As somebody who visits and enjoys theme parks like Disneyland on a regular basis, I sometimes wonder if the day will ever come when I just won’t be able to do it anymore. Will I ever get to the point that getting on and off rides is too hard or Disney World crowds become too difficult to navigate? I now have some significant evidence that I never have to stop enjoying theme parks, because it can be done by a guy who is 100-years-old, and watching him enjoy Disneyland may be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
A TikTok has gone viral from Isiah Garza, a man who was once homeless, but now uses his money to try and help people and bring a little happiness into the world. In his newest video, he approaches a man he apparently has never met, who is a 100-year-old veteran, and invites, seemingly out of the blue. him to go to Disneyland with him. And what follows is absolutely touching. Check it out.
@isaiahgarza ♬ Steal My Sunshine (Single Version) - Len
The two men have a lot of fun meeting Disney characters and going on rides. You can see the joy in this guy’s face. At the end of the video, he talks about what the day has been like for him. He’s truly touched that somebody brought him to Disneyland. You can see that the emotion is real, he has trouble even talking about what the day has meant to him.
At one point the video says the man hadn’t been on a ride in 50 years. It’s unclear if he’s talking about Disneyland specifically or theme park rides in general, but considering Disneyland opened in 1955, the park looked nothing like what he remembered if he had been there that long ago. The two rides we see them on, the Mad Tea Party and It’s a Small World, would have been there, Mad Tea Party was an opening day attraction and It's A Small World arrived in 1966 after it's debut at the New York World's Fair, but so much more that’s currently decades old would have been entirely new for this guy.
If you ever needed evidence that Disneyland, or theme parks in general, can be important places, and for adults as well as children. I’m not sure there’s better evidence than this in the world. This man, who has seen more in his life than most of us ever will, had what he is calling one of the best days of his life, at Disneyland.
This was truly a wonderful thing done for this man, and it has touched millions of people who have seen the video and responded to it. It’s wonderful to see this kind of positivity put out into the world, and Disneyland being the place where it happened. Truly, the happiest place on earth.
