Christmas in July: Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour at Portland, Oregon

I originally posted this on my old website as a FEATURE on July 23, 2009. I have updated it with some new information.

(NOTE: This website is NOT affiliated with Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour)

In order to promote their 2009 film adaption of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Disney created a touring train that would travel the country with promotional materials, in conjunction with a short preview of the film. The film is computer-animated performance capture film, similar to 2004's The Polar Express but far more sophisticated, and will be released in 3-D.  The film stars Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts that visit him and also features Gary Oldman, Cary Elwes, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins and Robin Wright Penn, most of whom play multiple roles. The film's debut was scheduled for November 6, 2009 with a world premiere in London.

The train's tour schedule was as follows:

Date	Location	Venue
May 22-25, 2009	Los Angeles, California	Los Angeles Union Station
May 29-31, 2009	Grand Canyon, Arizona	Williams Depot
June 2, 2009	Santa Fe, New Mexico	Santa Fe Depot
June 5-7, 2009	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Albuquerque Amtrak Station
June 12-14, 2009	Denver, Colorado	Denver Union Station
June 16, 2009	Salt Lake City, Utah	Ogden Union Station
June 19-21, 2009	Sacramento, California	California State Railroad Museum
June 26-28, 2009	San Francisco, California	Port of Redwood City
July 1, 2009	Portland, Oregon	Portland Union Station
July 3-5, 2009	Seattle, Washington	King Street Station
July 7, 2009	Spokane, Washington	Spokane Amtrak Station
July 10-11, 2009	Whitefish, Montana	Whitefish Amtrak Station
July 15, 2009	Fargo, North Dakota	North Dakota State University
July 17-19, 2009	St. Paul, Minnesota	Amtrak Midway Station
July 24-26, 2009	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Union Station
August 4, 2009	Memphis, Tennessee	Memphis Central Station
August 7-9, 2009	New Orleans, Louisiana	Riverview Amtrak Station
August 11, 2009	Houston, Texas	Houston Amtrak Station
August 14-16, 2009	San Antonio, Texas	San Antonio Amtrak Station
August 18-19, 2009	Dallas, Texas	Dallas Union Station
August 21-23, 2009	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Oklahoma City Santa Fe Depot
August 25, 2009	Kansas City, Missouri	Kansas City Union Station
August 28-30, 2009	Omaha, Nebraska	Durham Museum
September 4-6, 2009	Detroit, Michigan	Henry Ford Museum Greenfield Village
September 9, 2009	Indianapolis, Indiana	Downtown Bargersville
September 11-13, 2009	Louisville, Kentucky	Louisville Union Station
September 18-19, 2009	Cleveland, Ohio	Cleveland Browns Lot
September 22, 2009	Albany, New York	Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station
September 25-27, 2009	Boston, Massachusetts	South Station
September 30, 2009	Baltimore, Maryland	B&O Railroad Museum
October 2-4, 2009	Washington, D.C.	Union Station
October 6, 2009	Atlanta, Georgia	Southeastern Railway Museum
October 9-11, 2009	Spencer, North Carolina	North Carolina Transportation Museum
October 13, 2009	Savannah, Georgia	Savannah Amtrak Station
October 16-18, 2009	Miami, Florida	Gold Coast Railroad Museum
October 20, 2009	Jacksonville, Florida	Jacksonville Amtrak Station
October 24-25, 2009	Charleston, South Carolina	Ansonborough Field
October 27, 2009	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	30th Street Station
October 30-November 1, 2009	New York City, New York	Grand Central Terminal

Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train Tour Banner

I toured the train during its stop at Union Station in Portland, Oregon on July 1, 2009. This large advertisement for the train was next to the ticket counter in Union Station. There were also tables with Amtrak merchandise for sale.

The Dickens Carolers

The Dickens Carolers, dressed in Victorian-era winter clothes, entertained visitors as they waited in line. This was a warm, sunny day, so the costumes must have been uncomfortable.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train at Portland Union Station

Here are some closeups of the train cars and locomotives taken from near the front of the line.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train at Portland Union Station

The locomotives and cars are wrapped with graphics printed by Hewlett-Packard Scitex printers.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train at Portland Union Station

Inside Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Here is the interior of the first car in the train. This car featured costumes worn in production, portraits of the actors as their characters and display cases with Dickens artifacts, including handwritten pages, from the Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Character Head Models on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Further along on the tour were other impressive items used in the making of the movie. These clay design models were made to assist the computer artists in the creation of the digital version of the characters.

Model of Big Ben on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

This large and impressive model of Big Ben under construction was used in the production of the film, presumably as a starting point for the computer artists.

Model of Big Ben on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Model of Big Ben on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Model of a hearse on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Models of a horse-drawn hearse, the home of Scrooge's nephew Fred and the Scrooge & Marley office were displayed as well.

Model of Fred’s house on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Model of Scrooge’s Office on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Model of Scrooge’s Office on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Model of Scrooge’s Office on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

Studio Mockup on Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train

This mockup (which involves mirrors to make the space seem larger than it actually is) illustrates the studio where the actors' performances were filmed.

The tour then led to an area where visitors could have their photo manipulated into one of the characters in a technique similar to that used to create the movie. This technology worked ok, though it was based entirely on eye and nose location. A way to select the bottom of the chin as well would have made it work better. There also could have been a warning to remove eyeglasses for the photo, as the system didn't handle them well.

Alter touring the train, visitors were treated to a preview of the movie, presented in 3D. The preview consisted of some footage from cast & crew interviews and a little behind-the-scenes footage, two completed scenes from the movie (the scene where Fred invites Scrooge to Christmas dinner, and the scene where Marley's ghost appears to Scrooge) and the movie trailer. The film appears to be quite faithful to the original Dickens story, and the performance capture technology is greatly improved over that of 2004's The Polar Express.

 

In the next post, I will go over the consist of the train and the history of the cars.

Continue to Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Consist…