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caryrae
05-09-2009, 08:26 AM
Sounds pretty neat.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/christmascaroltraintour/#/tour/

Here is a map of the stops. http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/christmascaroltraintour/#/map/


ALL ABOARD FOR “DISNEY’S
A CHRISTMAS CAROL” TRAIN TOUR
FROM SNEAK PEEKS OF EXCLUSIVE 3D FILM FOOTAGE
TO SUMMERTIME SNOW –
DISNEY PULLS OUT ALL THE WHISTLE STOPS FOR 40-CITY
TRAVELING EXPERIENCE
Departing Los Angeles May 22; Tour to Cover More Than 16,000 Miles
Disney is pulling out all the whistle stops and taking its show on the road with a
spectacular immersive and interactive 40-city train tour including a 3D sneak peek
of film footage from the upcoming movie “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” it was
announced today (05/08/09) by Dick Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios.
Set amidst a snowy backdrop—complete with all of the sights and sounds of
Christmas including carolers, decorations, giveaways and many more surprises in
each of the 40 cities—the Train Tour is being launched with HP on board as the
title and technology sponsor and driven by Amtrak. This family event is for guests
of all ages and is free to the public.
Starring Jim Carrey and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Robert
Zemeckis, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opens November 6 in theatres, in Disney
Digital 3D™ and in IMAX 3D®.
Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, “‘Disney’s A Christmas Carol’
Train Tour is an incredibly fun way to introduce families across the country to the
wonders and spectacle that is Robert Zemeckis’ unique and spectacular new
holiday film. We are so proud of the movie, and think the 3D footage is so
incredible, we just had to give everyone a chance to see it in Disney Digital 3D.
From Los Angeles to New York, and all points in between, guests are going to
have a fabulous time discovering things about the making of this extraordinary
film, participating in their own festive fantasies, and getting into the holiday spirit
all year round. ‘Disney’s A Christmas Carol’ is great entertainment for
moviegoers of all ages, and this is the perfect introduction to a fun and exciting
new holiday classic.”
Among the highlights of the tour are authentic artifacts on loan from the Charles
Dickens Museum of London; artwork, costumes and props from the film;
demonstrations of performance capture technology; and a chance to morph your
face into one of the film’s characters using HP TouchSmart PCs. At each stop
along the way, a state-of-the-art Disney Digital 3D Theatre will be erected, where
guests can get a sneak peek of “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” and see other
exclusive behind-the-scenes materials from the movie. The latest details about tour
stops and scheduled events are available at www.christmascaroltraintour.com.
Featuring four custom-designed vintage rail cars full of behind-the-scenes
attractions, entertaining demonstrations, and fun activities, the tour will have its
inaugural stop at Los Angeles’ Union Station over Memorial Day Weekend, from
May 22nd through May 25th. During the next 24 weeks, the train will make 40
stops in 36 states, as it travels its way across more than 16,000 miles of track. The
tour will finish at New York’s Grand Central Terminal over the weekend of
October 30th through November 1st.
At every tour stop, Radio Disney will invite kids to enter for a chance to become a
Movie Surfer representing their hometown. Each Hometown Movie Surfer will get
a chance to appear on Disney Channel by filming their very own Movie Surfer’s
segment! They’ll also receive a prize package of exclusive Movie Surfer and
"Disney’s A Christmas Carol” gear.
ABC television stations across the country will run local promotions. At each stop,
guests will have the chance to win an HP TouchSmart PC and an HP Photosmart
wireless printer. Additionally, Disney is working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of
America organization to provide an early Christmas experience to kids across the
country. Disney will present the organization with a donation in the amount of
$100,000 at the May 21st launch in Los Angeles to further the organization’s
efforts of helping kids grow up to be great and will invite Boys & Girls Club kids
to be part of the tour when it comes to their town. Boys & Girls Clubs throughout
the nation are impacting the lives of 4.8 million young people each year with afterschool
programs that emphasize education, career exploration, community
service, technology skills, financial literacy, the arts and more to help them reach
their full potential as productive, caring citizens.
A variety of innovative HP technologies helped to make the Train Tour possible.
HP ProLiant servers and HP ProCurve switches will provide Disney with the
computing power that will allow guests to collect and upload photos. Throughout
the train exhibits, Disney is using HP TouchSmart PCs to run an interactive face
morph application and HP monitors to showcase performance capture technology
as well as images and digital effects from the film. Additionally, each train car will
be wrapped with Disney’s Train Tour logo using the versatility of HP Scitex
printers.
“For decades HP and Disney have joined together to captivate audiences through
technology innovation and digital entertainment,” said Michael Mendenhall, senior
vice president and chief marketing officer, HP. “HP technology used in the making
of ‘Disney’s A Christmas Carol’ has enabled Disney to push the boundaries in
performance capture technology. The Train Tour offers an innovative way for
guests to interact with HP’s latest technology and experience the magic behind the
film.”
Amtrak locomotives and engineers will lead the four-car Train Tour (plus a private
car), across the US, with stops ranging from 1-3 days along the way. Each train
station will be themed with holiday decorations, and feature artwork from the film,
Christmas Carolers, fun activities for the entire family, and snow!
“Rail travel continues to influence the way people connect with each other and
celebrating the release of a true classic is a perfect way to further that connection,”
said Emmett Fremaux, Vice President Marketing and Product Management,
Amtrak. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be teaming up with Walt Disney Studios
for this 40 city tour to help educate Americans about the benefit of rail travel.”
Dolby Laboratories will be supplying its Dolby® 3D Digital Cinema solution for
the traveling Digital 3D theater, and Barco is providing the DP2000 digital
projectors. Panasonic provides some of the latest high resolution large screen
technology available to consumers today throughout the train cars. And, the
Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is
encouraging guests traveling to and from the train to Buckle Up, Every Trip, Every
Time!
ABOUT THE MOVIE
“Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, captures the fantastical
essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking, performance-capture 3D
motion picture event. Ebeneezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) begins the holiday with his
usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery
nephew (Colin Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to
Come take him on an eye-opening journey, revealing truths Old Scrooge is
reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it’s too late.
Through the magic of performance-capture technology, Jim Carrey tackles seven
roles, including Scrooge and all of the Christmas spirits.

MaryPoppinsFan
05-09-2009, 11:18 AM
Cool it's going to be at Greenfield Village Labor Day weekend. My hubby works there so we spend a lot of time there during the summer. This will just make it better. Can't wait

Donald
05-09-2009, 11:20 AM
Cool!! Thanks for the info!:mickey:

JabberJaws
05-12-2009, 10:07 AM
Yeah I got an e-mail from disney.com about this. Looks pretty neat, and it is coming to Charleston in late October so I can check it out! Best part...it is FREE!:woohoo:

BMan62
05-12-2009, 12:57 PM
WOW!!! 3 stops within a 2 hour drive for a total of 5 days!!!! :D (Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC)

Do you think I'll be able to make any of them?? Probably not!! :(

Maybe DC, since that is a 3-day stop over a weekend.

ransam
05-16-2009, 03:08 AM
i saw this earlier...already put in my vacation request for august 25!

caryrae
07-16-2009, 02:30 PM
Anyone go to this yet? It is in my area this weekend.

meldan98
07-16-2009, 04:17 PM
We did this when it came through our town. It was okay. Was it worth the entire half day it took up? Probably, no. Would I do it again? No. Don't get me wrong it wasn't terrible, it was really neat to see all the behind the scene info on how this move was made, but it was not worth the 4 or 5 hours that it took to go through everything. It is a free event and with that came a ton of people to see the train and the preview. You can't see the preview unless you go through the train and get a ticket. We waited in line for about 2-3 hours for the train and it took about 30 or 40 minutes to get through the train and then about an hour or more to see the 10 minute trailer.

NotaGeek
07-16-2009, 04:34 PM
There's a discussion going on the the Movie Thread ...

You can find that discussion HERE (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=157719).

dnickels
07-16-2009, 10:55 PM
I'm staying in Whitefish for the summer so it was just a five minute bike ride away last weekend. I went down on Friday night, waited in line about 40 minutes for the train walkthrough then about 15 minutes for the movie preview.

It's neat seeing the technology that went into producing the film and the preview, but if going to see the tour involved any sort of moderate to long drive (i.e. 30 minutes or more) or it was going to be in a bigger city with waits of an hour or more I don't really think it'd be worth it.

If anyone is planning their entire day around going to see this at one of its stops I think you would end up disappointed.

WDWCrazyKaren
07-17-2009, 08:58 AM
Ok, how weird is this? I usually stop at this forum maybe once a month just to update myself. I saw this just today for the first time and hadn't seen anything about this train. I clicked on the link, and lo and behold, TODAY the train stop is in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and it just so happens that the Amtrak station is less than three blocks from my office. We now all know what I'm doing for lunch today! If it's pretty cool, I'll bring my daughter this weekend. I guess fate brought me to this forum today!

Thanks for posting this or I would never have known!

maxrebo77
07-24-2009, 10:09 AM
Taking the train downtown this weekend to see the Chrismas Train. $5 for a weekend pass from a station 10 minutes away from my house and the tour is free, how not? Will let you know what I think.

TheVBs
07-24-2009, 10:12 AM
Cool it's going to be at Greenfield Village Labor Day weekend. My hubby works there so we spend a lot of time there during the summer. This will just make it better. Can't wait

That's the closest stop to us too. :mickey: Haven't been to Greefield Village in a long time, so it seems like a good time to go.

Aurora
07-24-2009, 12:12 PM
Thinking about going tonight. If we do I'll post also.

Emme&TeddysMommy
07-24-2009, 12:22 PM
It comes to Boston the weekend we leave for our Disney Vacation.

seanyred
07-27-2009, 10:13 AM
We went to the Train this past weekend at Union Station in Chicago. The actual train tour was pretty good. Especially if your into a little behind the scenes look as to how they made this movie. We got there early 9:30am and we waited 45minutes which was an okay wait. When we left to go home at 2:30pm the wait was up to 3.5 hours. My suggestion go early. Its worth a 45 minute wait, but not worth a three hour wait.

maxrebo77
07-27-2009, 03:44 PM
Went Sunday morning. Because the train schedule on Sundays from our neighborhood station is limited, I took the train that got into Union Station at 10:18 instead of 8:18. Just to find the end of the line for the Xmas Train by then was hard. Maybe an hour and 45min after arrival reached the actual entrance to xmas train. There was some entertainment while in line.(the juggler on stilts was really good) but I won't go into detail, since the setup probably differs at each stop. The train looks cool from the outside. The detail on the inside is pretty neat. Take the time to look at everything. Some people just kind of rush through. The line for the movie clip was pretty short, maybe we waited for one sitting. Yes, there were Seats! in the cute, inflated, airconditioned 3D theatre.
A few little handouts and stuff for kids at the end
All in all, worth seeing, but unless you are in training for standing in line, get there early.

61 days to go!

egospotter
07-27-2009, 05:27 PM
We went this weekend in Chicago as well. I thought it was awesome, just wish they had more fans in the line as I was melting. Oh well, gotta get used to waiting in line in the heat for WDW anyway! There was a juggler on stilts and carolers in the outside line. It was a bit deceiving, because there was quite the line outside of the track that moved rather quickly, but once you got to the track you still had to wait in a line that extended from the back of the train to the very front behind the engines. There was a sign that said 45 minutes, but it was more like an hour. It was cool though because you are right next to the train and you can check out all the details on the wrapping.

I won't give away too much, but inside there were costumes, concept art and behind the scenes looks. There were also glass cases with Charles Dicken's items like actual letters and writings which most people didn't bother too look at much - but were very neat. I thought the interactive part at the end was going to be hoaky, but I actually enjoyed it.

It was funny, the announcer in the inflatable theater was the same voice-over guy for the rides and monorails at Disney. I kept waiting for him to tell us to please stand clear of the doors..."

Splash_Lover
07-27-2009, 10:12 PM
went to the st paul,mn stop. Had heard about the long waits from people at the denver stop so we showed up at 8 am and were the only ones there. People started showing up at 9 but while we were there on saturday the line of crowd did not happen. The weather was coolish so that may have been a factor and it wasn't advertised very well here.

My family and the friends we took with us enjoyed it, I especially enjoyed seeing the exibits from the dickens museum on loan. Only 2 of the snow blowers were working while we were there and the carolers didn't show up till about 90 minutes after opening but it still was worth seeing and the movie looks great.It is not in my opinion worth driving 2 hrs to get there but if you are close definitly go see it.

Our one big problem was that while my wife,daughter, and myself were doing the morping picture one of the workers called out asking if anyone had a child named Jacob with them and that he was lost, we had a jacob with us. When we went to the person that had called out she told us nevermind, that he had left the train so everything was okay. No it wasn't, we were still on the train as was his grandmother who he was supposed to be with. We kept telling the worker that it was not okay for him to be let off the train but she didn't care anymore, wasn't her problem. We went outside and went to a worker there and she called back inside the train to find out why he was let out of the train when he was lost and without an adult. We finally found him in line to go into the theater. So make sure you keep track of all children and don't let them get away in the crowded train. It is hard to keep together when the people behind are pushing at you to get ahead.

still it was free Disney and glad we went

wire0monkey
08-03-2009, 01:58 PM
I took the kids to the Train Tour this weekend in St. Louis. It was really pretty good. It also worked as a marketing strategy! I probably would NOT have taken the kids to this movie in November, but now I am planning on going. I'm not a huge fan of Jim Carey and I'm not big on Christmas, but I plan on seeing the movie now. We went to see this exhibit because I love the Backlot Tour and the animation tour at DHS. This exhibit is very, very much like the type of exhibit you would see at DHS. If you like that stuff, it's well worth your time.

We arrived at St. Louis Union Station at 9:05 am. There were only a few people milling about and we were able to get our tickets and walk on the train immediately. As promised there was a group of carolers in full Victorian caroling garb. (Poor things! They had to be hot!) There were also a couple of snow machines that were only working intermittenly. (They were sort of lame.) There were a few tables with activity sheets for the kids (these were simple, but sort of cool), temporary tattoos for the kids (also cool), and the opportunity to enter a sweepstakes for an HP printer.

The first car had costumes used as a designs for the movies and cases with exhibits of Dickens' letters and signed first editions of the books. Several of the next cars had props and models used to design the movie. There was video of actors talking about making the movie. There was a display of a motion-capture suit and a mock-up of the motion capture stage. There was video about how motion capture works. There was a disply of the various stages that they go through to create motion capture animation (raw data, stick figures, full figure, full dressed figure that is sort of raw, full dressed figure that is finished). There was an area that allowed you to take a photo of your face and morph it into one of the animated characters from the movie.

After you exited the train, there was a 3D theater where you could watch a short preview/trailer of the movie. The 3D glasses for this were much nicer than the ones at the parks. The animation and 3D effects on this movie were amazing. I could watch it "snow" for a long, long time and still be interested. The art style on the film is extremely detailed and almost over the top in the richness of its look. It's a sort of classic Victorian look, but more fantastic than you could just do with real-life props.

I'm not a huge fan of Jim Carey, but I thought he was quite good in the scene they showed us of Scrooge and his nephew arguing about the meaning of Christmas. I'm sort of a "Scrooge was right" person myself, and I was developing some sympathy for Scrooge's nephew. If the acting and writing is that well done for the whole movie, it's going to be a great movie and may be the definitive version of "A Christmas Carol."

PAYROLL PRINCESS
08-20-2009, 10:13 PM
I'm definitely going to have to see if my sisters and nephews want to go into Boston to see this!

Stu29573
08-21-2009, 07:24 AM
We just saw it in Dallas. Overall it was worth it. The line was a little long and hot, but the train is pretty interesting.

IloveDisney71
08-21-2009, 08:10 PM
My brother got to see it (I'm very jealous) and he said it was wonderful. He knew to get there early so he arrived about 30 minutes before it opened. He still had to wait an hour but he said it was well worth the wait.

the other micki
08-21-2009, 10:18 PM
We saw the train in New Orleans 2 weeks ago. My mom treated my kids and I to an end-of-summer field trip in N.O. We stayed overnight at the St. Charles Maison Hotel, then went to see the train the train the next morning. Very fun trip! We did have to wait an hour to get into the train, but there were mist fans to keep cool and entertainment in the form of stilt walkers, jugglers and a quartet singing Christmas carols, so it didn't seem to bad. We also saw the 3D premier in the huge inflatable. Neat!