Skip to Main Content
Back to New Releases

Tenaya Lodge associate creates a fairytale ending for young guest and his missing dragon

Anyone who has a child – or who has ever been a child – knows how traumatic it can be when you accidentally misplace a beloved bedtime companion. Unfortunately, that was recently the case for a young guest and his stuffed dragon after a stay at the Delaware North-owned-and-operated Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite.
 
Upon realizing that the dragon had been left behind, the child’s mother reached out to Tenaya Lodge in dragonstory-6106801hopes of recovering the stuffed toy. As luck would have it, her request reached Manager on Duty Matt Rouse. According to Julie Fullmer, marketing coordinator for Delaware North’s parks and resorts properties in the Sierra region, it wasn’t the first time Rouse had encountered such a situation.
 
“When Matt finds the owner to a lost stuffed animal, he puts together a story for the owner to let them know it’s been found and well taken care of during its extended stay at Tenaya Lodge,” Fullmer said.
 
And so a whimsical fairytale was born.
 
“Once upon a time, there was a dragon,” Rouse’s story began. “His name was Mr. Dragon. One day, Mr. Dragon went to a magical kingdom called Tenaya Lodge on a quest to have fun with his owner, Mark. Unfortunately, Mr. Dragon became separated from Mark and was left all alone.”
 
The story continued with Mark’s mother – “The Queen” – dispatching her finest horseman to Tenaya Lodge. There the horseman found his bounty, who had been trapped “in the cave known as room #245.” In a happy conclusion, Mr. Dragon was returned to his owner along with a new companion, Mr. Bear, courtesy of Rouse and Tenaya Lodge.
 
It was a fairytale ending for the relieved guests (and, of course, the dragon), thanks to the above-and-beyond customer service of Rouse and his fellow associates, who also made sure Mr. Dragon soaked in a variety of Tenaya Lodge experiences, including air hockey, relaxing by the pool and more – as evidenced by the pictures that were included in the short story.  
 
The full piece – including photos of Mr. Dragon’s journey – can be found by clicking here.