Disney’s Christmas Carol Train Tour made a stop in Albuquerque New Mexico recently, and I had a chance to go see what this train was all about. Despite the fact that it’s early June, I’ll say this much for the train tour: it certainly makes things look a lot like Christmas.
Before you even board the train, you’re greeted with the sounds of carols and some fake snow blowing the wind. You’ll even see a quartet of carolers dressed in full Dickens regalia (and they’re pretty good singers, too). In the first train of the car, you’ll be greeted with videos of Jim Carrey, Robert Zemecki,s and others involved with the movie talking about the production as you browse through authentic costumes and some rare items from the Charles Dickens museum in England. Among the items, some early copies of A Christmas Carol, and some personal letters written by Dickens.
In later cars you’ll discover the models the crew used to help make some of the amazing visuals, as well as a glimpse at the motion capture technology used to make the film. Some of these segments were particularly interesting, but I didn’t get to see them all as our tour continued to move through the train. I can say this: I don’t know if I could act wearing all the odd equipment Jim Carrey, Bob Hoskins and the rest of the cast had to wear to do the motion capture.
Toward the end of the train you can play with some touch screen PCs and explore the artwork of the film. After that, you can morph your face into one of the characters. Simply type in some info, look into the screen, and it snaps a shot of you and then morphs your face. I ended up being Scrooge. My co-workers didn’t seem to think that was much of a stretch, but I think that’s because they say I look like Jim Carrey more than me acting like Scrooge… I hope.
After you leave the train, you’re shuffled off to an inflatable theater (that’s right, inflatable, it’s very cool) and you get to see a few minutes of the film. It looks amazing, as you would expect, and from the brief minutes I saw it appeared to be a fairly faithful adaptation of Dickens’ classic story of redemption and salvation. The technology has certain improved. The characters don’t have the same lifeless and creepy eyes they did in The Polar Express, and the whole thing looks great in 3D.
All in all, the Disney Christmas Carol Train Tour is not only a great way to get a sneak peek at Disney’s new holiday film, but also a fun way to get a little slice of Christmas in the summer. If the train stops in your neck of the woods, be sure to check it out. Check the Disney Train Tour website for details and a schedule of stops. Also, check out some of my video clips from inside the train.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Cool. I have to see if I can take my wife to this when it comes through the Midwest.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Help . . . I couldn’t find the video clips from the above link.