I made my first trip to Disneyland when I was about 10 years old. There was only one theme park at the time, a single hotel and no Downtown Disney, but that trip, and another I made a few years later, clearly had an impact on me as I now write about the theme park industry for a living. I’ve been lucky enough to visit many theme parks across the country, and I’ve been to Disneyland many times, usually more than once a year. There’s little in the park I haven’t done. I am still waiting on my Club 33 invitation, but that’s something that is at least theoretically possible, because one thing I always wanted to do at Disneyland is no longer even an option.
And yet, earlier this month, I lived a Disneyland dream that I’ve had since that first trip to the happiest place on earth. However, I had to go to Walt Disney World to have the experience.
I Always Wanted To Take The Monorail To The Disneyland Hotel Into The Park
Disneyland was, of course, a theme park designed to be fun for the whole family, but it was also a place where Walt Disney promoted ideas that were important to him. One of the issues that concerned him greatly was traffic, which led to him designing and building methods of mass transit; most notably, the monorail. When the Monorail was new at Disneyland in 1959, it was simply a ride taking guests around Disneyland. In 1961, the track was lengthened and it went from being one of the best attractions at Disneyland to a real, functional transportation system, with stops at both Disneyland Park and the Disneyland Hotel.
This was the state of the Monorail in the late 1980s when I visited for the first time. I remember getting on the train and riding it to the Disneyland Hotel stop, where I watched people staying at the hotel board the train to the park. I stayed on board and went back to the park, but for whatever reason, that brief stop stayed with me.
I thought this was the coolest thing in the world. The idea that you could stay at a hotel and then take a special train just for you right into the middle of Disneyland was the epitome of luxury. My family wasn’t staying at the Disneyland Hotel; we never did. Disney hotel prices are insane now, and I can only assume they were comparatively so then. But I remember wanting to stay there more than anything just so I could take the Monorail into the park and then take it back to the hotel in the evening.
Before I had ever heard the term "Disney Bubble," referring to the way guests, specifically at Disney World, can spend their entire trip inside the resort without needing, or wanting, to go elsewhere, I understood the simplicity and convenience that comes with it. If I had Disneyland, a Disney hotel and a train between the two, what else would I ever need?
The Disneyland Monorail Doesn’t Even Stop At The Hotel Anymore
I never had the opportunity to ride the Monorail from my hotel to Disneyland. I never stayed in the hotel as a kid, and while I have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel a couple of times as an adult, including my most recent trip to the resort when I got to preview Pixar Fest, it doesn’t matter. That's because it’s not even the same hotel and the Monorail doesn’t stop there anymore anyway.
In 1999, as part of the major update that would create the Disneyland Resort, by building Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney and the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, the Disneyland Hotel was moved. That’s to say, it was knocked down and rebuilt several yards away.
The place where the Monorail used to stop is now the Downtown Disney Monorail Station. It still works to transport you between the park and another part of the resort. I used it recently to get into the park one morning, something I hadn’t done in quite a while, but it’s not quite the same as having the train pull right up to your hotel. I had to walk from the Disneyland Hotel, and there's less magic there.
With the renovation of Disneyland, I assumed this childhood dream was dead, but I was able to experience it at a different Disney Park because there are monorails that travel between hotels and parks at Walt Disney World.
The Contemporary Resort Monorail Line Was My Dream Come True
I was recently invited to preview Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World. I actually loved the attraction a lot more than I was expecting, not having been a massive Splash Mountain fan, but the experience that I truly remember from the trip was the hotel.
I stayed at the Contemporary Resort, one of the two original hotels that opened alongside Magic Kingdom back in 1971. When the resort first opened, it included a Monorail line with multiple stops: Magic Kingdom, the Transportation & Ticket Center and the two hotels, the Polynesian Resort and the Contemporary. The Contemporary was built around the Monorail track, so the train doesn’t simply stop at the hotel, it stops inside the hotel. While some have the wrong opinion that this makes the Contemporary Hotel an ugly building, this made it magical for me.
As part of the media preview event, Disney World provided buses to take us between the hotel and the Magic Kingdom, but why would you take a bus when you can take the Disney World Monorail? I was able to leave my hotel room, go down a few floors and board a train that took me, unfortunately not inside Magic Kingdom as the Disneyland version did, but right up to the front gate, and that’s still pretty cool. After all, it still picked me up from the fifth floor of my hotel and I didn't even have to go outside. Later, I returned to my hotel the same way.
I have to say, the experience largely lived up to my expectations. It was incredibly convenient to walk down, get on the monorail and take it to Magic Kingdom. It was a far more entertaining trip than most other ways to get from a resort hotel to a theme park. I have never stayed at a resort hotel that’s part of the Disney World Skyliner (I'll add that to the list), but it’s the only option I can think of that might be more enjoyable a trip. It's almost impossible to get anywhere fast at Disney World, so getting there comfortably, and entertainingly, is all you can ask.
Riding the Monorail from a hotel into Disneyland is something we will likely never see again, but it's not an entirely impossible dream. Big changes are coming for Disneyland Resort that will increase the size of both theme parks, as well as Downtown Disney. While what we know about the DisneylandForward expansion doesn't currently include changes to the Monorail, such things are far from impossible.
