Monorail Orange at Walt Disney World

Monorail Orange glides past the Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida.

What would a visit to Walt Disney World be without a ride on the Monorail? Even if we aren’t going to the parks, we still manage to catch a Monorail ride or two, visiting the Monorail Resorts for a while. Sometimes we do it more than one day if our schedule allows it. Sometimes people look at us a little strange, as if we don’t belong there. Maybe they can tell that we aren’t actually staying in one of those hotels. But we don’t mind. We still ride the Monorail anyway.

For this particular Monorail, you may notice something looks a little different. Here’s a slightly closer view:

As you can sort of see here, there are animals in the Monorail. Okay, so they aren’t actually in the Monorail, but rather they are pictured on the “wrap” over the Monorail, to help advertise the Zootopia movie. The second car (at the far right of the detail photo above) actually says “Zootopia” over the center windows. And in a nice touch reminiscent of a scene from the movie, there are even smaller windows at the bottom of the cars for the smaller animals. Sometimes it is pretty cool when they use the Monorail for advertising like this. Although I must say I am glad they don’t do it with every single train.

Monorails are just cool. No two ways about it. And probably what makes them cool to me is that there aren’t Monorails where I live. Yes, there are some in some places, whether they are in airports or in a few cities. Not all that long ago, people were pushing for Monorails in more cities, but you don’t hear about it all that much any more. Does that mean Monorails in cities are dead, or are at least very late in the dying game? I hope not. Maybe we should make another push. So here goes nothing:

Hey, city officials! Want to make your city look cool? Put in a Monorail! Yes, it might be expensive on the front end, but cool points cost money, you know. You can’t just go out and pick those up for free. So add a Monorail. Not only will it make your city look cool, but it will also help with traffic. And you know people complain about that in your city, too. So do yourself and your city a favor and do something cool like a Monorail! America will love you!

Maybe that will do some good. Maybe. If everyone just did things to be cool, the world might be a cooler place. But if you think about it, being cool isn’t all there is. And what you might perceive as cool might change over the years. For example, remember all those people that you thought were cool back in high school? Look at them now and see what you think. That only works if you have been out of high school for a number of years, by the way. But anyway, the cool people from high school aren’t always the cool people now.

So if you are just doing something to be cool, you might want to think twice about doing it. If you are just doing something to try to be popular with a certain group of people, it might not actually be worth it in the long run. Because those people will eventually decide that something or someone else is cooler, and then you will be stuck.

Then what can you do? Just be yourself. Like what you like. Don’t necessarily do what everyone else is doing. And especially don’t do what one person tells you will make you cool. Because chances are good that the one person isn’t any cooler than you already are. Just be you, and let people discover your coolness. It may take time for them to discover you, but it’s worth it.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2

About the Photo

I love this photo. But there are a few things about it that I feel that I should point out.

First off, that one brown sign is just so much in the wrong place. Of course, if I had more time, I could have moved to get a different angle on things so that the sign wouldn’t be blocking part of the Monorail. But the Monorail was moving, and I hadn’t just been standing there waiting for one to come along for the perfect shot. I saw an opportunity and quickly snapped the photo, so I got what I got. Oh well, maybe the lovely blue sky will distract your eye from the brown sign.

And secondly, if you know anything about the Monorails at Walt Disney World, you probably know that this Monorail was traveling away from me instead of toward me. So instead of the front, that is actually the back. Of course, the Monorails look the same at both ends so that they can drive them in either direction depending on which beam the train is on. So if it were on the resort beam instead of the express beam, it would have been traveling the other way and this end would have been the front. Fortunately, you can’t tell the direction by looking at a still photo, so hopefully that isn’t too big of a deal to you.

Here is the before and after version once again, since these have become somewhat traditional over the last few weeks:

Amazing what a little processing can do!

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: June 7, 2016
Location: Polynesian Village Resort, Walt Disney World, Florida