Yavn's Final Message from VMK

Live and direct from VMK Central, here's Yavn with a final mesage to the Kingdom...

Not Goodbye...

Well here we are, at the end of a long journey. First, I'd like to say thank you for your notes, emails and letters – they have all made their way to me. I too have many great memories, and like you, I have a great appreciation of VMK.

I wish I could list out my favorite VMK memories and moments, but there are so many it's impossible to list them all. Of course something that I get asked over and over again is what inspired you to make VMK. For each of us it started with a love of the Disney Parks, and in my case it was a book...

The Big Blue Book

I was 11 years old when I went to see a Disney stage show. I don't remember the details of the show, only that each family that attended received a big blue book. In my family, I ended up with the book and spent many, many nights reading it. Over and over again.

The book was called "Disneyland, The First Quarter Century."

The book showcased the first 25 years of the Park with a few pages of the then upcoming Big Thunder Mountain. Many of the attractions shown were still in the Park, but a few that caught my eye (Flying Saucers, Phantom Boats and Carousel of Progress) made me wish I could turn back the clock.

Yavn took inspiration for VMK from this book about Disneyland.

I spent so much time visiting and reading about Disneyland that I started to know every inch of it, past and present. But Disneyland wasn't my only passion, I was also a huge fan of video games, and I always thought it would be cool to make a computerized version of Disneyland. Of course I had no idea what that would mean until much later...

What amazes me now is the way that Disneyland found its way to the internet, and again is showing the world an exciting new frontier – a digital frontier, that lives on the internet.

Now VMK is going away. Just like several attractions at Disneyland that have come and gone, VMK was just the first step in a new age of online attractions. However unlike Disneyland, VMK was never built to run forever. VMK was just the beginning – who knows what we will imagine next!

Still we've had a great time, shared some great memories – and years from now, someone will mention VMK in a conversation and you can smile and say proudly "Yeah, I played it."

Thank You!

Finally, we'd like to give all our players 30 days of unlimited access to both Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Toontown Online. If you're interested in this offer, email us at: vmk@disneyonline.com.

Important: Please make sure you provide your VMK character name to be eligible (this is the character name you played as in VMK -- we don't need your login, password or other info, just your character name).

And Thank YOU!

It takes a great many people to create, build and run a virtual Park. I'd like to thank Team VMK, all of our friends and partners at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom – but most of all, you.

I ask one last favor of all of you – remember VMK as one step along the journey. Like I said, in the history of the Disney Parks, we've seen attractions go away to be replaced by better experiences. Still those older attractions are talked about today just as fondly as they were when they were opened (Flying Saucers, House Of The Future, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Walt Disney World, America Sings).

Let's keep a special place in our hearts and minds for VMK and remember the fun, friends and fantasy while we keep an eye toward the great things to come.

Remember this is farewell, not goodbye! After some much needed rest you'll probably catch me sailing the virtual seas in Pirates, or flying around in Pixie Hollow.

Thanks for playing VMK,
Yavn

Read more

Show

Comments

[Username:AddySinger]

Yavn-

Err... My last comment wasn't so nice.... srry bout that.... but you closed VMK on my birthday and if you were just able to reopen it for one day! One day! So we could all say goodbye and do our final shopping. I cried when it closed. Will you open it for a day? Hour? Minute? Second? Month? Week? Year?

- AddySinger aka sickdirt

[Oh Its Magic]

I know its a been a couple years since VMK has closed, but I miss it terribly. And I know VMK will probably never open again, but I would just like to say thanks.

Thanks for giving me the chance to experience a virtual Disney World. I formed many friendships on this game, and I could play for hours on end. And I remember the feeling of 12:55 am. 5 minutes before VMK would close everynight. The feeling of, "What am I going to do now?" Having insomnia is brootal.

And I remember when I first started playing in 2005, and how I felt like such a n00b. And my friend helped my get cooler stuff, I'd be a n00b anyday, just to play VMK for 5 more minutes, to play Cute or Boot, to see my friends, that I am no longer in touch with. To visit my rooms that I have slaved hours over, to do anything, for 5 more minutes.

I dont have many friends in real life, but on VMK I had plenty. I never got bored, and I never lost interest.

I'm not going to pester you, or anyone into opening VMK again. But I know it would make me, and thousands of other kids out there, feel the magic again, that has left our hearts. The day VMK closed it's gates for the last time, I knew that the magic in my heart was gone.

So thank you for giving me the experience of living the virtual dream, and thank you for spending time to create this wonderful land, where kids got to be themselves, with nobody to judge.

I feel like a dinosaur, I feel extinct. It was fun while it lasted.

Thank you so much. xx

[TheFairyTink]

I was TheFairyTink on VMK. I didn't have any friends, but I don't have any in real life either. When VMK closed, I was lost. I didn't know what to do. VMK was Disney brought onto my computer. This being said from a twelve-year-old girl who was already in a horrible deppression is disturbing, isn't it? Bring VMK back. Please. If you care about the opinion of the kids who love Disney, the kids who make your fortune and give you your job and life, then bring it back. Please.

[Tinkerbell]

Hey Yavn!

Well I just wanna say I was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of VMK, and even tho I'm a lot older now than when it closed, I would luv to know if you're planning on bringing it back! Talking to all my friends and everything would be great! Pleeeeeeeeease say yes! I know all the issues Walt Disney had with the program, and I know it was only a promotion, but VMK was amazing, and I am begging you to just please open your hearts and bring it back! It isn't fair that it's gone because it meant so much to all of us, and all I want is for it to be back! Please!

[Supafer Tristen]

Come on PLEASE bring vmk back I need it !