A Christmas Carol Train Tour

To promote its new film A Christmas Carol, Disney has been conducting a train tour this summer beginning in May in Los Angeles, and ending in New York City Halloween weekend.  The movie is set to debut on November 6 in IMAX and 3D.

The train tour made a Detroit stop over Labor Day weekend at The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village.  I took my daughter for some alone Daddy and daughter time.  We went opening day at 9:15 am.  The tours were to start at 9:00 and there was already a line.  Because the train was at the back of the Village, there were buses to take us to it.  So after waiting for about 15 minutes or so, we boarded our coach and were taken to the train.

On the bus, heading towards the train

When we got to the train there was yet another line.  While waiting, there was a quartet of carolers singing Christmas songs to the crowd.  Surprisingly, they were wearing the full 19th century holiday regalia.  It was a very warm day and they must have been incredibly hot under their costumes.  It was very cute and added to the ambiance.  Also adding to the ambiance of the festivities was some snow.  Machines at various locations around the tour stop were blowing out snowflakes in which the kids loved to play.

Carolers singing

At last, after about an hour waiting, we were ushered into the train.  Before entering, we were given a train ticket for the exhibit showing the number of “passengers” in our party.  Inside the train we walked through three cars where we were able to see some costumes, artwork, and even miniature models of London that were used to inspire the movie.

Train ticket

The train

 In the last train car the exhibit offered a very unique experience for the visitors.  The movie was shot using performance capture technology which is how they are able to portray actors’ movements and expressions into digital animation.  It was neat to learn more about this during the tour (though it probably bored the young’ins to death).  Well, near the end we were able to use this technology to “morph” ourselves into the movie’s characters.  There were stations set up inside the traincar to take photographs of the visitors.  Each person could then choose to see their face morph into Scrooge, Marley, Tiny Tim, etc.

Me as Ebeneezer Scrooge

Me as Jacob Marley

Me as Tiny Tim

Amandine as Belle, Scrooge’s past love

We had a really good time and before leaving we got to watch an extended trailer of the movie in 3D.

Quick Update

I’ve been busy for the past week or so and haven’t blogged for a while. I have a lot of things to cover when I get a moment. I had a couple of job interviews last week, another NWLB experience, and spent Fri-Mon in San Antonio for my bro-in-law’s wedding. I’ll catch you all up again shortly.

NWLB Round 2

Yesterday I went back to the Michigan Works! Southgate office to complete the first step after orientation to qualify for the Michigan No Worker Left Behind program.  This time it was to attend a Career Trends workshop.  It was pretty much what I expected – a waste of gas.  They make you go to their O*NET website, http://onetcenter.org , do a keyword search on careers that interest you so that you can learn more about what type of qualifications and education are necessary, as well as average salary and, most importantly, if that career is deemed “in demand”.

After playing around with the O*NET search engine it was time to use the Interest Profiler which will match your interests with the careers that are best suited for you.  The Interest Profiler consists of 180 statements of work descriptions and you can answer Like, Dislike, or Unsure.  (For example, Working with databases; Changing a car’s oil; Directing a play; Provide rehabilitation therapy for seniors; etc.)

After you answer L, D, or U to the 180 statements you can print out your Score Summary.  You are scored on six interest categories:

Realistic: People with Realistic interests like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.  They enjoy dealing with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery.  They enjoy outside work.  Often people with Realistic interests do not like occupations that mainly involve doing paperwork or working closely with others.  (My score: 2)

Investigative: People with Investigative interests like work activities that have to do with ideas and thinking, rather than with physical activity.  They like to search for facts and figure out problems mentally, rather than to persuade or lead people.  (My score: 18)

Artistic: People with Artistic interests like work activities that deal with the artistic side of things, such as forms, designs, and patterns.  They like self-expression in their work.  They prefer settings where work can be done without following a clear set of rules.  (My score: 17)

Social: People with Social interests like work activities that assist others and promote learning and personal development.  They prefer to communicate more than to work with objects, machines, or data.  They like to teach, to give advice, to help, or otherwise be of service to people.  (My score: 26)

Enterprising: People with Enterprising interests like work activities that have to do with starting up and carrying out projects, especially business ventures.  They like persuading and leading people and making decisions.  They like taking risks for profit.  These people prefer action, rather than thinking.  (My score: 18)

Conventional: People with Conventional interests like work activities that follow set procedures and routines.  They prefer working with data and detail, rather than with ideas.  They prefer work in which there are precise standards, rather than work in which you have to judge things by yourself.  These people like working where the lines of authority are clear.  (My score: 20)

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, it’s a shame that this couldn’t all be done from a remote location (i.e. home) through the internet via login/username and passwords.  Instead, I had to drive 40 minutes to Michigan Works! and sign a piece of paper documenting that I had attended and completed my Interest Profiler.

I did learn some things about myself though through the Profiler.  For starters, that I enjoy communicating, teaching, and helping others.  The Profiler also reinforced what I already knew about my displeasure for working with wood, tools, machinery, etc.  The rest of it is pretty much a toss-up with a slight leaning towards working with procedures, data, and precise attention to details.

My next step in the NWLB tango is to attend a Career Exploration Preparation workshop which is scheduled for next Thursday (8/13).  I’ll provide another update then.