In an incredibly sweet and surprising gesture, an Instagram influencer surprised a 100-year-old veteran with a trip to a Disney Park.
The Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort are places of magic and wonder, places where dreams come true. While recently, the Parks and the Walt Disney Company have had their share of bad press, there are occasionally some stories that bring a genuine tear to the eye.
Isaiah Garza, an Instagram influencer, surprised a 100-year-old veteran with a trip to Disneyland Resort in Southern California, completely taking the older man by surprise.
The influencer shared the video on their Instagram with the caption, “I took a 100 year old veteran to Disneyland & we became best friends ❤️.”
The video opens with Garza approaching a stranger and saying, “I had a really, really rough day. I just wanted to see if you’d be willing to go to Disneyland with me today.”
Check it out:
The man, surprised that Garza is asking him at all, first asks, “you would really take me?” before agreeing to go. The pair head over to “The Happiest Place on Earth.” What was truly heartwarming about the interaction was that it became clear that the veteran hadn’t been on a ride in 50 years, and was so obviously having a wonderful time.
Garza bought the man Mickey Ears, took him to Sleeping Beauty Castle, and “danced like it was 1995.”
The end of the video gets particularly emotional when Isaiah asks the man how he enjoyed his Disneyland visit, and the man responds, “I thought my life was over, I’ll remember this for a long time.”
Finally, the video ends with the veteran tearing up, saying to Garza, “you don’t know how much I appreciate this.”
It’s moments like that show what the Disney magic and the Disney ethos have meant to so many people for almost a 100 years now. While the stories of bad Guest behavior are aplenty, it’s important to remember there is also a lot of kindness in the Parks.
