It's Christmas in August all this weekend as Disney's Christmas Carol Train Tour makes a stop in downtown Oklahoma City.

So, the five of us, along with my mom, dragged out of bed this morning while it was still dark and left the house by 6 p.m. We were on a mission - a mission to get to the media's sneak peek of the Christmas Carol Train Tour with time to spare. The event kicked off at 7:30 a.m., and I didn't want to miss a moment.

Follow up:

I don't think this thing has been promoted much, which is a little strange. I only heard about it because a friend sent me an e-mail about it. I am very glad she did!

What it is:

The Walt Disney Company is putting out a new movie, "A Christmas Carol," in November. It is stop-action animation - like "The Polar Express" - and it is in 3D. The movie stars Jim Carrey.

To publicize "A Christmas Carol," Disney decided to team up with Amtrak and make this cool train that people can go through - for FREE - and see all kinds of neat things about how the film was made. There is artwork from the planning stages, models, a setup with the suit worn by actors during stop-action animation, and a place where you can actually get your picture taken and have yourself morphed into one of the characters from the show...just like the actors did. You use these HP touch screen computers to take your own picture and choose a character to morph into. The computers even send your finished photos to your e-mail addess when you're finished. The part of the train you get to tour is four cars long, and they are really well done - beautiful to look at.

It seems a little weird to gush over all of this since they are really doing it for the publicity, but it's hard to let that get in the way when it was such a great presentation and everyone was enjoying themselves so much.

The tour started in May, and only 40 cities were chosen as host locations. Oklahoma City is number 22 on the list, and we get three days of this...Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. At that point, they'll pull up stakes and move on north, to Kansas City for a one day visit.

What to expect:

There was a quartet, two men and two women, singing beautiful harmonized Christmas carols a capella as we arrived. They were dressed in Dickens-era clothes and made their way through old-fashioned classics like "Good King Wenceslas" with ease. Other people have mentioned seeing jugglers and other entertainers while waiting in line, but we didn't see anyone like that. Of course, we didn't have a line because we were there with the press before anyone else arrived. There are flat screen TVs to watch for those who do wait in line - just like on a real Disney theme park ride.

We climbed up the stairs in the Santa Fe Depot on Gaylord and went inside, where we were ushered to the left, to another flight of stairs.

I'd never been up near the trains before, so that was a new experience. While we went to the Disney train on the left, familes were standing with their bags, boarding the Amtrak train to the right. We walked the length of the train, they punched our tickets, and we went inside. There is no flash photography allowed in the first two cars, because of the historical artifacts inside. These cars included costumes from the movie, portraits of the characters, and items on loan from the Charles Dickens museum, including letters written by Dickens, a quill pen he used for writing, and early copies of his manuscripts.

Next up were scale models from the movie, including a Big Ben clock tower under construction, character models, Fred's house, Scrooge's storefront, and others.

That was followed by a room with a copy of the suit used in stop-action animation. Flat screen TVs explained how the actor, wearing the suit, transmits their movements to the computer for editing.

The high-tech areas continued with scenes from the movie, then the touch-screen computers, where you could play a little trivia game about "A Christmas Carol" and then move on to the morphing area. You put in your birthdate (to show you're an adult) and then your e-mail address. Then your entire party can get their pictures done, one after another, without having to put that information in again. When you're done, they e-mail you the pictures. I'm still waiting for mine...they must do them all at the end of the day or something.

We finished the tour in a warm little room with a bright fireplace (another flat screen provided the fire) and a sign offering good wishes from Scrooge himself. We had to hang in the little room for a few minutes while Lauren Richardson at Fox 25 finished up a live broadcast. They had the carolers singing behind them, and it was enjoyable to watch.

After they were done, we departed the train and headed back to the main lot, where there were areas to sign up to win prizes, a place for free coloring books and temporary tattoos (Christmas-themed, of course) and a booth offering seat belt information and free pencils. The main lot is also where the snow machines are - they run throughout the day.

We went to the movie theatre area - walking through the falling "snow" on the way - got our tickets punched again and were handed 3-D glasses to wear during the viewing. We had to wait a little bit for the group in front of us to watch the film, and then we went in.

This movie theatre is an achievement in itself. It is a giant inflatable building...like a bounce house. But instead of a place to jump inside, there are rows of chairs and a big movie screen. Air conditioners were running, and it was nice and cool inside. A lady stood and welcomed us to the showing, and then we were treated to a look at the movie that included two scenes from the film. I wasn't prepared to be too impressed with this...but I was. The 3-D was incredibly lifelike. I am still a little awed by what they were able to do.

I liked the train a lot, but it was the preview that made me sure I was going to see this movie in the theatres. With three kids, we wait until a lot of things come out on DVD - but I am determined to see these 3-D effects the way they were meant to be seen.

When the film was over, we returned our 3-D glasses and were wished "Merry Christmas" one more time...and then we stepped back out into the sunlight of an Oklahoma August, and made our way back to the car.

I'm still a little surprised that such a fun thing chose to come to Oklahoma, and that it was free. It was such a neat, once-in-a-lifetime experience! It really was entertainment for all ages and a neat way to spend some time without going far from home. I hope that everyone takes the time to go to this!

For more information about the tour, you can go to the train tour website.

Insider information:

--There are a lot of people working at this event. If they are in a gray shirt, they go with the tour and are probably from the west coast. The people I talked to were from Washington and California. If they are in a white shirt, they are Okies like you who got this sweet gig because they are big Disney fans. They got the real early preview of the whole thing, on Thursday night. They are only working at this single event, and won't go with the train to Kansas.

--Don't forget to sign up for the drawings! The drawing booths are east of the main area. Kids can sign up to try to get to be a Hometown Movie Surfer - which would mean being on TV - and adults can sign up to win a HP touchscreen computer just like the ones on the tour.

--No strollers allowed on the tour, so you can either park it back at the train station or leave it at home.

--As always, parking isn't free when you're downtown. We saved quite a bit by parking at a 2-hour meter in Bricktown instead of paying for the full day of parking at a lot. If the lines are long, you might have to send someone back to feed the meter at some point though. Lots charge about $6.

Enjoy the tour!