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Disney's 'A Christmas Carol' Train Tour |
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Presented by Ezra
Here in Portland We've had "Christmas in July" with the coming of
Disney's 'A Christmas Carol' Train Tour to Union Station.
Union Station, situated on the west bank of the Willamette river in downtown Portland, was
completed in 1896 by the Northern Pacific Terminal Company.
In the century since then a modern public transportation center has grown around it,
featuring streetcars, light-rail commuter trains, local busses and an adjacent Greyhound Bus
terminal.
The sturdy Roman-style clock tower is the station's centerpiece.
The "Union Station / Go By Train" neon was added after World War II.
The forecourt is small, but pleasantly well-kept.
Wilf's Restaurant & Bar is located here. It's a very well reviewed fine dining restaurant
and Jazz bar.
The clock Tower as seen neer the station's entrance is impressive.
Inside the station is a polished granite-lined grande damme (if a little gloomy).
Between the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation kiosk and the ticket counters I found the banner announcing the Train Tour's arrival:
...Which looks remarkably like the virtual poster accompanying Disney's press
release:
The train tour did not use the station's interior as a queue. That was outside, next to the
bulding's south wing.
You can see people waiting in line, unaware that they are being watched.
The queue continues around to the back of the station, where the exhibit train awaits.
The Dickens Carolers entertain are here to entertain people in line.
The tain is a long one, with six cars full of exhibits, and another for equipment and a
couple of passenger births.
The line continues adjacent to the back of Union Station, where Wilfs has set up refreshment
tables.
It is here, before crossing the tracks to enter the train, that guests recieve their
tickets.
One ticket is given to each group, rather than to each individual person. The ticket is
puched (with a Mickey-shaped whole punch, of course!) according to the number of people in
your party. There's a reason for this involving the barcode on the back, which I'll explain
when the time comes.
There are a very many friendly and helpful tour guides. Most have not been traveling with
the tour, they're primarily local temps.
Crossing to the train.
Both children and adults enjoy playing in the snow made sporadically by this snow maker. It
also plays Christmas music. I want one of these.
Just before entering, guests pass this "Steampunk" style video player. A brief video
explaining what you can expect inside plays here.
This looks like it should come to life and move around, talking to people and making them
laugh.
Just around this railing and up a few steps, and we're in.
The first car is dedicated to character design. There are portaits of major characters as
they will appear in the film, as well as their costumes. As will be explained to us later
in the tour, these costumes were not worn by the actors during their performances. They
were designed as reference materials for the animators who will create each actor's
distinctive look.
Throughout the train, there are glass display cases containing artifacts from the Dickens
Museum of London, and the Charles Dickens Society of America. In this case are a few
priceless first editions of A Christmas Carol.
The first portraits are of Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, through four different ages:
The poor orphan boy — ~ — The romantic youth
 
The seriously stoic adult — ~ — The dour old miser
 
We'll catch glimpses of Carrey's other characters, The Three Spirits, later in the tour.
This case contains original drafts or articles Charles Dickens wrote for The Pickwick
Papers, as well as a portrait of the author at that time.
We have portraits of two characters played by Gary Oldman.
Bob Cratchit — ~ — Tiny Tim
 
We'll see plenty of Oldman's other character, The ghost of Jacob Marley, later in the tour.
Robin Wright Penn plays two characters as well:
Ebenezer's sister Fenn — ~ — The lovely Isabelle
 
Here are railway tables, notes, and journal pages from Dickens second visit to America in
1842.
You can the first page of one of Dickens' letters.
Here are Ebenezer's nephew Fred and his wife,
as portrayed by Colin Firth and Leslie Zemeckis.
 
Mr. and Mrs Fezziwig are played by
Bob Hoskins and Jacquie Barnbrook.
 
The next car is dedicated to scenery. In this dark room you can see concept art of various
locations shift and disolve on HP flatscreens in gilded frames.
These two part-time Santas are delighted to send time together looking at Christmas stuff
any day of the year.
A christmas Carol inspired sheet music.
Here are some early theatrical adaptations of
A christmas Carol.
Concept art for a London street. According to a video playing in this room, the designers
began with period photographs to use as reference in re-creating Victorian London.
Fezziwig's shop.
A woman shows her grandchildren this concept sketch of a classroom, and explains to them
what schools looked like when she was a girl.
The car is dedicated to scale models. The models were built as reference not only for the
animators, but for the actors as well since they were filmed in blank, empty rooms.
The miniature maquettes and full size maquette heads are used as reference by animators.
 
Models of The Phantom Hearse, Fred's house, and Ebenezer's Shop.
These scale models are very, very detailed.
The screens in the model car prepare you for what you're about to see next. This is Bob
Hoskins in a motion capture studio, taking direction from Robert Zemeckis.
The Motion Capture car is a tiny slice of a motion capture studio. The studio Robert
Zemeckis is working in at ImageMovers is a large space with 300 stationary cameras.
The screens in this room demonstrate the application of capture points to actors faces, the
use of "lipstick cameras" mounted on helmets the actors wear, and motion capture suits.
The motions capture suit and helmet, complete with "lipstick cameras" that record every
subtle movement and facial expression. The actors wear this gear instead of costumes and makeup, which is added to their image later in post production.
The assembly car is where it all comes together. The room's many screens aire clips from
A Christmas Carol in verious stages of production, from bare wire-frames to finished
footage. Here we finally see some amazing completed film footage; most especially, footage
of Marley's ghost, The Three Spirits, and the amazing Phantom Hearse.
Along the way, screens in every car feature artists describing the process of their work
A series of Face Morph Stations follows, which gives guests a brief taste of how the motion
capture technology works. A photo of your face is taken, and the computer transforms it
into the likeness of one of the films characters. The resulting photo is then emailed to
you when it is ready.
Here's where the ticket come in. The barcode on the back of the ticket is scanned by this
machine. Groups have a single ticket, so that the photos of everyone in your party can be
sent to a single email address. This is similar to the PhotoPass system at Disney Parks.
where the entire family can use a single ticket number. And here is Jacob Marley's ghost!
In order to protect the information of children, one adult must be in every group, and must
enter their birthdate for verification. I also entered the the email address where I wish
to recieve my photo.
Next you position yourself so that your face fills up the mask you can see on the screen.
Next, you drag the eyes and nose graphics until they are over your own eyes and nose in the
photo you just took.
I make a much too kindly-looking Scrooge.
The mustache kinda spoils things for a couple of these characters:
Tiny Tim's moustache — ~ — Isabelle's moustache
 
Once I've made my final selection, I can start a new project for the next person in my
group, or just hit "Done". My Ezra-Marley photograph will be emailed to me.
The final segment is the Happy Holidays car. The are enjoying a decidely party atmosphere,
and the delicious scent for freshly baking gingerbread is in the air.
In the fireplace, there's a roaring (projected).
This spot is a popular photo opportunity. The holiday table is laden with succulent
delights. Outside the windows is a street in Old London where 3-D animated snowflakes are
falling. A note left for us by Ebenezer himself bids us farewell.
While exiting, guests are handed perforated sheet of snowflake ornaments as a keepsake.
They're cute, but very difficult to separate from their card. This is probably not
something children can do. You may want to put them away and bring them out again at holiday
time.
Once outside again, we're directed across the street and down one block, where we'll be
given a sneak peak at the movie.
There are much more people here now, and the queue does indeed stretch around the corner and
across the front of the train station. I'm glad I came first thing in the morning.
The temperature outside has reached 80 degrees now, and the staff is setting up some mister
units to help people keep their cool.
From a across the street, the portable theatre looks like any number of brick buildings in
the area immediately surrounding Union Station, but when I get ghere, I discover that it's
inflatable!
More event staff are here to punch another mickey into my ticket.
There are a few information booths here, including Radio Disney, Train Tour sponsor HP, AAA
travel and the Alliance for Community Traveling Safety, who were offering information about
child safety seats for the family automobile.
Who should I see at the Radio Disney table but Scrooge McDuck and Mrs. Minnie Cratchit from
Mickey's Christmas Carol.
One of the AAA Travel posters caught my eye, too.
This area also has a couple of snow machines.
Let it snow.
Crowds are begining to gather here, too. The 3-D presentation inside is amazing! After
some brief comments from some of the artists who worked on this film, we were shown two
complete scenes. The first is an agruement between Ebenezer and his nephew Fred, and the
second is the appearance and message of the ghost of Jacob Marley. This leads right into
what ammounts to an extended trailer depicting Ebenezer's struggle against the otherworldly
Christmas Past, a brief glimpse of Christmas Present, and Ebenezer being hunted down by
Christmas Future in a Phantom Hearse.
In his comments, Robert Zemeckis talks about bringing the so-familliar story to fruition is
surprising ways. The footage I saw today seems to support that. Much of it is presented
the way it occurs in Dickens' book for the very first time on screen. Elements of the story
that have never been attempted before are included in this preview. Wonderful!
While many of the event staffers I encountered today were from a local temp agency, some
were not. I'd like to comment the hard work that goes into bringing an event like this from
place to place. I talked to two staff members traveling with the tour, one from Amtrak, and
one from HP. They had just arrived from Oakland yesterday, and are leaving for Seattle
tomorrow morning. It's a grueling schedule. Althought the train leaves at 9am tomorrow,
the tour bus and three semi trucks full of equipment are leaving at 3am. That so few people
can keep to such a tight schedule and put on a jam-packed event like this sucessfully each
and every time is astounding. I want to thank them for bringing this to my city.
To them I say, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Disney's A Christmas Carol opens in Disney Digital 3D and Imax 3D Nov.
6th.
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