This is a guest blog series by Stephen Aleksza about our Disney
Cruise Line (DCL) cruise on the Disney Fantasy in September/October of
2014. Our Halloween on the High Seas cruise had a western Caribbean
itinerary that included: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Castaway
Cay. This was our first Disney cruise, but somewhere around our 13th cruise overall. Our previous
cruises have been on Princess (Platinum), Celebrity, and Norwegian. We enjoy
Disney stuff, but I would not say that we are Disney fanatics. Our last
trip to the Magic Kingdom was over ten years ago. I am big pre-trip researcher
so I figured that I would share some of my research and contribute my own information
through this series.
Part 4-
I would not say that it was at the
last minute, but about 6 weeks before we departed we decided to join a Fish
Extender group. I was glad we did, so if
you are on the fence and have a child with you, just do it! You probably want to do it sooner than six weeks out. Why? Our daughter loved coming back to the room to
see what she had received. She also walked
the ship to distribute our gifts.
Her focus was to not get caught being the secret gift giver. She thought surprising people with a gift was great! Not only did we bring stuff for our own FE
list, we also brought some items to just Pixie Dust people with. That was the best. Random gifts on random doors = a winner.
Let me start off at the end.
This is what my daughter received spread out on the dining room table
when we got back. We brought an extra
suit case for the stuff we were going to give and ended up filling up that same
suit case on our way back home!
Were do you start? We
started here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-cruise-line/meets.htm. This has a bunch of stuff to get you started,
including what is the fish extender stuff all out. From there, go find your board, read it, and
send you information to the person coordinating your FE group. It is info like name, city, cabin number,
Disney likes, allergies, etc.
Eventually your group will get locked in and then you will
know the size and the preferences. Our group also had a Facebook page which I believe is now like 100 violations of the DISboard rules. However, we loved it and wish they let them exist. We met some friends and future business partners through that group! It was so much easier than the boards. First
we figured out our FE. They are all
shapes, sizes, and qualities. Do not get
hung up on this. Just figure out something to hold the loot. We ended up ordering
ours from Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/listing/112624434/2-pocket-fish-extender-for-disney-cruise?ref=shop_home_active_2). We were very satisfied with it.
For our gifts themselves, they ran the gambit. A lot from the Dollar Store, $1 section in
Target, and Amazon. We did
mini-flashlights, soap, custom labeled water bottles, glow sticks, custom car
stickers, sticker books, etc. I will
admit it was a bit to get it together and pack it, but it was worth it. To me it was really about the thought and
not the gift. You will feel pressured to
do some crazy Pinterest thing from a professional crafter. Don’t worry, whatever you give will be
appreciated.
This is probably a good place to talk about our door. We did decorate our door. Even if you don’t do an FE, you probably want
to decorate your door. Many doors were
decorated, even without the FE. We did make a few things but the characters around portal that we used we purchased from Etsy. They could be made, but we decided in the interest of time, we'd order those! (We purchased Beach Minnie, Else & Pirate Mickey and switched them out based on the theme of the day on the ship.) The Pirate Mickey/Minnie, Chevron heads & Sofia we made. (Print your design, laminate it and then put a magnet strip on the back.)
My take aways are:
- #1 FE gift is a map with the cabins of everyone in your FE group marked on it. It is a big ship and a pain to route to 10 different cabins
- Make sure you have room to bring all your goodies home
- Save some stuff for the 2nd half of the cruise. You do not need to give it all away on day one.
- Bring some stuff to Pixie Dust with, it will make you feel good.
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