All Aboard! Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour made its stop in Louisville, Kentucky today, is a new marketing vehicle (no pun intended) Disney is utilizing to promote this new incarnation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey. The stop will last from September 11 through the 13th and is FREE. This makes two days in a row that our family has participated in a Disney event away from any Disney park. However, today's event was much more entertaining than yesterday's. Obviously, the train and the theater were the main attractions, but, a few booths were set up outside offering drawings and games for prizes. One of those booths was Radio Disney, which gave away mini movie posters and t-shirts. Now, without going into a ton of detail on this tour, I'll give a quick overview and then let the pictures tell the story.
As you approach the train, your party is given a boarding pass, which made for a great souvenir. The train was beautifully painted and was basically a moving billboard advertising Dickens' story. The first car introduces guests to the film through displaying character art and costume reference, as well as some historical Dickens memorabilia. The next car features concept art displayed on high definition screens. The screens also change pictures every few seconds. Next, some maquettes and models were displayed. The next car featured motion picture cameras as well as behind the scenes look at the process in the movie. The next car no pictures were allowed. Here, several screens displayed more behind the scenes clips followed by an interactive couple of cars where guests could get their picture morphed into one of the characters from the film including Scrooge and Tiny Tim. The last car featured final art and some live carolers as you exited. Overall, the train tour was very reminiscent of the Narnia attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the various props and behind the scenes videos.
After exiting the train, we headed over for about a 15 minutes sneak peek the portable theater. All I can say is Disney's digital 3-D looks amazing. Ok, one more thing to say. I am very excited about this film which hits theaters on November 6th. This looks like no previous interpretation of A Christmas Carol I have ever seen before. The motion capture, which most associate with The Polar Express, has improved in these past five years.
After the movie, it was time to head over to the booths. We got some tattoos of Scrooge, snowflakes, and heart-shaped candy canes. Yes, we signed up for a the Disney Movie Surfers raffle, and then headed over to the Radio Disney booth. For the next hour, the kids played games and won prizes. Of course, I had to hit all the booths and get the free advertising ephemera. So, has anyone been to this tour in your city? If the tour is stopping at your city in the next few weeks, definitely try to hitch a ride. I hope you are as excited as I am about this upcoming release. If not, well, "Bah Humbug"!
