Marine Veteran Goes Back to Disneyland Sixty Years Later With His Daughter by His Side

Key takeaways

• Leopoldo “Leo” Alvarado, an 84 Marine veteran who has COPD, received a mobility scooter donated by Remento through the Patriotic Kenny Foundation.
• Just before Veterans Day 2026, Leo returned to Disneyland, more than 60 years after he first took his children there.
• Through its “Because of the Scooter” initiative, the foundation also helps scooter recipients fulfill a bucket-list wish. Leo chose Disneyland.
• Leo recorded his story in his own voice with Remento. Its Speech-to-Story™ technology turns recordings into written stories for a hardcover Life Story Book. Each chapter has a QR code that lets his family hear the original recording.
• Veterans, family members, caregivers, and friends can nominate a veteran for a scooter and a bucket-list wish in under five minutes at patriotickenny.com/because.

The Day Disneyland Became Possible Again

“Now it’s right in front of me.”

That’s how Marine Veteran Leopoldo “Leo” Alvarado described seeing the Disneyland castle again, more than 60 years after he first took his young children there.

They were little then, too young to hold on to the memory for long.

Then the years did what years do. The kids grew up. Leo grew older. And somewhere along the way, getting around got harder, and the happiest place on earth slipped quietly onto a list of things he figured he'd never do again.

This year, just before Veterans Day, Leo’s new mobility scooter carried him back to the magic of Disneyland, down the same paths he once walked with his young children. Sixty years later, his daughter walked beside him, and the day belonged to them.

A Daughter Who Never Stopped Thinking About Her Dad

Cathy Lindsey has worked at Disneyland for 25 years as a tour guide. She's spent a quarter century helping families have the best day of their lives. But as the years went on, Leo's health declined, and getting around became harder and harder. The amount of walking made a day at the park out of reach for Leo. 

Then Cathy learned how the Patriotic Kenny Foundation gives mobility scooters to Veterans with mobility challenges. She nominated him the same day.

“My dad has been diagnosed with COPD,” Cathy wrote, “and it is hard for him to get around as he gets out of breath quickly. It’s hard for me to push him in a regular wheelchair because of my own back issues.” 

She continued, “Helping my dad with a scooter gives him a chance to have more time and memories with his family. He feels like he’s a burden and skips a lot of events with us because of his health issues.”

More time. More memories. That's exactly what the Patriotic Kenny Foundation's initiative, Because of the Scooter, was built for. A scooter gives a Veteran their independence back. Because of the Scooter asks what becomes possible next, and helps make a bucket-list wish come true.

So when the foundation's team called to ask what Leo would want to do with his new wheels, Cathy didn't have to think about it. Neither did Leo. Disneyland. Just 10 minutes from home and it had been at the top of his bucket list the whole time.

The Warmest Smile

Just before Veterans Day, a brand-new scooter rolled up to a quiet home in Tustin, California, with the Remento and Patriotic Kenny Foundation teams right behind it.

Cathy met everyone at the door with the warmest hugs. Her tears started then, and they didn’t stop for most of the day.

Leo is a quiet man, content to sit back and listen. But get him talking, and he takes his time, choosing each word slowly and carefully. Then comes the smile, wide and warm.

That smile only grew as he took his first laps on his new wheels.

“This is the best surprise I’ve had since I got out of the Marine Corps!” he said. “Now I can go anywhere!”

Anywhere. It’s a big word for a small device. But for a Veteran who’s spent too long limiting daily activities, it’s the difference between watching life through a window and rolling right back into it.

“A scooter is never really just about the scooter,” said Amanda Kline, co-founder and executive director of the Patriotic Kenny Foundation. “It’s about the life waiting on the other side of the front door.”

Taking Leo and his new scooter to Disneyland

That afternoon, Leo rolled into Disneyland with a smile that never faded. His head turned side to side, taking in the sights and all the changes that decades bring.

The change in Leo was impossible to miss. “When you pulled up on that scooter, you looked like a new man!” Amanda told him.

Leo smiled. “You saw that too, huh?”

Cathy stayed right by his side. Finally, she got to help give the best day to her own dad. Disneyland Resort helped make it happen, providing tickets so the whole family could be there together.

Somewhere along the way, the roles had quietly reversed. Sixty years ago, Leo held his children's hands. This time, his daughter was the one beside him, making sure he didn't miss a thing.

First stop: Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Leo hesitated before getting on. The team wondered if it was nerves, until they learned why: it was Leo's first ride ever. 

They boarded the elephant with the yellow drapery. Leo first, then Cathy. As the wind met their hair, their Mickey ears stood tall and proud. 

As he got back on his scooter, Leo chuckled for what felt like minutes, still searching for the words. Finally he blurted, “That was my first ride! It was FUN!”

Following Leo’s rave review, Cathy suggested a classic: the Matterhorn. As they neared the front of the line, Leo nearly zoomed his scooter straight to the loading area. He couldn’t wait.

When the ride came to a stop, Leo had a review and a request. “That was INTENSE! Where next?!”

That’s what a new lease on life sounds like. Leo wasn’t looking back at the years behind him. He was leaning into every one still ahead.

“I want him to enjoy the years he has left on this beautiful, God-given earth,” Cathy said.

"More than 60 years ago, Leo brought his children to Disneyland to make memories," said Charlie Greene, Remento's Founder and CEO. "Now his family has the chance to bring him back and make new stories together."

The Story He Told in His Own Voice

Even a perfect day ends.

The rides stop. The castle fireworks fade. The photos land in a camera roll and the details, the ones that made it matter, start to blur almost as soon as everyone gets home.

So Leo made sure they wouldn’t. Resting on his scooter just outside Space Mountain, he recorded the story himself, simply by talking into a phone. He talked about what it felt like to sit on his scooter that morning. What it felt like to roll down Main Street, U.S.A. again. What he remembered from when his kids were small and the whole world was ahead of them.

“Today was the best day I’ve had in a real long time,” he said. “After lunch, my hat was replaced with a pair of Mickey ears. My first!”

The day at Disneyland and the scooter weren’t Leo’s only gifts. Remento also gave him a Life Story Book, so he can keep telling the stories of a long life, one simple prompt at a time. In one of his first chapters, “Returning to the Castle After Sixty Years,” Leo describes seeing the castle again.

“The castle is such a special sight. It’s one I used to see every Sunday from far away, and now it’s right in front of me,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed so much at once. I feel like today is pretty abnormal, in the best way. We’re having a great time… and that’s the name of that tune!”

Some of his stories are harder to tell. In another chapter, “My Son Junior and the Photos I Carry,” Leo shares about his son, Junior, who served in the Navy and passed away at just 27 years old.

“Even though we weren’t in the same branch, we shared that connection of service,” Leo shared. “Looking through the photos brings all those memories back, both happy and hard. I miss him, and I try to remember the good parts of his life and the ways he served.”

When Cathy first heard her dad’s voice on the phone and saw his words on the page, she wrapped Charlie in a hug and sobbed.

“Thank you so very much,” she said.

“I’m glad you have this,” Charlie told her.

“It’s just, he needs people to know he did so much for so many people,” Cathy said. “His great-grandkids always want to know about his life and his time in the service. They’re going to be so psyched to see, like really SEE him moving and talking, and not just me sharing it. Holy beans!”

Everyone laughed.

“You don’t even know what this means,” she said.

Amanda and Charlie answered at the same time: “Oh, we know.”

Remento’s Speech-to-Story™ technology turns recordings like Leo’s into polished written stories, printed in a beautiful hardcover book. But the words on the page are only part of it. Every chapter carries a QR code that plays the original recording. One day, Leo’s great-grandkids can open the book, scan the page, and hear him talk about everything from putting out fires in the Marine Corps, to driving a school bus, to riding his scooter up to Dumbo, in his own voice, with his own sweet laugh.

Families keep more than a photo of the day. They keep the voice that carries his spirit.

Who Was Patriotic Kenny, and Why Was This Scooter for Him, Too?

The Patriotic Kenny Foundation was started by Kenny Jary, a Navy Veteran who spent his later years spreading kindness to millions of people online and getting Veterans moving again. Leo and Kenny were born weeks apart and served nearly identical timelines. They were kindred spirits who never met.

Remento came to know Kenny when he recorded his own life stories. The team celebrated with him at his book launch (as featured on Shark Tank), and at that celebration, Remento investor Mark Cuban donated $100,000 to the foundation.

Kenny passed away earlier this year.

“I had heard tons of Kenny’s stories, both in person and on video recordings I have of him,” Amanda said. “But it wasn’t until he passed that it hit me how much it meant to hear him share things I never heard while he was alive.”

His foundation carries on, one Veteran and one scooter at a time. And this Veterans Day, Remento wanted to honor him the best way it knew how: with a scooter and a story. Freedom for one more Veteran to get out the door, and the chance to tell the story of where they went.

“Every scooter carries a little bit of Kenny with it,” Amanda added. “He believed no Veteran should feel left behind. Our board and foundation carry that belief forward every day. Seeing Leo light up is exactly why we do this work.”

For Leo, that freedom led straight from his front door to the happiest place on earth. It's hard to imagine anything Kenny would have loved more.

Because of the Scooter

Leo's day at Disneyland is just one “Because of the Scooter” story. There are many more Veterans waiting to write theirs.

The initiative funds bucket-list wishes for Veterans who receive scooters through the foundation, and it's paid for in part by Kenny's legacy fund.

For one Veteran, the wish might be a family trip. For another, one more visit to the beach, a sporting event, or a family reunion. For Leo, it was Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and the castle.

When Cathy nominated her dad, she wrote that he felt like a burden and often skipped family events because getting around was so hard.

Now Leo responds that in his own slow, careful words.

“Thanks to you guys, I don’t need to be thinking about how I can get around,” he said.

That’s what Kenny meant when he said, “We need to pay it forward and help other Veterans.” Every wish starts the same way Leo’s did: with a Veteran’s story, and someone who loves them enough to share it.

Know a Veteran who's ready for their own scooter and bucket-list moment? Veterans, family members, caregivers, and friends can submit a nomination at patriotickenny.com/because. It takes less than five minutes.

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Every Veteran has a story their family hasn't heard yet. Some are about service. Some are about a day at Disneyland. All of them are worth keeping in their own voice. Remento sends a simple prompt each week, the Storyteller answers out loud, and their words become a book you can hold and hear. Start a Life Story Book 

To learn more about the foundation or help bring a scooter to another Veteran, visit the Patriotic Kenny Foundation.

Related reading: Mark Cuban and Patriotic Kenny on Shark Tank: The Full Story · Questions to Ask U.S. Military Veterans · Preserving Veterans' Stories

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