Palace Staff Interview - December 18th

[Aquaticalo 433]

Hello everyone! Sofie is busy with some family things again sooooo you guys get me again! Woooo yeah I know 🎉. This week Sofie interviewed the fantastic Events king creatorforparks. I hope you guys enjoy reading more into his backstory on Palace and life outside of the Network!

[Sofieology] How are you doing, Mr. Minion ?

[CreatorForParks] Hi! I’m great, and so excited to be here! Thank you so much for having me! A little background on my palace career - I actually joined Palace a really long time ago, when MCMagic (which is what Palace was previously called) was turning two! After a few years, I decided to try to apply for staff - and I got accepted! I’ve been a Palace staff member since April of 2019, and joined the team as a Builder initially! I then transferred to Operations in July and became an Operations Coordinator, specifically the Head of Project Management, and then a few months later in November, got Operations Admin (now Lead), and finally I transferred to my true home, Events! So in my year or so on Palace, I’ve been in three different departments! My favorite ride on Palace is definitely Rockin’ Roller Coaster, but I feel like that’s going to change once MMRR opens (it’s INCREDIBLE so far, I can’t wait for you all to experience it)! My favorite event is hands down 100 percent End of Summer Jam. I had SOOO much fun creating this event from start to finish alongside Ross & Pink, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

[Sofieology] You are one of our Events leads! Tell us a bit about what your role is on the server! What are some things you do?

[CreatorForParks] Sure! So my main job is to oversee all events that run on the network, alongside Pink & Greenie. Because we have five incredibly talented events coordinators, they can all be working on different events! So behind the scenes, we usually have quite a few events in development (as of December 16th, the total number is 6, and some events aren’t until March of 2021)! Another main part of my job is helping ensure our team has all the resources we need to pull off our events. These include builders, technicians, media team members, etc. We currently have a team of around 18 builders and technicians who help create our wide array of events. The great thing about having a dedicated team of builders & technicians is that we can have 3 different events being built at the same time! I also act as a liaison (which is a fancy word for communicator) between all the different teams to ensure projects that are scheduled to be released at events or are specifically for events are on track! This is where my previous role as Project Manager comes in handy.

[Sofieology]You have been a big help with our MVMCP event! What was your favorite part? What was the hardest part about running such a huge event?

[CreatorForParks] MVMCP was so much fun to work on alongside Pinkiness and all the Events Coordinators! My favorite part has to be all the entertainment offerings at the event! I’m a huge Theatre Geek, so when I heard that we could have four entertainment offerings at the event I was sooo excited! The most challenging part of the event, believe it or not, wasn't the builds or tech for me, but instead giving guests information (or as I like to call it Guest Communication) on all the offerings at the event! You can have all these different fun offerings at an event, but if the guests don’t know about them, then what’s the point of having them? For MVMCP specifically, since there were over 70 different activities, we had to think long and hard about how we should communicate everything to guests. We ended up using a wide variety of different tactics, such as checklists, automated clickable announcements, and navigation via MagicBands to ensure guests had the information they needed to experience the event! I think there’s still room for improvement, but I was glad to hear that guests mostly knew everything that was going on around the park!

[Sofieology]You also recently celebrated Hanukkah! Care to share any family traditions you are involved in? Did you win me some gelt?

[CreatorForParks] Hanukkah has to be my favorite Jewish Holiday, mainly because of all the memories attached to it for me! As a kid, we’d always throw these big Hanukkah parties where we’d invite all of our friends and family over and celebrate! But typically every night we’ll gather around and light the menorah, and give each other presents! And unfortunately no, we didn’t get a chance to play dreidel so I did not win you any gelt :(. I do have chocolate coins left over from Disney though!

[Sofieology]Let’s get to know creator in real life! Tell us a bit about yourself!

[CreatorForParks] Where to begin! I didn’t win you some gelt, because we didn’t get a chance to play the dreidel game, but I do have some gelt to give you! Haha. In real life, I love spending my time doing creative things! I’m a huge Theatre Geek, so I love to design light shows on my down time! I have a few lights that I hook up to a DMX board (this is how you control the lights) and from there I program where each light goes in each scene! I even did some really cool tech things in my room that I’ll get to later on! I am also a MAJOR Disney Geek, specifically Disney Parks geek! I’m super fortunate to be just a 3 hour car drive away from Disney, so since we’re annual pass holders we try to go every few months - and I love it more and more every time I go! I’m currently in College studying Event Management, with hopes of getting a second degree at some point in either Production Design or Show Production! Lastly, I’m a total tech nerd, so I love equipping my room with the coolest tech! Over the years, I’ve acquired quite a few smart home devices, most notably my Philips Hue Light Bulbs! The cool thing about them is that I can change the color of my lights in my room to any color, and can do it from anywhere in the world! Recently, I also filled my whole room with NFC tags (basically stickers that your phone can read) and programmed them all to do different things! For example, if you hold up my phone next to a picture of The Office (which I’m obsessed with by the way,) it will play the theme song on my HomePod! I also programmed one of my MagicBands to play HEA on my TV that includes synchronized lights using Philips Hue when held up to my phone! I’d like to thank TikTok for getting me into the NFC Tags.

[Sofieology]Now, here are some fan questions for you! Rapid fire, here we go!

[Sofieology] What are your favorite pizza toppings?
[CreatorForParks] Pineapple, don’t hate, it’s good if you actually try it!

[Sofieology] Why is your skin a minion with 1 eye and not 2 eyes?
[CreatorForParks] I don’t know the answer to this, haha! I looked up minion skins when I got my Minecraft account and this is the one that popped up!

[Sofieology]  Do minions have 2020 vision or just 20 vision?
[CreatorForParks] I don’t know about other minions, but I can confirm I don’t have 2020 visions because I wear glasses!

[Sofieology]How are you so incredibly amazing at pvp?
[CreatorForParks] As my friends and I like to say, sure jan. I’m not THAT good at PVP, but I am good at murdering beds in Bed Wars!
 

[Sofieology] Why minion?
[CreatorForParks] As a child, I was OBSESSED with the minions, like CRAZY OBSESSED. As time went on, I never changed my skin, and now it kinda sticks! I’ve thought of changing it to a human character (pink even made me one to try to convince me to become a human) but decided not to because I feel if you saw someone else besides a minion with the creatorforparks name tag it wouldn’t be the same.

 

[Sofieology] Do you love bananas as much as minions? 

[CreatorForParks]I do not start shouting “banana” when I see a banana, so no, I don’t. But I do eat them sometimes! Haha. 

 

[Sofieology] Do you create the parks or didd the parks create you? 

[CreatorForParks] I think the Parks created me, specifically Disney! Disney’s a huge part of my life, and has helped shape me into who I am today. 

 

[Sofieology] Do you speak minion language? 

[CreatorForParks] Ba ba ba, ba ba banana. 

 

[Sofieology] Can we see your Spotify rewind?

[CreatorForParks] No, because I don’t use Spotify! But I can give you a recap of my Apple Music rewind (which is superior)! My top song is The Schuyler Sisters followed by Soarin’! My top artists are the Midnite String Quartet (I listen to relaxing piano/string quartet/acoustic music daily in the evenings) followed by Kristin Chenoweth, probably due to my love of wicked! 

 

[Sofieology] Why do you love minions?

[CreatorForParks] I don’t know what made me love them haha. I think it’s because they're just so happy and are basically never sad, which I 100 percent admire. 

 

[Sofieology]  iIis known from the "Minions" movie that minions cannot survive without an evil boss, who is the evil boss that you serve?

[CreatorForParks] Gru! 100 percent!

[Sofieology]  If you could create any event you wanted to, what would it be called and why? What attractions would it have? 

 

[CreatorForParks] I’d love to do some type of Broadway event! But one that isn’t just acting and dancing, but one that also shines a spotlight on the backstage roles at a theatre! Because in my opinion, those are just as much fun!

[Sofieology]  You are very close friends with my brother Fred - pinkiness! How did your friendship begin? Why is she your best friend? What is pinginer and how do I spell it? 

 

[CreatorForParks] Pinkiness and I met back in June or so of 2019, and basically immediately clicked! We met through the character program, since I worked a lot with them when I started on Palace, and would always work together to create elaborate meet and greets alongside Brino and Ross! Over the years, we’ve become closer and closer and are now truly best friends and play games together frequently alongside Brino, Ross, and Batman! I think she’s my best friend because she’s such an incredible human being, like no joke she’s the sweetest, funniest, and smartest person I’ve ever met. We also work REALLY well together! To put it in her words “We’re Yin and Yang when we work together.” And “Pinginer” is actually a recent name I gave her! I used to call her pinkela, but pinginer is better. It’s made up of two parts, the first being Ping. Ping sounds funnier than pink, and she also pings me every time I’m online saying “ew,” get it! The next part just because pinginer sounds better than pinginess. And you spelled it correctly! P i n g e r!

[Sofieology] What was it like being one of the first palace builders! 

 

[CreatorForParks] Am I really one of the first? I don’t think of it like that since when I joined the team, it was already a rank haha. I loved my time as a builder! I got to become friends with some great folks at the build team, and they are friendships that still continue to this day! I don’t build as often as I did before, but I still love it! It helps me de-stress, which is always good! (this photo was taken during my last few moments as a builder!)

[Sofieology] You have been a part of Palace for a while! What are some of your favorite memories?

[CreatorForParks] Coming up on two years now in April, how time flies! I think if I had to pinpoint one of my favorite memories, it has to be the NewMK launch. There was sooo much work that went into that launch, so many documents created, so many logistical things that needed to be figured out, and I honestly didn’t think I could do it! I remember sitting down and writing down a list of every major thing that had to be done for the launch (this was about three weeks out from the launch) and it totaling to around 24 different things and I thought to myself, how the heck am I supposed to do this. It was a major accomplishment not only for myself, but the entire team who worked on NewMK when I got to check everything off of that list. Besides that, another one of my favorite memories is making so many incredible friendships. I’m so blessed to have such incredible friends on the team who are there for me no matter what, and I don’t know what I could do without them!

 

[Sofieology] Is there anything else you’d like to add?

[CreatorForParks] If you’re considering applying for staff but are unsure, DO IT! I’ve learned so much over my time as a staff member, made so many friendships, and have done things that I never thought I’d be able to do! Thank you so much for letting me do this interview, and I hope to see you all at a future event or around the server!

[heavenest 1094]

THATS MY EVENTS LEAD!! yay minion!!!

[_trisarahtops_ 401]

YESSS ICONIC CREATOR!!!!! stan the events leads!

[hamburgercrumb 146]

Dang, never knew the minion was so much of a techie in real life! Amazing interview!

[PanicAtTheJedi 790]

YESSSSS MINION !

[creatorforparks 225]

11 hours ago, heavenest said:

THATS MY EVENTS LEAD!! yay minion!!!

OMG THATS MY EVENTS COORDINATOR!! 

[baifelicia 4067]

wonderful interview!! can't wait for the rest of the interviews this week   

[IXLostINSpaceXI 24]

Solid interview! I always like getting a better look at how things run within Palace network!  Very insightful.