A Disney Christmas Carol Train Tour Report

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

This morning I went to the Disney Christmas Carol Train Tour at the Southeastern Train Museum in Duluth, Ga. This is just a quick review of my experience.

I arrived at 10am and was directed thru their convoluted parking lot (I was last there 8 years ago and remembered it being much easier to park). I’m sure part of the problem was the crowds though.

It is a cloudy, drizzly day here in Duluth, GA today with temps only up to about 66 degrees. I went alone since the kids had tests at school today and I wasn’t about to let them skip those. I only had to wait about 15 minutes to get my ticket and enter the train.

The first car was artifacts. I thought it was interesting to see them and I loved some of the stuff from the Dickens Museum. Many young children didn’t. I had a large family behind me that kept pushing and shoving as if that would make me and the rest of the people in front of me move faster. Since we were all crowded in like sardines, it definitely didn’t help.
Here are a few pictures. I hope they turn out ok. It's been awhile since I've posted pictures:

 

[loveysbydesign]

cool...thanks for posting pix.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Here comes part 2:

The second car was landscape scenes from the movie. There were many screens showing these scenes. It was all very interesting and I did a good job not yelling at the pushing, shoving family as I looked at all the scenes. I didn’t take any pictures in this car. I wasn’t sure if I could and I didn’t want to get kicked out since I was enjoying myself.

I think the next car was the props. I may have these next few cars mixed up a bit. I really liked the detailing of the hearse and in Scrooges office.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff207/Momofdoom/Christmas%20Carol%20Tr
ain%20Tour%2009/IMG_6565.jpg

After that was the car showing you how the actors did their roles for the computer animation. Again I didn’t take pictures in this car because it had a lot of mirrors and I didn’t want to get myself in the pics. Silly but true.

Then came the car showing the animation itself. How it was done and all. No pictures allowed in this car and they had a CM at the front and back announcing this and watching for anyone trying to sneak any pictures.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

And part 3:

The next to the last car had screens that you could touch and answer questions about A Christmas Carol in general and a little further on were the morphing stations. I was finally able to lose the pushing, shoving family in this car. I morphed myself into Marley so I hope it arrives in my email. If it does I’ll post it later.

Finally we arrived at the last car which had someone giving out exclusive commemorative holiday decorations that you can take off the cardboard. This car had the fireplace and holiday food setup for pictures.

Once done with the train, I wandered over to the Theatre area. As I was leaving the train, I overheard one of the CM’s telling someone the wait was about an hour to get on the train. It sure made me glad I was there early.

I only had a few minutes wait before we were allowed into the theatre setup up for the previews. We were handed 3D glasses and everyone was told to go to the end of the row starting with the back rows. As usual, hardly anyone listened. So sorry to the person whose toes I stepped on when I had to climb over you (not!). The preview was great and now I am really looking forward to seeing the movie!

There were several schools there on field trips who had already gone thru the train and seen the movie. They were hanging around the activity area so I decided to skip it since I was there by myself.

I’m really glad I went and it was enjoyable except for the rude family pushing and shoving behind me.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

And the final part before DD10 gets home from school:

A couple of helpful to know people things I noticed:
Kids under 5 seemed really, really bored. The only thing most of them cared about was the morphing area and it took a good 40 minutes to reach that area. I heard several parents with young kids (about 3 different ones) wishing there was more their kids would like there.

People weren’t prepared for no strollers in the train. I overheard parents in front of me talking about it. There is no way to get them up the stairs into the train and no space for them to move in the train. So just a heads up about that.

The movie preview scared some of the younger kids. A little boy about 3 years old had his 3D glasses on and starting screaming at one scene in the movie preview. Poor little guy. Several other kids were crying and screaming too. So if your kids get scared easy, be prepared for the second preview scene.

If you get a chance, go see Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train Tour. It’s totally worth it!

The top of this sign sprayed fake snow. Kids were loving it!