I know you were expecting posts about the trip to Africa, and I promise those are coming, and well before Christmas. But not before this brief report on Disney’s Christmas Carol Train Tour, which visited Boston’s South Station this weekend.
We saw the train arriving in town on Wednesday afternoon on the way back from the airport, and Douglas immediately piped up from the back seat that he wanted to see it. Having been in Africa (or in transit to or from) since September 11th, I had no idea what it was, but before I crashed for my nap later that day, I checked it out.
The train is on a cross-country tour to promote Disney’s new animated version of the Christmas classic as well as the technology used to create the film, some of which I believe was provided by HP, the named technology provider for the tour itself.
Admission is free, which means LONG LINES. We waited 90 minutes Saturday afternoon, and spent less than an hour in the exhibit. Amazingly, Douglas didn’t seem to mind the long wait — even without his Nintendo. I attribute this to the fact that I had been away so long and he enjoyed having my undivided attention. If you decide to go, I strongly urge you to aim for the early hours before the lines build.
Douglas really enjoyed the exhibits, especially the face morphing which lets you see how your own face looks morphed into Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Belle or Marley’s Ghost. About three train cars are devoted to explanation of how the art and motion are developed and merged to create the highly realistic animations we’ll see on the screen. I might have spent more time with these, but it was very crowded in the narrow train cars, so I didn’t mind Doug pulling me along quickly.
After you exit the train, you can watch a 20-minute film that includes some scenes from the film. The film is in 3-D and props to the maker of the 3-D glasses which fit well over my own glasses making the experience that much more enjoyable.
The film stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge and opens on November 6th. Next stop for the Train Tour is Washington DC.