The Tangrens

Ever since I arrived at Omniture, people have been telling me that Halloween is a REALLY big deal there. I'd heard all the stories (like how the CEO flew in little people from Vegas to play Oompa Loompa's when he was Willie Wonka or how the whole place shuts down while everyone's families come down and all the kids go trick or treating throughout the building. However, nothing could have prepared me for the festive madness that is Halloween at Omniture.

It began a few weeks ago when the planning festivities began. In light of the recent signing of Disney as an Omniture client, our department decided we would go with a Disneyland theme with different groups taking different rides or aspects of Disneyland such as Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Alice in Wonderland, Star Tours, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. We were each given a small budget and then set loose to turn our areas into our respective themes. Our travel vertical team combined with two other teams and were assigned Star Tours and I couldn't resist dressing up in Star Wars garb with Hyrum dressing up as R2-D2, Sunny as Padme Amidala and me as Jango Fett. We were a little leary about investing in a Jango Fett costume, but as the families were showing up one little boy ran up and asked if he could get his picture taken with me. That made it all worth it!

The night before Halloween several of us stayed late to make final preparations such as hanging up the black lights, draping several pieces of heavy black tarp to block out the light, hanging up florescent painted asteroids and queuing the music from the Star Tours ride. As was expected, Halloween day was essentially a large party at work (we didn't get a whole lot done). The occasional client interaction also included an explanation of why there was Star Wars Cantina music in the background along with an incessant "Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine...." (You need to watch the video!)

All the departments went beyond anything we could have possibly expected. There was a carnival (with popcorn, cotton candy, and other treats) and the decorations made it hard to imagine that there was actually an office hidden behind there somewhere. All the executives were dressed up as different characters and they flew in 7 little people from Vegas to play the part of the Seven Dwarves. Hyrum LOVED them and they thought he was pretty adorable in his costume as well.



The CEO and his wife dressed up as Prince Charming and Cinderella, while the other co-founder dressed up as Sully from Monster's Inc. Also, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were there handing out Mouse Ears flown in from Disneyland!



Other areas included a pirate ship with functioning smoke ring cannons, Alice in Wonderland, Finding Nemo and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We've put together this 5 minute video to try and give everyone an idea of how crazy it was, but even the video doesn't completely do it justice. Enjoy!