A couple visiting Disney World planned to have a princess help with their gender reveal. They picked Cinderella's evil stepsisters instead.

• Two Disney fans have gone viral for asking Cinderella's stepsisters to do their gender reveal.
• Donimalina Aria and Jake Aria told Insider the experience was "surreal" and made their vacation.

More than a year ago, Donimalina Aria and her husband Jake Aria planned a trip to Disney World to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary.

But when they learned in October 2022 that they were expecting their first child, the vacation quickly became a chance to celebrate their pregnancy.

"We were like, 'OK, that lines up perfectly for a babymoon,'" Donimalina told Insider. "And I'd seen other people do Disney gender reveals, so we thought it'd be pretty cool if we could find a good character to share that with."

So after weeks of research, Donimalina was set on asking a princess to reveal the gender of their child — but that's not exactly what happened.

In a video posted to TikTok on April 2, Donimalina is seen asking the Tremaine stepsisters (Anastasia and Drizella) from "Cinderella" to complete the task instead. The clip has been viewed more than 9 million times as of Monday.

Donimalina told Insider her husband had originally suggested asking a beloved villain — like the Tremaine sisters or Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast" — to reveal the gender.

She said she didn't agree but thought it would be fun to have them and other characters guess the gender before having the big reveal.

"Everybody's responses were good, but they weren't super boisterous or excited," she said. "It wasn't anything compared to Anastasia and Drizella. So we had that first exchange with them, walked away, and said, 'Yeah, we should go back.'"

Jake told Insider he felt the same way while filming the interaction.

"I was giving her this look like, 'This is the joy you want,'" he said. "The princesses have to stay so demure, serious, and regal. But the stepsisters get to be excited and jump around and scream."

The characters had such a strong reaction to their news that Donimalina said she and Jake felt connected to them on a personal level.

"I don't even think it was a performance," she said. "I think it was just their genuine personalities coming out. They were super enthusiastic, eager, and excited for us."

So once they knew that they wanted to have Anastasia and Drizella announce the gender of their child, it was time to plan the actual reveal.

"We were going to get balloons from Main Street, one pink and one blue," she said. "And we were going to have our eyes closed and the character would hand us the balloon. But it took us forever to find them and they were pretty expensive, so we decided to buy plushies."

The couple said it was also important to them to be respectful when asking the character employees to participate in their gender reveal.

"When people post stuff on TikTok where they're asking a cast member an inappropriate question, it can get that person fired," Jake said. "So just remember that the cast members are people doing their jobs and to play along with the magic yourself as well."

So with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse toys in hand, the couple made their way back to Anastasia and Drizella. As seen in their TikTok video, the characters were overjoyed to help.

"It was so surreal," Donimalina said. "It seemed like it made their whole day, and it made our day. We were also very surprised when we found out it was a girl, because we both thought it was a boy."

And as Jake noted, there's a reason why the two characters were likely so excited to help.

"We've heard from past employees who played those kinds of characters, and they said no one ever asked them to do anything like that," he said.

Donimalina described herself and Jake as "big Disney people" — ones who always planned to introduce Disney to their future children.

Their child's nursery, for example, has already been decorated with a Peter Pan and Tinker Bell theme, and they dream of the day they'll get to take her to Disney World.

"Disney's always been a super special place in our hearts," Donimalina said. "That's where my husband proposed to me. We always try to make Disney trips happen. So hopefully our kids will grow up with the same love and appreciation for Disney, all the different cast members, and everyone who makes the magic happen."