I'm sure that there are others out there who know more about this than me, and that's really where I got a lot of my information from. But I have been really looking into how to get around and where everything is located. From the maps that I have looked at, it looks like the monorail entrance is located in downtown disney. However, it appears to be really close to the disneyland hotel. I think someone said that that area used to be a disneyland hotel parking lot or bus stop or something. So it stands to reason that it is pretty close.
I think we will try using the monorail a few times on our trip since it sounds like fun & I know the kids will like it. But I think we may walk a few times as well, because I don't want to miss out on entering the park through the main entrance.