Parade and scavenger hunt: During VMK's public beta phase, an event was held where 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.
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.)
Pin-trading event: Rooms were judged based on a pin-trading theme, and prizes were awarded. The Lounging Lion pin was traded to players by staff members wearing Goofy hats who visited the trading rooms.
Haunted Maze event: On October 8 and 9, a maze event was held. An easy maze, a medium maze, and a difficult maze were available for players to try finding their way through, and successfully completing the maze would award a prize. (Respectively: 100 credits, a Haunted Mansion Master Gracey pin, and a 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. Disney made reference to this on the following week's community newsletter web page: As with any good Haunted House, there were good and not-so-good surprises. Were we set upon by poltergeists? Did some mischief-maker from the other side of the screen try to wreak havoc on the maze? Some (but not all) players who complained via the "Contact Us" secton on the VMK web site were given the prizes for the mazes they had attempted.
Halloween event: 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.
Voting Poll event: On November 11, 12, and 13, 2005, 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.
Thanksgiving Quest: On November 24-27, 2005, 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 2 hyena pins, and a few winners were randomly selected for additional prizes.
Gift-giving: From December 9 through 18, 2005, a player could spend 500 credits to purchase a mystery gift (which turned out to be a green holiday wreath), which was given (in the game) to someone of his or her choosing on December 24.
Bear Rug Vote: From December 31, 2005, through January 2, 2006, players could buy a "cute" or a "boot" tee shirt to vote whether or not a bear rug room decoration should be available in the game. As a result of the vote, the bear rug can be purchased at the Golden Horseshoe Mercantile for 1000 credits.
Yeti Quest: From February 3-5, 2006, players could visit Each NPC for clues to eventually find the Yeti. The Yeti was in "Injun Joe's Cave". Everyone who got it right received a snow rug.
Everest Ride-A-Thon: From February 17-19, 2006, players could ride Everest trains in certain staff rooms, and each ride awarded a prize (on different days: a piece of straight coaster track, a snow carpet, or an ice cube chair).
Quest Mania: From April 28-29, 2006, players could play different quests ranging from Park Trivia, to Music!
Theme of The Month: Beginning in autumn 2005, special items and games have been based on a different theme each month.
- October 2005: Main Street was decorated for Halloween. During the week leading up to Halloween, several special costumes (new as well as previously seen) were made available for purchase in the game.
- November: Thanksgiving games such as "Turkey Bowling" were held by hosts.
- December: Items themed to Christmas and Hanukkah were available.
- January 2006: To commemorate the opening of the Monsters, Inc. ride (Monster's Inc.: Mike and Sulley to the Rescue!) at Disney's California Adventure, games were monster-themed and gave away teleporter doors.
- February: To commemorate the opening of Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom, train tracks and other ride-themed items were available.
- March: Villain-themed pins and games are available.
- April: With the opening of the new Tomorrowland, Quest Month lets players compete in a variety of quests in the game to win magic pins and other prizes. Each quest prize can be won only once per player and cannot be traded.
- May: "Baseball Month." A baseball field guest room was made available, as were a baseball uniform for boys and a cheerleader outfit for girls.
- June: June is Pirate Month.