Welcome To All!

Hi, curious onlookers. Thank you for stopping by Take The Monorail*!

As a frequent visitor to Walt Disney World, I've had to make the transition from "adult traveler" to "parent traveling with small children," and I found myself seeking lots of advice before I took that first step with my children. There are many sites out there with bits of information on it, but none suited my style very well, so I ended up learning a lot on my own.

So, I give you a place to discuss the real ins and outs of taking a trip to Disney. What do you really need to pack? How valuable is a stroller? Where should we eat? Should you drive a car, catch a bus, or Take The Monorail?! My posts will focus on planning trips for children and families a great deal. But I won't limit it to that. Sure, we'll cover the basics, but hopefully we can branch out into the minutia that those of us who are seasoned Disney travelers have already learned the hard way. My partner-in-crime, April, from Scrapping the Magic, will chime in to offer tips from herself and other veteran crafters and scrapbookers to help create mementos so you will remember your trip forever (and have proof that the trip actually happened if you are taking children younger than age four).

We'll use labels to identify age groups for our various posts (Toddlers, Young Preschoolers, Early Readers, etc.). We'll also try to delineate the basics from more advanced, detailed ideas that may be less important for those taking that first or second trip and more relevant for those who travel regularly and are looking for new ways to make their trips special. Those just starting to plan or working on their first trip, might want to stick with the "First-Time Wand Wavers" posts. These will be devoted to early planning tips and essentials for anyone's basic trip. To then add some special, simple extras to your trip, check out the "Amping Up The Pixie Dust" posts. Finally, for the more advanced planners in the room who have experienced Disney Vacations several times now, the "Ultimate Magic" should give you some even lesser known secrets to enhance your next trip.

Finally, we will have some installments that will appear regularly. The end of each week will bring "Silly Shots" with a challenge on the first weekend of the month. This feature will give you some ideal spots to take pictures around the Walt Disney World property with suggestions for poses and themes. Some are funny, some are poignant... but we think all of them will help enhance your photo souvenirs and memories.

Starting in August, during the second weekend of each month, you will find "Crafting Some Magic." This series will give you ideas of fun things you can make and do either leading up to your trip, while you are on your trip, or once you get home from your fantastic vacation.

Our index in the sidebar should help you locate exactly what you need.

And this is intended to be interactive. We are hoping some of our veteran Disney Community fans as well as anyone just stopping by for the first time will comment and participate in posts so that we can all benefit from many points of view. Leave your comments and questions freely... they may inspire future posts!

Let's just see where this leads us, shall we? So grab a seat, Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas, and join us as we Take The Monorail to a wonderful Walt Disney World vacation! We look forward to riding the monorail with you...

Elizabeth

April

Special thanks to Ryan Wilson, Glenn Whelan, George Taylor, Mike Newell, Janet Baker, Ray Harkness, Jeff and Karen Smith, Alice and Derek Barker, Jennifer Hanft, Emma Pearce, Sandy Ezzell, Brandy Hamilton, and Kathryn and John Gundlach for sharing their advice, photographs, and in some cases their faces and/or those of their children.

Extra special thanks to Chris Caran for everything.

*For our friends who are heavily networked into Disney fandom, we would like to acknowledge that we are aware of the tragedy on the monorail that occurred on July 5 and we send our condolences to Austin's family as well as the other families involved in this frightening and tragic event. We delayed the launch of our blog two weeks because of this tragedy and we debated at length whether or not we should change the name. After much careful deliberation and many conversations with friends, we decided that the monorail will continue to be an important part of a Disney vacation and that referring to the monorail in our name would not in any way make light of the events that transpired on that terrible morning. On the contrary, we see it as a way to keep moving forward.