Thank you for the Memories!

Thank you Club Penguin for being a part of my life. Those are the words that I will always repeat in my head whenever I think of my childhood. I have been a part of this Community since May 21, 2007 and there has never been a time where I regret making that decision. Club Penguin has become such a big part of my life that I can't go a day without thinking about it. I have gained a ton of memories from both the game and on this website. Some of my favorite memories from the Club Penguin Community came from all of the different parties that came out every month or so. There were also the xat chat groups that I used to find characters such as Rockhopper and Aunt Arctic with other members of the Club Penguin community. There were other times during the games lifespan where the Domain expired on June 20, 2011 and parents around the world called the company to ask why the game wasn't running. The Club Penguin Team did give out an extra day of being a Member to the accounts that had Memberships attached to them the next day which was nice. While playing the game was fun on its own I wanted to get more attached to the Virtual World so on August 7, 2012 I created this blog based on Club Penguin.

Club Penguin Cheat sites are well known across the community with users such as Saraapril and Trainman1405 being some of the biggest creators. While I did want to make a Club Penguin Cheats website I wasn't the biggest expert when it comes to HTML so I decided to use Blogger as my website service. Most people would see me as another Club Penguin Blogger bringing nothing new to the table as they talked about the same thing. However in the year of 2013 I used to do blog posts that came from the Club Penguin Team in different languages. I ended up having almost 700 blog posts in 2013 alone which was an insane amount of work. To this day I regret not continuing this over time as it brought in a lot of traffic from other countries. Another thing I regret not doing for this blog was creating and Excel Document that displayed all of the words from the Ultimate Safe Chat and its Foreign Counter Parts next to it. I felt like this could of helped players contact one another in different Languages and made the Community a lot bigger. The amount of blog posts decreased between the years of 2014-2016 because of work and school but was increased again in the year of 2017.

The closure of Club Penguin on March 29, 2017 was something that really struck me and millions of other users around the world. During this time I was getting pretty depressed knowing that a piece of my childhood was closing a chapter and opening a new one. I decided to ask Club Penguin if it was possible to go to the company. After many emails and preparation for the trip I finally got to visit Club Penguin Headquarters on July 12, 2017. This trip was totally worth the money I put into it and may have been better if I was there a bit longer. Club Penguin Island was just a Mobile App at the time and is now on Desktop which gives me hope that the community will grow.

My Memories of Club Penguin over the last decade have become some of the best moments of my life. Now I am making this post because this is will be the last blog post on this website and you may be asking why. Well just like I have grown up with Club Penguin I will have to find ways growing up without the game as well. In a couple of weeks I will be going out on a Two Year Church Mission that I have been planning for several years. This is something that I will need to prepare before leaving so I will not be coming back to the Community until early 2020. Part of me believes that the Club Penguin Community will be there at that time and if not then I would like to say thank you for the Memories. You have all been great members of the community and I would like to also thank those who have supported this website by reading my blog posts. Of course I will like to thank the team behind Club Penguin for creating a game that has been a huge part of my life over the years. Finally I will like to give thanks to the co-founders of Club Penguin who are Lance Priebe, Lane Merrifield, and Dave Krysko who all created a Virtual World that would be appreciated by Millions of Fans around the world. Thank you for reading my final blog post and this is Crzypengu saying Waddle On!

Crzypengu's visit to Hyper Hippo Productions and Club Penguin Headquarters

What is going on everybody, Crzypengu here with the latest updates. In July of 2017 I decided to take a trip up to Kelowna, BC, Canada to visit Club Penguin Headquarters and to meet the team that has created my childhood for the past 10 years. I have always dreamed about visiting Club Penguin Headquarters since 2012 and I didn't know if that would ever be possible until I heard that the game would be shutting down on March 29, 2017. At this point I knew that I had to pull the trigger and the fact that another game called Club Penguin Island would be coming out got me excited. I sent my first email to Club Penguin in February 2017 asking if I could visit the Company and Anett from the CP Support Team said that I could. These emails started going back and forth between the months of February until the end of May which resulted in me choosing  July 12, 2017 as the day I wanted to visit the Company. Two months later I finally landed in Kelowna and I could not be any happier than what I was at the time. Before visiting Club Penguin I first had to check out Hyper Hippo Productions the day before which was created by Lance Priebe after he left Club Penguin as well as Pascale Audette who was a former employee at Disney Online Studios.

I began my tour at Hyper Hippo very excited because I was checking out another company that was created by one of the co-founders of Club Penguin. Lisa from Hyper Hippo Productions helped me plan this tour out and I was happy of that. I was given a tour of Hyper Hippo Productions from Chris Hendricks (aka Screenhog) and I would have to say it was enjoyable from start to finish.

The tour started on the top floor which was where most of the employees worked at and included a small kitchen. There were also a couple of personal offices on this floor and an elevator that went down to the first floor. I was able to talk to a couple employees and get a glimpse of what kind of games they were developing. Some of these employees used to work at Disney and some of them were even brand new to the industry which was cool to hear. One of my favorite things coming from this floor had to be the giant Mural on the wall showing off hippos doing a lot of random things. I honestly hope they release it as a wallpaper in the future since its one of the coolest murals I have ever seen.



The second floor of the building had an even larger kitchen area including a gaming room. This floor had even more personal offices including Lance Priebe's (aka Rocketsnail). Lance's office had newspapers displayed on the wall talking about the success of Club Penguin at the time and some merchandise which included a Penguin with a Red Viking Helmet on it and a Snail with a Rocket. Before we left the room Chris got out a piece of paper and drew a quick sketch of a Penguin coming out of a box which is one of my favorite things I got during the trip.

When the tour of the office was over Chris and I started talking to each other about each others lives. I told him on what my future plans in life were going to be and how Club Penguin was such a great thing to my childhood along with millions of other children around the world. When my visit to Hyper Hippo Productions was over I was given a bag filled with some pretty cool items such as a shirt that has Adventure Communist on it and a Mech Mice Book that had Lance and Pascale's name written on the inside cover.

My trip Club Penguin Headquarters would be the very next day and I was very anticipated for this day and I had employees at Hyper Hippo Productions telling me that its a fun experience. I had emailed Anett from the Club Penguin Team asking what time I need to come in on July 12th. Anett told me that the tour would start at 10 a.m. and would last about two hours or longer. I slept in pretty early that night to make sure I would hear the sound of the alarm clock going off even if its the most annoying sound in the world.

The day has finally arrived in which I would be visiting the game studio that has made an impact to my life. It was Wednesday July 12, 2017 and its a day that I will never forget as long as its written down in a notebook. I stood outside the Landmark 4 building and waited about 10 minutes because I got there a bit earlier than I thought. Club Penguin's Lobby is on the fifth floor of the building so I took the elevator and felt my heart pounding fast as this trip would end up being the best decision I've made in my life. The elevator finally reached the fifth floor and I was able to see small lobby with a waterfall with a couple Club Penguin characters behind it along with some merchandise in a display case. Both elevator doors had a couple of Notable Penguins and Puffles that have been in the game for a very long time. A couple minutes went by and I was greeted by Anett and Bonnie who would both give me a tour of the office. This was about to get epic.

The Tour started off with us leaving the Lobby and going around the fifth floor of the building. Throughout the entire tour I got to see even more display cases with CP Merchandise in them including one Puffle Plush that was in a prototype stage but never released to the Public. One room that was a pleasant surprise was the area where they shoot the Island Insider videos. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the room but I will give you a description about it. The room where they shot Island Insider was set in a room which was about the size of a small closet. It was attached to a board meeting room which was pretty neat. I like to think that it was very difficult to get more than two people in a camera shot since of how small the room was to begin with. After we left that room we continued to move around the building and we saw a little area by a window that was set up like the Coffee Shop. It gave out the Coffee Shop feel that was in the game and even the plants looked like they were directly inspired from the game. Hopefully in the near future I could replicate a room of my house just like this.

We made our way down the hallway and I was able to catch a glimpse of some of the artwork that was made for the game. Every single bulletin board had different types of themes to them such as how the party rooms are first sketched out and put into the game and some of the mini-games that were made for some parties such as the Star Wars Takeover Party back in 2013. There were also sketches showing how different characters were designed for the game and the animations that go with them.

The next room that we went into is probably one of the best designed areas in the studio which is the Movie Theatre. While not exactly a Movie Theatre but rather a conference room where the company showed off their upcoming projects it still looked pretty cool. There was a Projector above and a screen against the wall. One of the things they had in the room besides around 50 or more chairs was a concession stand. Inside the glass was some candy named after some of Club Penguin employees and Mascots from the game. They all sounded very similar to candy bars such as Twix and Hershey which was clever to whoever designed the room. Anett did tell me that the Popcorn that was inside of the other glass case was around 10 years old which is pretty gross but at the same time something I wouldn't change from the room. 

Leaving the Movie Theatre room was upsetting since it was such a well designed room, but I knew that the tour had to continue so Bonnie pointed out some other rooms around the floor such as Lance's Basement. Unfortunately I'm unable to remember what the room was meant for but as far as I am concerned I believe the room used to be Lance Priebe's office but I will have to ask him about that.

Across the other side of the Hall there was this picture of Walt Disney with some Penguins during the shooting of Mary Poppins. The Club Penguin team came across this picture when searching through some old archives and have kept this photo on the wall ever since.

There are a ton of different conference rooms at the Club Penguin Headquarters but only a couple of them had a mural painting on the wall. Ice Fishing was one of my favorite mini-games on Club Penguin and I was glad that some talented artists had this made in a conference room. I love the detail that they went through such as showing what happens under water and all of the different species that inhabit the environment.

Club Penguin Headquarters is known to having some pretty incredible rooms and look no further than this Puffle Bean Bag Chair area. This was an area where employees would usually sit around and talk about ideas they had for the game and hopefully not for Pillow fights. I had my picture taken in this room and it was difficult getting out of these bean bag chairs because I kept getting pulled back in. There are only around a hundred of these Bean Bag Chairs that were made for the company. What is interesting is that the White Puffle variants are the smallest of them all which is accurate to how they were in the game.

The tour continued down the fourth floor where most of the employees for the game worked at. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of what the team was doing since there was some top secret stuff on the monitors I couldn't show off. However I will share my experience with the people I have met and what their job at Club Penguin was. The first people I got to meet were some of the Programmers such as Russ that showed off how the Penguin Models were made. There was a Program called Maya that the Club Penguin team uses to create the Penguin Models and the Environment around it. I was shown how they made a Penguin Model move around the island and how combining multiple move sets give off the impression that the Penguin is dancing. After talking to the Programmers about how they created the Penguin Models for the game I was taken across the hall to meet some other Club Penguin Employees.

I was taken down the hallway to meet up with Toby and Dave who both worked as the Music and Sound Designers for the game. Music for the game was mostly used in the Adventures but can also be used when entering a new room on the island. Dave showed off some of the sounds they were working on such as the Yeti roar and rumbling that was put into the game at the 1.6 update as a new Rookie Adventure for members. Alex from the Editorial team was close by and showed me how the scripts for the game were created. What was interesting to me at the time was when Alex told me that Gary, Herbert and Shellbeard were done by a voice actor named Todd Haberkorn. Normally I am used to hearing about actors voicing multiple characters, but the characters that Todd voiced over sounded nothing like each other which made it even cooler.

My next destination on during the tour was to meet up with the Quigley's who were Twin Brothers at the company and have been there for over Ten years. There job was to create the art around the island and to make an environment that the consumers could enjoy. I was probably with these two the longest time at the tour since I had so many questions on how they were inspired to create such amazing environments in Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island. Club Penguin may have been closed down at the time but I was shown a lot of sketches from different party rooms in the past. Things really got interesting as I was shown off some alternate Card Jitsu Dojo Designs that never got released to the Public since they either didn't fit or that they would have lagged the game so much. There were a couple of rooms designed by the Quigley's that were finished but were never pushed out to the public for some unknown reasons. One of these rooms was featured in a Club Penguin Book in the past as a sneak peek but never made it to the game in the end.

After meeting with the Quigley's I was taken to another room where a bunch of Employees were testing out some of the bugs and issues on the game. I met with Ryan who told me that we would be testing out some mini-games and features that would come out within the next update which would be 1.5. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the tour as I got to interact with people who had the same interest as I did. I found Club Penguin Island being a lot more enjoyable when you are around other people rather than far distances since you could communicate face to face. To be honest I would go back to Club Penguin Headquarters over and over again to have this experience as we laughed and got pretty competitive in what we were doing. Russ also came over and asked us if there were still bugs that needed to be squashed before the next update. As far as I'm concerned they accomplished that task in the end. One of the last people I got to meet was Joe who was about to be the new Community Manger at the time. He showed me how the articles on the Club Penguin website were created including the pictures featured. Joe gave me a sneak peek of the International Rock Day article that would be coming out the next day as well as some ideas he had for the future. It will be interesting to see what other bizarre and funny articles will be coming from Joe in the future as the game progresses.

Anett and Bonnie took me down to the third and final floor of Club Penguin Headquarters and was only shown around a couple places since most of it was just additional offices to either Disney or another company below. There was this wall that was filled with sketches the Club Penguin Team had made in the past showing off Gamma Gal and Shadow Guy along with a couple more notable characters to the game. It looks fantastic and would be another piece of art I would like to have in my home.

There were a couple of couches in this area which included this Sketch of Sensei walking over some Penguins as seen in the Club Penguin Short Never Wake a Sleeping Sensei. I forgot to ask Anett if this was drawn like this or on a piece of paper and then enlarged but I guess that is a mystery for now.

This was the gaming room and it was the final room of the tour. Inside of here there was a couple of tabletop games that employees could play on and a couple of gaming systems which I was told they didn't play as much at the time.

When we left the gaming room we went on the elevator to go to the bottom floor and say goodbye to each other. Anett and Bonnie as well as the team at Club Penguin were happy that I made this journey to come up and visit the company as there are only so many individuals that get the chance to do this. At the beginning of the tour I was given a gift bag that contained a notepad that teaches me how to draw Penguins and a couple of other items that will go great into my collection.

While the tour was over and I had accomplished something I've been wanting to do for years I knew that the fun will never end. Right after leaving Club Penguin Headquarters I went up to Knox Mountain Park which gives you a pretty good view of Kelowna. When I took a glimpse of the amazing view before me I asked myself if this Journey was worth the wait. I've been looking forward for this trip over the course of many years and here I was overlooking the city where part of my childhood was created. This was a trip I planned out since February 2017 and I am glad that I not only paid for the whole trip but I also traveled up there alone. Was this a sign that I was growing up or is it just for the sake of visiting my childhood? Will I ever go back to Kelowna in the future even if the game is there or not? How will this game affect me and others who have been apart of the game for countless amounts of years? I guess I won't be able to answer these questions as of now but maybe in the future as life goes on.

Well there it is everybody, this is probably the longest blog post on this website. I am somewhat glad that I finally went to publish this but I am also a bit upset that it took so long to put up. To be honest I hope I get the chance to go back up to Kelowna because it was one of the best Vacations I have ever taken. This game means a lot to me and I am glad to have done something that went through my mind for years. I hope that the Club Penguin Community will continue to grow and that Club Penguin Island will be successful for years to come. Anyways let me know what you guys thought of this ridiculously long blog post down below and more blog posts will be coming soon.

FAQ Review: Dot

What is up everybody, Crzypengu here with the latest updates. Joe published a Brand New article today which is another FAQ Review but this time its on our friend Dot, check it out.

"Hey penguin pals,"

"It’s time for some Dot talk. She’s one of the island’s top designers, but there’s something more to her than that—something mysterious!"

Q: What kind of designs does Dot make?
A: Some of the sleek and stylish outfits in the catalog are Dot originals. And some of the weirder outfits are hers too—like the Crab Disguise.

Q: Why would anyone want a crab disguise?
A: To blend in with crabs.

Q: Doesn’t that seem strange to you?
A: Dot’s a stealth expert, so she knows the value of a good disguise. Her design came in handy during Aunt Arctic’s chapter one episode, Mirror Mirror.

Q: A stealth expert? Why wouldn’t you mention that sooner?
A: It’s classified information. I may not be good with secrets but I can’t say more.

Q: So she’s a secret agent?
A: Yeah, totally a secret agent.

Q: Where’d she learn to be a stealth expert?
A: I’ve said too much already. Also, I don’t actually know. Dot doesn’t talk about the stealth master who trained her.

"So there you have it, friends. Dot is one of the island’s top designers, and most definitely not a stealth expert with a mysterious past. Just forget anything that says otherwise."

Thanks Joe for giving us a FAQ Review on Dot. I think its interesting that Dot apparently had a stealth master who trained her in the past. My guess is that the Director of the EPF did this but I guess that may never be answered. What did you all think of this new article coming from the Club Penguin Team? Is there any FAQ Reviews that you would like to see from other characters? Leave your comments down below and more blog posts will be coming soon.

Keeping Your Cool on Club Penguin Island

What is up CP Fans, Crzypengu here with the latest updates. Today Sam published a Brand New article talking about the safety of Club Penguin Island.

"Hey penguin pals,"

"Keeping the island safe and friendly is our team’s top priority. When penguins are cool, friendly, and respectful, everyone wins! There could be instances, though, when you experience some poor penguin etiquette. To help you be prepared to keep your cool, and most importantly, stay safe, here are the dos and don’ts to some sticky situations:"

Scenario 1: You see a penguin using inappropriate language or harassing you or someone else.

DO: Report the penguin right away. You can do this by clicking on the penguin, then on the button with three dots, found directly below their picture. From there, you can report them and let our team know why you’re reporting them. If you need to get away from the penguin, jump to your igloo and set it to private.

DON’T: Get involved. Even if you’re trying to be helpful, telling another penguin to “stop” or “go away” could result in getting yourself temporarily banned.

Scenario 2: Your igloo guests are being disrespectful.

DO: Report the penguins, and set your igloo to private. This will automatically kick everyone out of your igloo.

DON’T: Tell them to leave or go away––the chat filter might confuse that with you being unkind.

Scenario 3: You followed our dos and don’ts, but you still want to talk to someone about what happened.

DO: Talk to a parent, or email our support team at support@clubpenguinisland.com for additional guidance on how to handle the situation going forward.

DON’T: Hold it in. It can be really helpful to talk through situations like these!

Scenario 4: You want to be a leader and positive role model in the community.

DO: Be yourself, but think before you act! Don’t type anything you wouldn’t say out load, and treat others how you want to be treated. Like we said, when penguins are cool, friendly, and respectful, we all win!

DON’T: Worry about what others are doing.

"We hope this is helpful, penguin pals! Thanks for helping us keep the island safe. In a comment below, tell us what you do to be a great penguin!"

Thanks for telling us how we can help improve ourselves while playing the game Sam. I think its a good idea to make sure that all Penguins are not harassing each other and even towards you. The games safe chat is already pretty strict at the moment which is the reason why I don't use it but there are ways for penguins to get passed the censors. Anyways what do you all think of this Brand New article from Club Penguin? Is there any articles that you think the Club Penguin Team should publish about in the future? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below and more blog posts will be coming soon.

Poll: Choose the Next Penguin Colors!

Hey Guys, Crzypengu here with the latest updates. Sam from the Club Penguin Team put up a brand new poll asking us what kind of Penguin colors we want next, check it out.

"Hey penguin pals,"

"We’ve got another surprise for you! In the spirit of bringing more color to the island (the Rainbow Celebration, a new color palette for the anniversary party…), we are going to add two new penguin colors, and we’re letting you choose them!"

"Vote for the two colors you think should be in the game by clicking on your favorite below. Just remember, you can only vote once! The colors with the most votes will be added in the 1.10 update—an early anniversary gift from us to you!"

Thank you Club Penguin for letting us choose what Penguin Color we should be able to wear next. I personally think that Black and Green need to come back to the game before the others, but I also like all of the other choices they're giving us. Anyways what do you all think of this brand new poll? Is there another color that you would like to see the Club Penguin Team to add? Please leave your thoughts down below and more blog posts will be coming soon.