Disney All Aboard! Mikey’s Railway, durable, charming fun for 4 & up

As an ex-Great Movie Rider I shouldn’t like Disney All Aboard! Mickey’s Railway. While this over 3-foot board-book is not directly related to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at The Disney Studios in Orlando, Florida, it looks like the ride’s concept work. As if to pour salt in the wound out 11-year-old just commented, “Mickey’s Railway”, isn’t that a ride?”. I’m glad that our son follows the comings and goings of WDW, and if he were about eight years younger, Disney All Aboard Mickey’s Railway would be his board book jam.

Prior to this, I had never heard of the Abrams Extend A Book series. As a general rule, I’m skeptical of books that have directions or a ‘how to read this book’ disclaimer. For us, that’s a step too close to origami, an art that has frustrated us for years. While Disney All Aboard! Mickey’s Railway does have that disclaimer, but there is a page that tells you how to read it. Thankfully, it’s not warranted for most readers and they’ll be able to playfully swim in the book without any issues.

The board book has rectangular pages that are printed on thick cardboard stock. The pages pull out in a linear direction and tell two different stories. If you’re reading right to left, then you’ll see Mickey and his friends on a train. This side of the story also has half of the page that folds up to reveal some favorite Disney characters seated on a train. The side of the cardboard that folds up has the narrative end of the story. It will prompt kids to look for things and provides a sensory delight with loads of super bright colors.

There are four pages, with each car on the train being numbered from the engine to the caboose. If young readers are enjoying the book left to right, after they’ve pulled the pages out, then they’ll have three pages to explore as they see Minnie and Mickey lead you on a tour of the countryside. Mickey is prompting readers to find certain things in the mountain landscape as they see all sorts of things that should be there, and a handful that shouldn’t be there.

The illustrations in Disney All Aboard! are done in the retro style that their newer cartoons are done in. It’s obviously a new drawing, but the appearance will make kids think that it resembles something from the ’60s. Its construction is not notch and reminiscent of the block book series on Abrams. The spine is durable and very thick, while the interactive train elements are strong and able to withstand the normal reading style (punishment in some cases) that a three or four-year-old might bring forth.

On the back cover, you’ll see that Disney All Aboard! is actually the fourth book in this series, so we’re late to the party and it took Mickey to bring us here. If you have a child around four years old then it’s quite possible that you’ve heard of, or have something in the Extend A Book series. It’s the seek-and-find sibling of the block series of books that manages to be educational and fun, except in this case it’s more fun than educational.

Disney All Aboard! Mickey’s Railway is an Abrams Extend A Book and written by Nichole Mara with illustrations by Andrew Kolb.

There are affiliate links in this post.