Free Disney “Christmas Carol” Train at Union Station July 24-26
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All Aboard the free Disney “Christmas Carol” train July 24-26 at Chicago’s Union Station! The house of mouse has teamed up with Amtrak and Hewlett Packard to bring you Charles Dickens’ classic tale on wheels as Disney gets ready to launch Robert Zemeckis new film “A Christmas Carol” Nov 6th 
starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth. This movie is a capture-motion 3-D event (employing an improved version of the performance-capture technology he used in 2004′s The Polar Express) and Disney is doing a unique advertising campaign using a free whistle stop train tour. The free train promotion itself is not just a promotion for the upcoming film, but also a traveling shrine to author Charles Dickens made up of artifacts on loan from London’s Charles Dickens Museum. Free Admission.
The free Disney train tour begins at Los Angeles’ Union Station on Memorial Day weekend, then zigzags eastward through Oct. 30, where it ends at New York’s Grand Central. Stops include big cities (such as Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans) and smaller ones (Whitefish, Mont.; Fargo, N.D; and Albany, N.Y.), each lasting a few days. Here’s what visitors will find inside the four cars:
•A digital gallery of the film’s characters and their design evolution; each portrait will digitally change and show how they were created.
•Artifacts from the Charles Dickens Museum in London, including a first edition of the original novel and some of the author’s personal writing paraphernalia.
•A display of performance-capture technology, in which the real actors’ movements and expressions are recorded and digitized, then used for animated renderings.
•Interactive games, including a face-morphing photo booth that will blend the visitor’s visage with Scrooge’s.
The fantasy will extend beyond the train cars, with the holiday spirit re-created with decorations, local carolers and even artificial snow. And in the parking lot: a portable theater to show early footage.
Next stops:
Chicago – July 24-26
Chicago Union Station
225 South Canal Street
St. Louis, MO – July 31- August 2
St. Louis Union Station
550 South 16th Street
Memphis, TN – August 4
Memphis Central Station
545 South Main Street
New Orleans, LA – August 7-9
Riverview in Audubon Park
6500 Magazine Street
Houston, TX – August 11
Houston Amtrak Station
902 Washington Avenue
San Antonio, TX – August 14-16
San Antonio Amtrak Station
350 Hoefgen Street
Dallas, TX – August 18-19
Dallas Union Station
401 South Houston St
Oklahoma City, OK – August 21-23
Oklahoma City Santa Fe Depot
100 South E. K.Gaylord Blvd
Kansas City, MO – August 25
Kansas City Union Station
30 W. Pershing Road
Omaha, NE – August 28-30
Durham Museum
801 South 10th Street
Detroit/Darborn, MI – September 4-6
Henry Ford Museum Greenfield Village
20900 Oakwood Blvd
Indianapolis/Bagersville, IN – September 9
Downtown Bargersville
24 North Main Street
Louisville, KY – September 11-13
Louisville Union Station
1000 W. Broadway
Cleveland, OH – September 18-19
Cleveland Brown’s Lot
1085 W Third St
Albany/Rensselaer, NY – September 22
Albany Rensselaer Rail Station
525 East Street
Boston, MA – September 25-27
South Station
2 South Station
Baltimore, MD – September 30
B & O Railroad Museum
901 W Pratt St
Washington DC – October 2-4
Union Station
50 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Atlanta/Duluth, GA – October 6
Southeastern Railway Museum
3595 Peachtree Rd
Spencer, NC – October 9-11
NC Transportation Museum
411 S. Salisbury Ave
Savannah, GA – October 13
Savannah Amtrak Station
2611 Seaboard Coastline Dr
Miami, FL – October 16-18
Gold Coast Railroad Museum
12450 SW 152nd St
Jacksonville, FL – October 20
Jacksonville Amtrak Station
3570 Clifford Lane
Charleston, SC – October 23-25
Ansonborough Field
Washington and Concord Streets
Philadelphia, PA – October 27
30th Street Station
2955 Market Street
New York, NY – October 30 – November 1
Grand Central Terminal
42nd Street and Park Avenue
Enjoy all the great free things to do in Chicago and never miss a deal -
Be warned that there are very, very long lines to see the exhibit inside the train. We waited over 2 hours and no strollers were allowed for most of that meaning a lot of toddler holding. This was more about the movie than trains. Recommended for older children who are interested in looking at (admittedly cool) movies about how this film was made.