7 hours apart, Kristin in Pennsylvania and David in Ohio, they moved from sending regular messages on the site, to doing phone and video calls to get to know each better. David is a flight attendant, so tended to be gone for several days at a time first “date” was actually remote – they both hit ‘Play’ at the same time to watch The Princess Bride together over the phone. And the conversation never slowed down after that… there was magic.
After about six months of dating ‘digitally,’ they decided to meet in person. David drove to Kristin’s dorm in Pennsylvania, where she was getting her degree in geology, and they made tacos at her place. David knew he wanted to make the drive more often and spend time with her. Kristin said she was nervous, but felt like she already knew David for ages. It took about a month before they saw each other in person again, but that’s what David started using his flight attendant benefits to hop on flights to go see her. Between flights, bus rides, and driving, they went to visit each other much more over the next several months.
The two bonded over memories of going to Walt Disney World with their families. David’s family tended to be relaxed and take their time when they went to Disney World, while Kristin grew up running from one attraction to the other, trying to get in as much as possible. They spent a fair amount of time talking about their favorite attractions and sharing stories of family visits to the Park. But, it turns out that the first time they went to a Park together wasn’t at Disney World… it was at Disneyland. They went all out and stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel… but somehow, the cast members thought it was their honeymoon, and delivered roses and chocolates to their room to celebrate. They hadn’t even gotten engaged yet, but that didn’t scare Kristin off… it made for a great story, and she loved the flowers.
After about two years of dating, they had a very casual conversation one evening about getting married. In fact, it started more as a discussion about moving in together, as Kristin would be graduating soon, and they wanted to make more definite plans together. At the end of that talk, they suddenly realized they had just gotten engaged. They both laughed about how easy it was and how happy their relationship had been so far. In fact, neither David nor Kristin’s families were surprised about the engagement when they told them.
Their wedding was laid-back and fun. Kristin described it more like a family picnic with both families… and wedding cake. Wedding cake featuring a couple of dinosaur cake-toppers… which were wearing mouse ears. (Remember, she’s into geology and it turns out that David grew up saying he wanted to be a paleontologist!) They’re saving up for their honeymoon to go to Japan, with a big chunk of time set aside to visit Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.
When I first started MouseMingle, I was focused on bringing people together… the long-term effects weren’t at the top of my mind. As I’ve said many times, I honestly created MouseMingle for me. I want to meet a woman who has an annual pass to Disneyland, and loves the magic of Disney, and who finds Walt Disney and the history of Disneyland interesting. Just meeting someone who enjoys spending time with me is the goal. I figured there must be others out there who have the same desire, but I sincerely forgot that people who meet and fall in love, tend to get married.
As I wrote last time, I just performed my first wedding. Kristina and Joe were married on February 4th, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. I was deeply honored that they asked me to perform the ceremony. Since I’m not someone who ever performs weddings, and I have no plans on starting ‘MouseMinister.com,’ this experience will be a cherished, life-long memory, held as dearly as my memories of being a Disneyland Tour Guide, and a Disneyland Locomotive Engineer! And while a surprisingly large number of people give me credit for “changing people’s lives,” I just can’t take credit for that – I’m not personally introducing anyone. The credit goes to those who take the time to join MouseMingle… and to send winks… and to send messages. They are the ones who share their passions and interests, and talk on the phone, and go on dates. They are the ones changing their lives and finding someone who loves the same things they love.
While standing at the back of the wedding venue, waiting for the coordinator to send me up the aisle to begin the event, I looked at all of the friends and family that came to share Kristina and Joe’s special day. During those moments, I kept thinking about all of the people who have met on MouseMingle.com, and who have gotten married (or who still may,) and how wonderful it is that such a simple idea can bring so many people together. That the shared love of something as vast as Disney… or Star Wars… or Pixar… or Marvel, can bring two people together. While those are really just brands that belong to a corporation, the Disney lifestyle is real. People live it every day. We love the feelings those brands evoke. We love the happy memories and the shared experiences we have with others who feel the same way. Disney is a lifestyle – even if every person isn’t at the same level of passion, there is someone at your level. You just need to seek them out… and send a wink.
Anaheim, CA – May 12, 2018 – Shortly before MouseMingle.com went live, Heather was planning a month-long visit to Florida, from her home in Australia, to see family and friends – and to spend a week at Walt Disney World. By herself. But a few weeks before her trip, MouseMingle became “a thing” and lots of her friends and family told her she needed to join.
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Tony was just getting back into the dating world, and like Heather, he suddenly got a huge response from his social circles about MouseMingle. “They were enthusiastically telling me, THIS is where you need to be looking for somebody” because it’s the dating site for fans of all things Disney. “I had FUN answering these questions for a dating site,” because you don’t normally get asked what your favorite Disney movie or attractions are on other sites.
Heather set up her MouseMingle profile and browsed for men in her area of Australia, but with the site being new – and with no Disney Parks in Australia – she didn’t find many guys nearby. Knowing that she’d be at Walt Disney World for a week by herself, her thoughts turned to just finding a “Park Pal” rather than finding someone to date seriously. She changed her home location to Miami, FL where her family lives, so that an Australian location wouldn’t confuse or scare potential “Park Pals”, then she searched for men in her age range and those who visited the Parks regularly. She wanted share the Disney magic with someone who loves Disney as much as she does, and not just a casual fan.
One of the MouseMinglers that caught her attention was Tony. She briefly looked at his photos and sent a wink. When Tony winked back, she figured she should read his whole profile to see what else they had in common. One of the first things she noticed was that he listed “The Lion King” as his favorite animated Disney movie… but she had it listed as her least favorite animated Disney movie. She got that out of the way right up front, and they started sending messages daily.
Once Tony got the wink and messages from Heather, he thoroughly studied her profile and figured out that she wasn’t a newbie to the Park. They sent message back and forth about their own Walt Disney World experiences, and they both knew they had a lot in common. Tony finally asked if they could chat on the phone, mainly to get to know her better, but also because he wanted to hear her Australian accent. Heather agreed to voice calls, and they did that for about a week. She commented that “Eventually we agreed to video talk, and that was wonderful fun, except that neither of us was getting very much sleep with the time difference.” It was usually Tony waking up at 2am so they could talk for a while before he headed off to work, since Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Florida. Time zones aside, they got to know each other much better before meeting in person.
These ‘video dates’ helped them build a stronger friendship. During one of the calls, Tony asked if he could pick Heather up from the airport, rather than meeting her at the Park. So on the day she arrived in Florida, he waited at the terminal with a Disney balloon, flowers, and holding a sign decorated with Australian icons and Heather’s nickname. Heather said that as soon as she came off the tram “I went straight up and gave him a big hug, and I thought I’d been hit by lightning when I did. It was quite an incredible moment, and he was holding me and he said ‘Do you feel that too?'”
That night they watched the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom while sitting on the beach at the Polynesian Resort, which has since turned into a tradition for them.
The next day when Tony got off work, he caught up with Heather for dinner, and they ended up walking through Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Heather sweetly recalls their first kiss, “So at the Crossroads of the World, we had a very romantic kiss, which was quite timely considering we were at crossroads from opposite sides of the world.”
At the end of Heather’s one week Disney World vacation, she headed up to Miami to spend the remaining four weeks with her family. During that time they continued to talk and Tony invited Heather to stay at his place for a couple more weeks before she headed back to Australia. During those two weeks they had a lot of conversations about their relationship. Tony said “That was time that I think was necessary for both of us to see where we were going to take this relationship.” It was time well spent.
Heather said she knew within the first few days that she wanted to marry Tony. For Tony, it was sooner, “I called my parents on the way home after the first day, and I said ‘I’m gonna marry that woman.'” They were in love. And since Heather is a dual citizen of Australia and the USA, they ultimately decided that she would leave her job back home and move to Florida.
Over the next year, they bought a house together and began planning a full Disney Wedding. Heather had been thinking about her Disney Wedding since she was a small girl, so she was well prepared when the time came to work with the Disney Wedding planners. Part of the planning was to bring several of her family and close friends over from Australia to spend a week at Walt Disney World. Standing in long Disney attraction lines turned out to be a great way for everyone to get to know more about Tony, as well as seeing Heather and Tony as a couple. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Their wedding day took place at the Disney Wedding Pavilion, and included Heather arriving in Cinderella’s Coach, as well as the newly wed couple departing in the Coach after the ceremony.
Listen
For all the details and discussion, listen to the full conversation with Heather and Tony, and scroll down to see more of their wonderful photos.
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A few more fun notes about Heather and Tony:
Exchanged winks on MouseMingle in December 2015.
Met in person for the first time on January 30, 2016 at the Orlando International Airport.
Heather’s flight to move to the USA landed on April 21, 2016.
Got engaged on December 18, 2016
Got married on January 24, 2018 at Walt Disney World.
Their favorite attraction as a couple is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. (They say it brings out their competitive sides. Tony usually wins the first round, but always offers a rematch, when he’ll show Heather a bunch of the high value targets.)
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