Entertainment - Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip

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.

We spent April school vacation in Orlando Florida. Does that make us a family of masochists, or is my husband simply a sadist who likes crowded theme parks? Who knows, and by the way, the crowds weren’t that bad this year. But I digress.

We flew in Friday night, and as I mentioned in a previous post, stayed at the airport Hyatt the first night. An excellent choice for getting the vacation off on a good foot.

We got a slow start the next day. Since we also were trying to connect with my husband’s sister and her family who were joining us on the vacation and didn’t want to waste an admission at a pricey theme park on a half day, we decided to do something simpler. Something quintessentially Florida.

Gatorland.

Florida Rattler

While it’s not cheap. it’s not $50 per day either. A main focus at Gatorland is feeding the hundreds of alligators basking in the park. And the shows. As we walked into the park, one of the shows, Upclose Encounters, was about to start. So we hustled on over to the stage to watch.

The talent is really quite entertaining. As they remind you at all the shows (and we caught them all), it’s amazing what one will do in Florida for minimum wage. 🙂

In Upclose Encounters, they terrified a poor woman in the audience with a scorpion. Then they showed us a native Florida rattler. No audience participation required.

For the final encounter in the 20-minute show, they solicited audience volunteers. When they turned to our side of the stage, they were asking for women “volunteers.” I heard the words: “Well it looks like her family is giving up the lady in the green shirt,” and turned around to see my son pointing at me with both hands, laughing his fool head off. Et tu, Brutus.

Never one to step away from a challenge, I gamely handed my camera over to my husband and presented myself for duty.

Now, if you’ve ever been a “volunteer” in one of these shows, you know they milk the situation like crazy. We were instructed to NOT turn our heads, under any circumstances, while they brought the critter out, but of course we could see the reaction on the faces of the audience.

Waiting for ??

Surprise!

Python!

It was actually a lot of fun, and on the bright side, I got my picture with a python without having to spend an extra $6.00 at the photo booth. 🙂 You can see more pictures of our day at Gatorland on Flickr, including a sequence of me feeding a carrot to some rather large tortoises.

Gatorland, Orlando, Florida
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Disney’s Christmas Carol Train Tour visits Boston

How my family sacrificed me at Gatorland