When you’re riding the Walt Disney World Monorail, it’s easy to have a spring in your step. You can sing “Zippadeedoodah” as you zip over to the Magic Kingdom from your monorail hotel, or zip back and forth to Magic Kingdom. It’s terrific.
The Walt Disney World Monorail puts a spring in the step of ~150,000 people each day – that’s more than 50 million Disney guests each year! That’s a lot of zippadeedoodahing!
The monorail is a public transportation system that’s been in continuous operation at WDW since 1971 (obviously revamped over time – in the 1990s, the current model was put in place with improved air conditioning, door systems, and safety). There are two lines that encompass Magic Kingdom and Epcot, with three distinct “beams” that travel services on the monorail system. 
The monorail runs a span of about 15 miles. At first it circled the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom, connecting the Contemporary and Polynesian with Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). Later, the Grand Floridian was added. And in 1982, Epcot was brought “into the loop” with a four mile extension from Magic Kingdom.
The 3 Monorail Routes are:
1. Epcot Monorail – which runs between the TTC to Epcot and back (Service on this route is a single beam running clockwise on the loop.)
2. Express Monorail – which runs between the TTC and the Magic Kingdom and back (There is a dual-beam Magic Kingdom route. The express service runs on the outer loop of this route and travels counter-clockwise.)
3. Resort Monorail – which runs from the Magic Kingdom to Contemporary to TTC to the Polynesian to the Grand Floridian (The resort monorail service offers round-trip local service on the inner loop, running clockwise.)
I’m saddened to read online that the monorail system may be changing its running hours. Rumours suggest the monorail may be shutting down 1 hour after regular park hours starting this month. The monorail always used to run for 1 hour after extra magic hours… which meant that if Magic Kingdom was open until midnight for regular guests, and 3 am for onsite guests (which is what would happen if MK had extra magic evening hours), the monorail would run until after 3am. It was a tremendous perk. Hopefully this is a temporary change. My own family rode the monorail during the extra magic hours in the late evening in June, and loved it.
But the monorail always puts a spring in our step when we visit the World. We love to Zippadeedoodah to the parks and back!