BY Brenda Lyday, Owner

Welcome to the Articles and Blog posts section of the Magical Dream Vacations Website. We have been an established agency for 6 years now and I worked to build up the agency as an independent contractor for 7 years before that. I’m excited to see the changes that have come to our agency and the growth that it has experienced. I have a profound love of all things Disney and being able to help others go and have magical experiences and create memories has been the driving force for me from day one. And I’ve been especially fortunate to have agents join my agency who have that same mindset. I love nurturing them in their businesses and helping them each become successful. As they grow, the service they provide our clients just gets better and better each day and that is exciting for me to watch.

In our blogs, we are hoping to provide all our readers information about not only Disney but all of the destinations that we love and that our clients love. Our goal is to share information about those VIP experiences and options that you can add to your next vacation to help make it extra magical. The kind of things that will provide amazing memories for you and your family for years and years to come. We know that our clients value experiences as they know that those experiences bind families together, create memories that will be brought up as happy times years down the road when the family is grown and gets together at a reunion or for the holidays. 

My husband, Kevin, and I do not have any children but currently, we have 56 nieces and nephews, and we love them all to pieces. One of our favorite things to do is to take family members with us on our vacations and create special memories with them. Whenever we get together, they love to share the stories of the times we were together on vacation. This past summer, my great-niece, Katie came up to me and told me that she wants us to call her again soon and surprise her with another trip to Disneyland. February 2020 (just before the pandemic hit), Kevin and I called them via Facetime while standing in front of the castle at Disneyland Park. This is when we got to “invite” them to join us. The kids were so excited. They lived about 3 hours away, so they just needed to finish loading up the car (my nephew and niece-in-law had already done most of the packing) and were on their way. We spent 3 magical days with them, and I’ll admit that I cried when they left. Lauren, my niece-in-law pointed out over one meal that when they had come to Disneyland, they came to go on some rides, but when they joined us, it was all about the experiences. She said how much she loved being spoiled and getting to do the extras that their little family couldn’t afford to do yet. Katie let me know that when it’s their turn to go again (which she hopes is really soon!) that she wants us to surprise her again because that was just the best surprise she’d ever had in her entire life.

I have about a hundred other stories that I could share of the magical moments we have made throughout the years. The memory of being stuck on Figment into Imagination at Walt Disney World with my dad and mother-in-law and the hilarious time we spent in that 20+ minutes, just laughing and talking. Priceless since we’ve lost them both since then. The trip with one of my sisters-in-law that ended up being their last family vacation together when my brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly less than 18 months later. The time Bert (from Mary Poppins fame) waved to my then 18-month-old niece who was dancing to the band to come to join him and she happily went in and danced her little heart out. The time my cousin who had been going through some very hard times stood on Main Street, USA in the Magic Kingdom watching the fireworks with tears in her eyes because she felt so loved and happy at that moment, two things she hadn’t felt in a while. The time my nephew who is on the autistic spectrum came alive during a parade, chased snowflakes with other kids after the holiday fireworks, and waved to cast members as he walked by; all things that he didn’t normally do. On what had been a less than perfect birthday for Kevin, ending the day on a high note with a surprise fireworks cruise to see the EPCOT fireworks that included a specially made Star Wars cake. And the list goes on and on.

Experiences are what make the world go round. It’s what binds us all together. In fact, the start of our journey to find and share the best experiences happened in October 2005. I had asked Kevin what he wanted to do for Halloween that year. He said he wanted to go to the Haunted Mansion. We lived in Utah at the time so we packed our bags and made a last-minute trip to Disneyland all so we could ride the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Park. While watching the Aladdin show in California Adventure Park, we found ourselves seated in front of a dad and his son who was in a wheelchair and quite disabled. I had glanced back when the boy had made some sounds and the dad said, “If he bothers you, let me know and we will leave.” I was very much taken back by this and assured this father that there was nothing he could do that would bother us and we were glad they were there. We then all talked while waiting for the show to start. We learned that this sweet little seven-year-old boy had been born with a rare, genetic disease that was slowly taking his life. The past year the disease had progressed, and he was rapidly going downhill. The dad said that just a year earlier, he had been playing soccer and now he couldn’t even sit up on his own. As the show started, I watched with tears in my eyes each moment that I heard this boy behind me squeal from delight. At this moment I realized that a father was making memories. Memories that he would carry with him for the rest of his life. Memories that would help me through the very hard days ahead. Memories of joy in such a difficult time.

We walked out of the theater that day know that we needed to start making memories with our family now! We couldn’t wait because tomorrow is never promised. As we’ve learned through the years, those memories we made with those no longer with us are some of the most valuable and cherished times of our lives. We made a pact then and there to take the trip, make the memories, find the experiences. This is why we usually have our trips planned 2 or even 3 years out. This is why travel is so very important to me. This is why I became a travel agent. Time is precious and in the end, memories are what we have.

 Hotel rooms, tickets, airfare, excursions, cruise costs, etc. all have a specific monetary value. What we know here at Magical Dream Vacations is that a vacation is never really about those things, what it is about is the memories. Those priceless moments that you never forget. And helping you set up the stage for your vacation for those priceless memories to happen is our