VMK Holiday and Special Events

2005

May 2005

23 May 2005: Public Beta Testing Begins

• VMK Opened for public Beta Testing with a full compliment of Beta Furniture

24 May 2005: Opening "Parade"

• The weekend after opening, players were told to gather on Main Street and "parade" along its length. Some parade "leaders" were awarded the Dancing Inferno magic pin. Then a few staff members "hid" themselves in some rooms in the game, and the first people to find each of them were awarded prizes.

June 2005

18 June 2005: Big Summer Bash (Parade and Scavenger Hunt)

• VMK held a "Big Summer Bash" which included a Big Parade, Scavenger Hunt, and costume contest. Not without problems, the Big Summer Bash featured long lines to enter rooms, time zone issues and lag. Some players received prizes such as Dancing Inferno magic and the Jungle Cruise Explorer's Tent Guest Room.

27 June 2005: End of Beta Testing

• Official End of Beta Testing. The Day One badges were given to all players subscribed before that time. First Insider Tour offered.

July 2005

16-17 July 2005: Room Decorating Event

• Players were told to decorate their rooms to be judged. On Saturday was the judging of the Celebration theme; players whose rooms were found to best commemorate Disneyland's 50th anniversary won prizes. Sunday featured judging of the Space theme, letting players decorate their interpretation of what "space" meant to them. Prizes were also given for answering trivia questions. (Some players did not receive a visit from judges; a number of these players were given an Invisibility magic pin as a consolation prize.)

August 2005

19-21 August 2005: Room Decorating and Pin Trading Event

• Players decorated their rooms based on a pin-trading theme and judges looked for rooms that best captured this theme. Prizes were awarded to room decorating winners. The Lounging Lion pin along with many other pins were traded to players by staff members wearing Goofy hats who visited the trading rooms. Winners of the event were announced in the Newsletter 23 August 2005.

September 2005

9-12 September 2005: Room Decorating and Pin Trading Event

• Originally announced as a Maze Event, the Maze event was postponed and the Room Decorating and Pin Trading event was held in its place.
• Players decorated their rooms based on a pin-trading theme and judges looked for rooms that best captured this theme. Each hour of the competition VMK said they would name a winner, so there were 19 chances to win. Winners were announced in the Newsletter 14 September 2005.

October 2005

8 and 9 October 2005: Halloween Maze Event

• This haunted event was introduced in the Newsletter 6 October 2005. An easy maze, a medium maze, and a difficult maze were available for players to attempt, and players who successfully completed the maze would receive a prize. Easy maze winners were awarded 100 credits, medium maze winners got the The Haunted Mansion Master Gracey Pin, and the difficult maze prize was the Candy Cauldron. However, the event was plagued by server problems, resulting in queues of half an hour or more to get into the mazes, and some players were not able to enter the mazes at all or were bumped offline in the middle of them. Haunted decorations also appear on Main Street to celebrate Halloween.

19-28 October 2005: Epitaph Event

• Announced in the 19 October 2005 Newsletter, players were invited to send in a Imaginary Epitaph through the Contact Us Page. On 31 October 2005 Winners from the Epitaph Event were announced.

Halloween Week 2005: VMK Halloween Event

• Several special costumes (new as well as previously seen) were made available for purchase in the game. On October 30th, there was a special event to celebrate Halloween. Players who waited in the Castle Forecourt area would occasionally be visited by a staff member, who would award a Candy Cauldron, a grey Haunted Mansion suit, a Mickey Ear Pumpkin, or a Dancing Inferno magic pin to the players with the best costume. Free prizes were given out in a VMK Prize Machine room based on spins of a Random Number Generator. However, long lines to get into the Castle Forecourt and the VMK Prize Machine rooms prevented some players from being able to participate.

November 2005

11-13 November 2005: Voting Poll event

• There was an event to commemorate mid-November voting days across the United States. Players could purchase and wear special shirts to publicly show their opinions on certain issues. On the 11th the question was "who is your favorite character?" (According to the VMK newsletter the winner was "The Dragon" with 30% of the vote); on the 12th it was "what is your favorite VMK game?" (Pirates of the Caribbean, 27%), and on the 13th it was "when is your next trip to a Disney park?" For the following two weeks, as a result of having "won" the poll, the Dragon gave out 100 credits per visit, instead of the usual 20 credits.

24-27 November 2005: Thanksgiving Quest

• Players could visit designated rooms to find photos; by stringing together the first letter of each pictured item, they could spell the names of two Thanksgiving foods and submit their answers for prizes. Everyone who sent in a correct answer won a hyena pin, and a few winners were randomly selected for additional prizes.

28 November- 23 December 2005: VMK iPod Sweepstakes

• This event encouraged players to recruit more people to play VMK by offering them a chance to win an iPod Nano when people joined VMK and listed them as the referrer.

December 2005

9 December 2005: Gift Giving Event begins

• Players were told that they could purchase a gift for a fellow player of their choosing at a cost of 500 credits. The gift was to be delivered in game on December 24th. The gift requests were processed through the "Contact Us" section of the VMK home page. Players who gave gifts had 500 credits per gift automatically deducted from their accounts. The mystery gift was revealed to be the Decorative Holiday Wreath Green on December 24th.

16-18 December 2005: Mountains Of Fun Event begins

• Staff show their river ride to players.

31 December 2005 - 2 January 2006: Cute or Boot the Bear Rug

• Guests could purchase either the Bear Rug - CUTE or Bear Rug - BOOT shirts to vote for their support for public release of the Bear Rug. Players thought the rug was "cute" and these results were announced in the 3 January 2006 Newsletter.

2006

January 2006

1 January 2006: New Years

• New Years 06 Pin given to all registered members at that time.

20-22 January 2006: VMK Monster Maze Event

• VMK Monster Maze Event had players making their way through the VMK Monster Maze. Despite several start rooms owned by HOST_Babs, long lines and disconnecting were still common experiences. Players who made their way successfully through the VMK Monster Maze would have their names written down upon reaching the final room. Although players could go through the maze as many times as they wished, they would only be awarded one prize. The prize for completing the maze was a Monsters Inc Teleporter Purple.

February 2006

3 and 4 February 2006: Capture the Yeti Quest

• Capture the Yeti Quest held where players gathered clues by visiting the other NPCs and then submitted their answers on 5 February 2006. The solution to the Yeti Quest was announced in the Newsletter 7 February 2006 and players who submitted the correct answer received a Snow Carpet.

17 to 19 February 2006: VMK Everest Ride-A-Thon

• Announced in the Newsletter 17 February 2006, VMK held an Everest Ride-A-Thon which awarded Everest items to players for each time they rode through the "Ride-A-Thon" rooms. A different prize was awarded each day of the Ride-A-Thon. During the Ride-A-Thon event, VMK gave away an iPod nano every hour.

24-26 February 2006: Everest Ride Competition

• First ride competition, based on the everest theme. Players formed teams and built their own versions of the Expedition Everest ride. Registration for the event was held from 6 February 2006 to 12 February 2006. Expedition leaders who would be in charge of their team registered the names of people on their team through Contact Us. HOST_ and VMK_ staff were in charge of judging the rides, and prizes were awarded to the best rides from different categories. Judging took place from 24 to 26 February. Winners were announced in the Newsletter 1 March 2006

March 2006

12 March 2006: All Day Ride-A-Thon

• As the Extended Everest Month drew to a close, an All Day Ride-A-Thon was held where players could win the Everest Chair for each time they made it through the staff-created Ride-A-Thon rides. Some lucky players also won real VMK T-Shirts.

24-26 March 2006: Choose your Destiny

• Announced in the Newsletter 21 March 2006, during this event players chose their destinies in a series of staff rooms. Players had to chose the path they wished to take as they were given the option to go left or right. All players were awarded prizes for participating in the event no matter which destiny they chose. Players could ride through the staff rooms as many times as they wanted, but would only receive on prize per day. On 24 March the prize was the Superhero Shirt Purple. On 25 March the Superhero Pants Purple were awarded, and finally on 26 March the prize was the Superhero Mask.

31 March-2 April 2006: Staff Room Competition

• For this event, selected staff members created rooms based on the Everest and Narnia themes. Players traveled through a starting room, the HOST_'s room, and then to the ending room where they received 20 credits each time they rode. Using the polls set up on the VMK home page, players could vote for their favorite room each day. For every day during the event there were 4 new rooms to see. Poll results were announced in the Newsletter 6 April 2006.

April 2006

28-30 April 2006: QuestMania

• To end Quest Month, VMK celebrated with a weekend of questing. Seven quests were introduced and each quest was only available for a day. On Friday the quests were Park Trivia and Princes and Princesses. Saturday introduced the Music Trivia and Villains quests. The event ended with the Adventures!, Character Counts, and Sidekicks quests on Sunday.

May 2006

26-29 May 2006: Memorial Day Weekend Team Baseball Event

• For the last weekend of Tikis In The Outfield month, a special Memorial Day Weekend Event was held. The event included games of Team Baseball and Disney Baseball Movie Quests.
• Team Baseball games were held by were held where two teams of players competed and winners received the Tiki Room Opens 1963 Pin. Members of the losing team were allowed to try again. Players could only win one prize from Team Baseball per day.
• Each day during the event featured a special one day only Disney Baseball Movie Quest. On the Friday the 26th the quest was Air Bud: 7th Inning Fetch Trivia. Saturday's quest was The Rookie. For Sunday, VMK players could do the Angels in the Outfield quest, and on the last day, Monday the 29th, the quest was Angels in the Infield

July 2006

1 and 2 July 2006: Slide-A-Thon

• Revealed by Push the Trashcan in the Newsletter 28 June 2006, this event was held to unveil the new Water Slide Ride Pieces and and Waterpark rooms. Players rode on staff-made slides and earned a prize for every time they complete a ride. The Waterslide Ride Uphill was awarded to players on the first day of the event and the Waterslide Ride Downhill was awarded on the second day.

August 2006

4-6 August 2006: Waterslide Competition

• In celebration of Water Park Month, VMK held another ride building competition, this time with a Waterslide theme. Registration was limited to the first 200 properly registered teams. The team leader or "Lifeguard" was responsible for getting their team registered via Contact Us. Registration began on Monday, 10 July 2006 and was scheduled to go until 16 July 2006 or all spots were taken. Frequently asked questions were addressed in the Newsletter 25 July 2006. Judging was to be from the 4th to the 6th of August. Winners and prizes were announced in the Newsletter 8 August 2006 along with a few honorable mentions. Despite the previously stated categories of "Best Use of Color", "Most Creative", and "Best Overall Ride Experience", initially VMK did not announce any winners for "Most Creative". Instead, a new category, "Best Theme", was used in its place. In the Newsletter 9 August 2006 this mistake was fixed and the winners of "Most Creative" were announced in addition to the previously mentioned winners.