Christmas in July

Dad and Levynn went to Union Station today for Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour, a free event which has made Chicago one of many stops around the country before the movie opens Nov. 6. (In case you didn't know, it's a 3-D film from Robert Zemeckis using motion capture animation like in his "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express.")


Mom wasn't interested, which was for the best, as we learned, because Lincoln would not have tolerated the wait. Dad and Levynn were in line for more than an hour, as if it was Disney World! Fortunately, there was (a little) entertainment.


The train - parked in Union Station's Track 1 - featured concept art, animation examples, costumes, scale models, and a dummy outfitted in motion capture gear. We also got hands-on with a touch-screen computer, morphing our faces into movie characters.

Levynn is Belle, who was Scrooge's fiance back in the day.


Dad is Tiny Tim.




After the train tour, we walked to a separate location within the station for a 3-D movie preview in an inflatable theater.


Doesn't Levynn look stylish?