Now I'm worried about my magnets and FE Gifts being STOLEN!!!

[TorontoGirl]

I have been on one cruise Sep 5-12 2009 and there were only 800 kids on it (vs 1600 the week before) and I don't know if that made a difference but we didn't have any magnets stolen off our door.

We were on Deck 2 and now we are on Deck 6 for Oct 23-30...I doing FE for the 1st time and will secure my FE holder to my Fish but I am worried that my gifts will be stolen and that the gifts I give out will be stolen as well!

I am doing candy for some of them (it is a Halloween cruise )...

Is this common? Does what deck you are on matter? Is there a good time to give out your gifts so people get them faster?

 

[Jodijo]

We have been on 4 cruises (On deck 5). We did the FE on every one of them. We only have had 1 magnet stolen out of all 4 times. I don't think I would have noticed except we had 2 cabins and 2 of each magnets. When we went to pack up, one of the magnets was missing from only one door.

As far as FE gifts being stolen, how would you know? I mean, unless you saw the gifts in your FE and did not collect them, and then went back later and they were gone, you would not know. Besides, I don't think anyone is going to spend that much time watching your FE and taking every gift the minute you get it. Even thieves need to go to eat! LOL

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

We've been on three sailings and three different decks. Always done FE and never had any problem with magnets or my FE being stolen

 

[mmmears]

I was worried about it for our first cruise last April. It was Spring Break and I think the ship was pretty full and had lots of kids on it. I don't think we had any magnets taken, but I did try to personalize them to make it less attractive to "thieves." (A pain, since now I have to print out some new ones...).

As for our F/E, we used a tote bag so it wasn't really in reach of the smaller kids. We tied it to the fishie. I guess we won't know if some things were taken or not, but we did get lots of surprises and it was really, really fun.

We were about 7 doors away from the main elevators last time. For our upcoming cruise, we're right by the elevators, so I'm much more concerned since more people will see our door. Sad that we have to be worried about things like this.

 

[BealsRwe]

We were on a cruise in August...my 11th, but 1st FE. No magnets stolen. I did notice on one of our previous cruises that a Mexican fiesta snowman magnet I did was on a door down the hall. It was more than likely due to it falling off our door, and someone putting it up on a door. I generally have our magnets presonalized. I packaged our FE gifts and put them so people couldn't see what was in the small package when I delivered. I am hopeful people are honest enough not to steal them. If we had any missing from our cruise, we never knew it.

PS Our adult and girl FE gift that we handed out are pictured below. Boy gifts were the same as the girls only with boy items, such as Toy Story decks of cards and pencils.

 

[cruisecastle]

I have been on one cruise Sep 5-12 2009 and there were only 800 kids on it (vs 1600 the week before) and I don't know if that made a difference but we didn't have any magnets stolen off our door.

We were on Deck 2 and now we are on Deck 6 for Oct 23-30...I doing FE for the 1st time and will secure my FE holder to my Fish but I am worried that my gifts will be stolen and that the gifts I give out will be stolen as well!

I am doing candy for some of them (it is a Halloween cruise )...

Is this common? Does what deck you are on matter? Is there a good time to give out your gifts so people get them faster?

Magnets have been stolen from all 8 of our Disney Cruises. You can usually find them a few doors down on another door. Usually just moved as a joke. No biggie.

 

[schimj]

Put us in on the group of never having been "vandalized." We've sailed twice, once in Jan '09 and again in Nov '09 (a Jersey Week sailing), and we haven't had any magnets stolen/moved or missing stuff from or FE (did that on the 2nd cruise only). Looking forward to our next cruise...right after yours, OP, is over...we're on the 10/30 sailing. It's a Jersey Week again, so we'll see if our luck stays the same.


(the fact that I'm mentioning its Jersey Week isn't a comment on New Jersey & it's residents, but a comment on the fact that it boosts the kid count...just wanted to point that out before anyone got the wrong idea!)

 

[ducky_love]

I just wanted to share that it isn't always done "on purpose" or by bad kids. On one of our cruises I had magnets on our door that had ribbon on them. One day we were walking along behind a family and one of their little kids reached out and grabbed the ribbon and kept on walking - stealing my magnet.

The parent noticed then saw me open the door and was horrified. They started fussing at their kid about stealing and being punished. It was only then that the little girl (maybe 5 years old?) showed her mom that she had about 10 magnets stuck in a big pocket in the front of her overalls. They asked if they were mine or if I knew who to return them to. But by that time the little girl was crying her eyes out. I just didn't think a 25 cent magnet was worth upsetting her like that. I told her I wanted her door to be pretty like mine and to pick out another few magnets to take with her. To please stop taking them.. but that I understood why she did and I wasn't mad.

So in the future if mine ever get taken again I choose to believe it was a little kid that wanted their door to be pretty too!! (with mortified parents that should have been watching them!! )

 

[Anjelica]

While it doesn't always help making the magnets and FE's as personalized to your family as possible is one tip I have used. I have our last name on the FE and some of the magnets - hopefully that deters folks from stealing it, etc.

 

[MommaMouse411]

@ ducky love.. that would be my son...I have soooo many magnets..if one or two gets taken I'll be okay with that...I just don't want them to take the ones that I personalized or had requested from creative boards to personalize..

now for my FE...I have all our names on it..so unless a family has all 4 of our names...I think I'll be okay...

but I have read that magnets and FE stuff have been stolen..

 

[TorontoGirl]

I should have clarified - I'm only worried about the personalized magnets (I scrapbook/keepsake box EVERYTHING) or that the FE gifts I am giving out will not get to their rightful receipiants...I'm even making ones that are general (Canadian Mickey Head, Jack Skellington & Stitch mickey heads) to give away and I don't mind if people take a few.

On my last cruise I was given such from other DISboarders and that's how I found this place One family changed their door everyday and one day they had their whole door COVERED in palm sized mickey heads to create a door sized RAINBOW! It was awesome and lots were missing by the end of the day but I know they didn't mind - I have a few they gave me when I complimented them on it

I agree I don't think it is worth upsetting a child over a cheap magnet - but at lease the parents WERE horrified ;-)

 

[nenner1]

Somebody tried to take our FE before, we found it askew and hanging from the zip tie overtop the fish (luckily we had zip-tied it down!!!)

We also suspect we may have lost some gifts, as we saw things in other people's FE's that we did not have.

Can't really avoid it, best thing is to check it as often as possible and tie dwon/personalize anything you can!

 

[sdoner]

We have been on 7 cruises and have never had a problem. Most of the magnets do have our name on them.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We've been on 3 Disney cruises.

We did a few magnets for the 2d one. Had 1 magnet taken - it had our names and room # on it.

3rd cruise, our door was covered with magnets by the end of the cruise . I allowed for some to go missing. Nothing got taken. So I started putting the extras on the empty doors I found on the ship.

 

[Dicecatt]

We only had 6 participants on our FE exchange on our Oct 7 Wonder cruise, and one of them had their FE stolen...the whole thing! On the very last night. She went to grab it to pack, and it was gone.

I've been on 5, and have never that I noticed any missing magnets. Our FE is very personalized, and has a big black boa as a tie that would drip feathers if stolen, lol.

 

[clawmachine]

I plan to use a zip tie on our FE. My Mom made it and it is special to us. I realize of course that a thief could just cut the tie, but I think most crimes of this sort are opportunity crimes, and making it just that much more difficult to walk away with could be a deterrent.

 

[MommaMouse411]

wow a whole FE!! I would cry...who would do that...they probably don't even want it just wanteed to ruin your day...

I got my zip ties ready...

 

[orlandothebeagle]

We had lots of magnets from scotland on our doors, when it started to get near the end of the cruise, we started to put them on all the doors around us and told family members that they were a gift, its so funny, cause I think the families never spoke to each other, either that they didnt want them and they kept get put back on our door, I always meant to ask our room steward if it was him.

 

[ducky_love]

We had lots of magnets from scotland on our doors, when it started to get near the end of the cruise, we started to put them on all the doors around us and told family members that they were a gift, its so funny, cause I think the families never spoke to each other, either that they didnt want them and they kept get put back on our door, I always meant to ask our room steward if it was him.

Aw - they were probably just being honest and thought kids had moved them. On the last days of our cruise I put my "junk" magnets out and my whiteboard and wrote, "Magic magnets - free to a good home". They all went pretty quick!

 

[dursin]

wow a whole FE!! I would cry...who would do that...they probably don't even want it just wanteed to ruin your day...

I got my zip ties ready...

It's typically just teenagers looking to just cause a little trouble. If you're ever missing a FE or a door magnet, look around the hallways near you. Sometimes they'll think it's funny to just 'relocate' things rather than actually steal or destroy them.