01/02/10- Mickey's New Decade Brigade!

[mmackeymouse]

Good Morning all

I am already planning "in overdrive".

I am considering my FishExtender gift and dreaming of a nice steak and some quiet moments with DH and a BahamaMama on Serenity Bay.

My absolutely favorite thing to do while waiting to board the Magic is gaze longingly at a very cool picture I have of Deck Four. I will try to post it for anyone that wants to "dream" with me.

Sooo... Is it too early to start "official planning"?!? I don't want to take over anyone else's "baby", but I am willing to coordinate Door Tag and/or can help plan a Meet & Greet (maybe a gift exchange with a token gift from the area you live) on Deck Nine or the Promenade Lounge and/or can help with organizing the Fish Extender exchange (to make sure all days are covered and the gifts keep coming all week! LOL)

If I am way too enthusiastic here ... feel free to burst my bubble. I can calm down if needed.

So whatz everyone doing this weekend??

Well, I am a complete newbie to cruising, but am a natural born planner, so as Nicole said, if you would like any help or would like to delegate, I am game.

We have both been kind of waiting for this thread to pick up before doing too much. It has been rather slow. We set a due date for naming the thread for July 2nd. Hopefully we will have more participation by then.

I can't wait to get a FE exchange started! I will be at the store and see something, and think to myself, that would be a great gift! But then, without any set agenda, I try not to get too much.

As for this weekend, I am content to be a lazy girl (practicing for the cruise). I am coming off a week long vacation from work, and trying to maximize what little time I have left. A part of me wishes I did not have to work and could spend all my time planning this lovely trip of a lifetime. Of course, that would make time move slower.

 

[34Angels]

Wow, a lot has gone on since I last posted! Sorry, things got busy there for a minute, my friend here had her baby and a month later my sister had her baby! Plus planning for a wedding, going to school full time as well as working full time and training to run the WDW marathon (yes, I'm running the marathon after our cruise! LOL)....I've just be too tired to do much of anything else.

Okay, what's the Fish Exchange (is that what it's called?).

 

[TADsMommy]

Hello

I am going to go back and read all the pages ... 6 isn't too many, but I don't want to miss something then need to catch up later. A few things that I saw discussed and/or questions asked ...

Door Tag - I will make a large magnet (with a checklist on the back of everyone's room if you decide to play) and place it on someone's cabin door. If you "find" it on your door you sign off the back and place it on someone else's door who hasn't signed off yet. Once the last person signs off, you place it on my door ... and everyone gets a prize. We can try to go around 3 or more times (sometimes this happens in just one sea day) or whatever we decided. If it makes it around the ship at least once before Pirate Night ... I will have some fun Pirate surprises for everyone!! Alright ... so who wants to play TAG?!?

Fish Extender - Each room has a "fish" outside the door (on the wall) that DCL uses to leave you "mail". Reminder cards for Kids Club events or Spa reservations or ??? If you have a pocket wall thingie (DISers call them Fish Extenders) then DIS friends can come by and leave you surprises. I can start a list of who wants to participate and which day (do you specifically want to leave your gift on Formal Night or Pirate Night ... or just anytime during the cruise). Kids of all ages love checking their pockets to see what surprises have arrived while they were at the pool, eating dinner or ???

Meet & Greet - Personally I love these!! I think it's fun to have each family bring a gift from their region (or of interest to their family) and then we draw names and trade gifts. Nothing too long, or too fancy, just a bit of fun at the start of the cruise. Works well around 3:15pm so you still have time to drop gifts back to the room and grab lifejackets for the drill. Then we can grab a spot up on 10th Deck to view the sailaway and get to know eachother a bit if that seems fun to you???

Hotel in Port Canaveral - We will be staying at the Radisson at the Port since we love the pools and we always visit minigolf/icecream next door. You can park your car for free and they will shuttle you to the port. Cannot beat that!! I will probably be getting a group rate so let me know if you want to be part of my "group".

Plans - We plan to fly redeye and arrive early Wednesday 30th morning. We will spend 30th and 31st in Orlando - New Years Eve - then drive to Port Canaveral to spend Saturday 1st in Cocoa Beach. Then a glorious week aboard the MAGIC

And your plans are ???? ...

 

[mmackeymouse]

]

Door Tag - I will make a large magnet (with a checklist on the back of everyone's room if you decide to play) and place it on someone's cabin door. If you "find" it on your door you sign off the back and place it on someone else's door who hasn't signed off yet. Once the last person signs off, you place it on my door ... and everyone gets a prize. We can try to go around 3 or more times (sometimes this happens in just one sea day) or whatever we decided. If it makes it around the ship at least once before Pirate Night ... I will have some fun Pirate surprises for everyone!! Alright ... so who wants to play TAG?!?

Sounds fun!

Fish Extender - Each room has a "fish" outside the door (on the wall) that DCL uses to leave you "mail". Reminder cards for Kids Club events or Spa reservations or ??? If you have a pocket wall thingie (DISers call them Fish Extenders) then DIS friends can come by and leave you surprises. I can start a list of who wants to participate and which day (do you specifically want to leave your gift on Formal Night or Pirate Night ... or just anytime during the cruise). Kids of all ages love checking their pockets to see what surprises have arrived while they were at the pool, eating dinner or ???

I definitely would like to be a part of the exchange, so you can sign me right up! I know it will be kind of hard to come up with the exact plans for the FE without knowing how many people will be participating. Nicole had mentioned that her last exchange had 15 people. She also mentioned that they had a deadline of sometime in November to sign up for it, so perhaps we can set a deadline for this exchange as well.

Now, as far as who brings what on what day or how many or how much to spend or anything like that, I guess once we have a concrete list, we will better be able to address that.

Being the compulsive planner that I am, and I am sure many of you can relate, I am a bit frustrated right now, because it seems like I cannot get anything done. Many airlines are not booking flights out into January. And, a lot of hotels are not booking out that far either.....or if they are, they are an arm and a leg, so it would make sense to wait to see if any specials open up anyway. And of course, renting a car I cannot really set up until we know about flights.

I just wish I knew exactly when January is going to start opening up.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Karen- the Door Tag thing sounds really fun! And that is a great idea about asking everyone ahead of time if they specifically want to deliver their FE gifts on Pirate Night, Formal Night, or any night, and then you can draft a list of assigned days based on the feedback you get. Regarding the meet and greet, that is also another great idea you have about us all bringing something a gift from our hometown area or something like that and then drawing names to exchange with someone else. Just curious, how did you draw the names? At the Meet and Greet did you just have everyone’s names in a hat, and then we each draw names and exchange gifts right there? Sounds really fun!! That sounds like a nice time to meet at 3:15 on sailaway day too. If it were a 3 or 4 night cruise, I’d probably object since that is valuable pool time on the ship that is scarce on those short cruises, but since we have 3 glorious days at sea on this trip, I think 3:15 is fine…and if we want to meet up again to talk more, we can set up another informal meeting time at our first meet. On my last cruise, several of the adults got together and met on the first night at Wavebands (Rockin D Bar) which was really fun and gave us more time to get to know each other, so maybe we can arrange something like that for the first night too if anyone’s interested!

I love Radisson at the Port, that is where we stayed for our January cruise this year, loved the pool! And Grills seafood bar/restaurant was great for watching the ships sail out. This year though we will be staying at the Pop at WDW from 12/30 through the 2nd, and then driving to the port early Saturday morning. I am so very excited for New Years Eve at WDW, which has been a lifelong dream of mine. We are absolutely going to be in the Magic Kingdom all day on 12/31 right through the midnight fireworks. What are you guys going to do for New Years while you are in Orlando those days?

Mmackeymouse- I’m sorry but I either forget or didn’t get your name so far in this thread…please forgive me if you’ve already mentioned it? Also I am a compulsive planner like you are too. As you said earlier I think getting through the summer will be the hardest! I can’t wait!!!!!

34Angels- As you can see Karen (TadsMommy) already answered your question about what the Fish Extender Exchange is, but I just wanted to also suggest that you visit eBay and search “fish extender” to get an idea of what one looks like. As Karen said, it is basically a pocket organizer. There are always several on eBay if you want to see what they look like or want to buy one…I actually made my own for my cruise this year and I love it, it was hard work sewing it by hand but I had a lot of fun, and it got me pumped for the cruise, so it was worth it, and of course I’ll be using it again on this cruise. If you don’t want to go all out though for one of these “official” fish extenders, you can use almost any kind of bag to hang from your door for the function of receiving the gifts.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Karen- the Door Tag thing sounds really fun! And that is a great idea about asking everyone ahead of time if they specifically want to deliver their FE gifts on Pirate Night, Formal Night, or any night, and then you can draft a list of assigned days based on the feedback you get. Regarding the meet and greet, that is also another great idea you have about us all bringing something a gift from our hometown area or something like that and then drawing names to exchange with someone else. Just curious, how did you draw the names? At the Meet and Greet did you just have everyone’s names in a hat, and then we each draw names and exchange gifts right there? Sounds really fun!! That sounds like a nice time to meet at 3:15 on sailaway day too. If it were a 3 or 4 night cruise, I’d probably object since that is valuable pool time on the ship that is scarce on those short cruises, but since we have 3 glorious days at sea on this trip, I think 3:15 is fine…and if we want to meet up again to talk more, we can set up another informal meeting time at our first meet. On my last cruise, several of the adults got together and met on the first night at Wavebands (Rockin D Bar) which was really fun and gave us more time to get to know each other, so maybe we can arrange something like that for the first night too if anyone’s interested!

Mmackeymouse- I’m sorry but I either forget or didn’t get your name so far in this thread…please forgive me if you’ve already mentioned it? Also I am a compulsive planner like you are too. As you said earlier I think getting through the summer will be the hardest! I can’t wait!!!!!

As far as the exchange is concerned, I did not know if everyone would bring a little something each day or if we would be assigned a day or what our budget would be. I suppose the best thing to do would be to let the giver decide their format. Of course the format will be a bit different depending on if we have 15 or 75. But, as I said earlier, it is probably best to maybe set a deadline, and then go from there. So if you are anyone else would like to come up with a random (or methodically chosen) FE deadline date, I think that would be great!

It's Melissa, by the way.

Welp, I am gonna go do some Richard Simmons Sweatin action before I head to church. Catch ya'll later!

 

[TADsMommy]

G'mornin all

75 days out (final payment / no refund) date works well for FE cutoff since people tend to "check in" to the cruise meet thread once they are "official".

The Fish Extender exchange can (and should) be something different to each person. Some families will bring little treats or token gifts, others make handmade gifts, still others exchange something more elaborate ... but they have "help". At this point, there can be two categories of participation:
1. I have a fun idea and will take care of everything myself ... then you can just pick a day to distribute
2. I have a fun idea, but need help (financially) with my gift and/or I want to participate but don't have a specific idea ... then make up groups (by e-mail or PM if you want to keep it a surprise) to sort out the details. It might be that each person brings "part" of the gift, or that you contribute $$ to the person designing/purchasing the gift. Once onboard, you can meet up to assemble gifts (if needed) and then distribute to the FEs.
It's all just meant to be fun. We all just love receiving surprises in the "mail".

I can start a database for our group for anyone that wants to participate inthe "fun stuff". We can list names, cabin numbers, ages (optional ), interests, excursions, etc. My girls have serious computer skills. I can ask them to help me update then post it so everyone can visit it online when their schedules permit. You can just PM any info (maybe even a photo of your family/group). If you want to schedule late night meets or early morning workouts .. we can add it to our DIS group itinerary then pass the DIS itinerary out either in the terminal, at a meetngreet or to your FE. Some DIS groups schedule scrapbooking time onboard, or a Pajama Party, or Brunch in the "private room" at Palos, or just Bahama Mama time in the Quiet Cove ... wait every free moment is Bahama Mama time in the Quiet Cove for me!!

I personally do not always make ALL the DIS events ... 'cuz some groups scheduled ALOT of events. But I like to know what others are doing if they welcome company ... and I try to meet up whenever possible. Otherwise everyone knows to find me on Deck Four!!

Please know I surely do not need to be the one coordinating THE LIST as it is typically called. If anyone else would like the job, please step forward. I am just willing to do it if noone else wants to, since I do like having the info available.

Well ... I am off to church then have to "get to work" trying to pay for this trip!! I am closing registration for a Sept 09 (Carnival cruise) for a large group ... and have to open registration for Jan 10, May 10 and Sept 10 (more Carnival cruises) ... and for Jan 10 and Jun 10 (Disney cruises)

I was planning to take a break for a couple of weeks, but have decided to keep working since these groups are ready to book. I will sleep some other month!!

Hope you are all having a great Sunday ... I'll check back some time this afternoon to catch up on posts.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

75 days out sounds good to me, since its an “official” date and gives us plenty of time to buy/make our FE gifts. I agree with Melissa, it will depend on how many people actually sign up before I can decide what kind of gift (and how much money I’ll spend) on each one, so 75 days is good to give us a solid idea of what we’re looking at.

Personally, I would rather just do my own FE gift, doing all the work at home ahead of time. I’m pretty creative and last time I really enjoyed getting the goodies, making some of the things, and then putting everything together…it really got me in the mood for the cruise, just like making my actual Fish Extender. So, although I think that is a nice idea you have for “linking up” with others and combining and/or assembling together on board, I’d rather just do my own thing if that is okay. I assume that it would be okay if some people want to do their own thing and others want to join up together for combo gifts?

That is a great idea for starting a database with relevant information about those who want to participate in the “fun stuff.” I will definitely PM you my interests and information, and I think that is great that you will keep all of this info organized along with suggestions of DIS meets for those that want to participate. As you said, I probably wouldn’t be able to do every event, but it would be great if we did have some sort of itinerary on the first day of all the random activities/meets we schedule throughout the cruise so that if we want to do something, we’ll know when/where it is.

You mentioned some groups doing brunch together in the “private” room at Palo…on sort of the same subject, do you know anything about “linking dining?” Like, if some of us on here wanted to request that we be at the same dinner table? I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard of it, but then I’ve also heard of many problems with linked dining messing up your ability to make your own Palo reservations. Is that true? I wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my Palo ressies, but at the same time, this cruise I was really thinking seriously about trying to link up with someone that I actually enjoy talking to on the DIS instead of random people assigned to our table. Do you have an experience in this area Karen?

Lastly, I would be happy to help out with the planning by being the one who will coordinate the FE list. Perhaps you can handle the database of everyone’s names, interests, suggestions for DIS events, etc and then make up the itinerary when it comes close to the cruise, and I can handle the FE exchange spreadsheet? Let me know if that sounds like a good idea. I only work part-time and go to grad school part-time so I have plenty of time to devote to this!

“Talk” to you all later!

-Nicole

 

[mmackeymouse]

How about we make the deadline October 21? I believe 75 days would be October 15th, at least that is what time I am supposed to be paid in full, and that would give the late-comers a few extra days to get acclimated to the group.

On a side note, completely unrelated to the trip (well sort of related to how much of me you will be seeing on the trip), as you may have noticed, I am on a weight loss journey right now. I am completely frustrated, as I have hit a plataeu, and have been gaining and losing the same two pounds for far too long.

I have had some non-experts tell me I need to increase my calorie intake. I have done some research on the web, and depending on the source, I am looking at a 300-600 increase in my daily food intake. I am so nervous about this. I am terrified to increase the food, and gain weight. But, at this point, I have kind of hit a stalemate. So, I have to do something. Any prayers or even if anyone has any experience/knowledge would be more than welcome.

I just don't want to look like a beached whale on this trip. I told my family that since this is in fact a trip of a lifetime, I want to have pictures and videos to look at and be happy, remembering the fun times, not to hide and grimace at when I see them, bc I look like I am going to float away.

 

[TADsMommy]

Okay all ...

I (along with my computer saavy teens) am happy to be the "keeper of THE LIST".

Nicole ... Thanks for coming forward to coordinate the Fish Extender exchange!! We also like to give our own gifts. I think most people do their own, but I have run into a few families who like to "pair up" to split costs so wanted to present that as an option. You can add us TADsMommy (Karen) and TADsDaddy (Dave) for any day ... our preference would be the first sea day, but we will take any day you want to add us.

Melissa ... I think you already look super cute in your photo. I am also trying to drop some weight, maybe we can support eachother.

Well, we are off to cheer for our DUCKS (even like Mickey's hockey team!). Have a nice night all!!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Hello Everyone! Just in case you haven't read all of the preceding posts, let me introduce myself as Nicole, your "official Fish Extender Exchange planner." Karen (TADsMommy) has graciously offered to be the organizer of the master list of who is interested in specific activities, suggestions for activities, the final itinerary of DIS events that we have planned, etc. I will be handling the details for the Fish Extender gift exchange.

First things first: if you want to participate in the exchange, please PM me your information. Specifically, I will need the following things: family name (ex: "The Jones Family") and hometown, Screen Name, Stateroom(s) (if assigned), number of adults per stateroom, number of children per stateroom, names of adults, and names, age, gender of the children. The reason that names, ages, and gender are important is because some people like to personalize their FE gifts or gear them toward specific ages/gender for the children, so this is helpful. Of course if for any reason you don't want to give me this info, that is fine, but if you are okay with it, I think it will be helpful for those who want to customize gifts.

I will also need to know if you would prefer to give your gifts out on a specific day, or if it doesn't matter to you. Some people like to give gifts specifically geared toward formal night or Pirate night, for example, so if that is your case, please let me know. Otherwise, I will just assign everyone to random days and try to divide it up so that we have approximately an equal number of people signed up for each day. I know we have awhile to go until the cruise so if you tell me now that you don't care which day, and then as it gets closer you decide you want a certain day, that is no problem and I'll be happy to switch your day at that time.

Karen has already mentioned that we have two options for fish extender gifts. You can choose to do your own gifts at home, or, you can decide to "team up" with 1 or more other DISers who are participating if you want to share costs, or if you want to meet up onboard to put your gifts together into one gift, etc. So, please let me know when you PM me if you want to do your own gift, or if you are interested in pairing up. I will keep a list of anyone who expresses interest in pairing up, and I'll also post their names here in our main thread so you know who is interested in case you want to contact them to get things started.

I look forward to hearing from all of you who want to participate!

 

[mmackeymouse]

Melissa ... I think you already look super cute in your photo. I am also trying to drop some weight, maybe we can support eachother.

Well, we are off to cheer for our DUCKS (even like Mickey's hockey team!). Have a nice night all!!

You are TOO kind. Haha. I will have to admit, I have improved leaps and bounds since last year, but I have so much room for improvement. I am just thrilled that now, I can sleep on the top bunk if need be. Next step: the weight limit for horseback riding. Woo hoo!

 

[34Angels]

Sorry, this is a little off topic:
Okay, (sorry, I don't remember who said this) about the increase calorie intake, are you exercising more? Usually when you increase your calorie intake it's because you're burning too many calories when you work out and your body freaks out and basically shuts down metabolism to ensure it has enough fuel for basic functioning. My fiance increased his calorie intake and started loosing weight. If anything you can try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens, you still have some time before the cruise!

Okay, now on to the cruise stuff. I'm trying to explain to my fiance that we won't be spending every waking moment with someone else (this is our honeymoon cruise so he's a little worried we won't have any time just for us) but I think I've almost got him on the ball for the festivities. I'm still a little confused on the fish thingy, what kind of gifts? Do I need a gift for every night? For every one participating? I just need to know all the details so I can explain it to him (feel free to PM me, sometimes it takes me a minute to understand things and I don't want to bog down the thread). I love the idea of a meet-up and door tag and I'm sure I'll love some of the other events and such ya'll get lined up. This is our first cruise and will be our first Dis meet-up so we're total newbies. Please forgive me for asking a lot of questions (because I will!).

I'm sooo excited for the cruise, ya'll have no idea! I've been trying to take a Disney Cruise since the ships were commissioned and something has always came up that I couldn't go.

One more thing, my fiance and I are training for the WDW marathon jan 10th (right after we get back) so will be running a few days of the cruise, I thought I saw a suggestion about doing a workout group together so I thought I'd throw out there if anyone wants to run with us, you're more than welcome to!

 

[mmackeymouse]

Okay, (sorry, I don't remember who said this) about the increase calorie intake, are you exercising more? Usually when you increase your calorie intake it's because you're burning too many calories when you work out and your body freaks out and basically shuts down metabolism to ensure it has enough fuel for basic functioning. My fiance increased his calorie intake and started loosing weight. If anything you can try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens, you still have some time before the cruise!

Thanks! I am going to try this whole increase the calorie thing. I am a little worried and nervous, but this plateau is driving me bonkers, so I am willing to try anything at this point.

I'm still a little confused on the fish thingy, what kind of gifts? Do I need a gift for every night? For every one participating? I just need to know all the details so I can explain it to him (feel free to PM me, sometimes it takes me a minute to understand things and I don't want to bog down the thread). I love the idea of a meet-up and door tag and I'm sure I'll love some of the other events and such ya'll get lined up. This is our first cruise and will be our first Dis meet-up so we're total newbies. Please forgive me for asking a lot of questions (because I will!).

Okay, so I am a newbie to cruising as well, so I may not be the BEST person to answer this question. But, from what I have read on other threads, how much you spend and how often you deliver gifts is really a personal decision. Now, as far as who all to deliver to is kind of up to each individual meet. I think a lot of it depends on how many people are involved (with larger numbers, it is split into groups/floors/ etc etc)

One more thing, my fiance and I are training for the WDW marathon jan 10th (right after we get back) so will be running a few days of the cruise, I thought I saw a suggestion about doing a workout group together so I thought I'd throw out there if anyone wants to run with us, you're more than welcome to!

There is ZERO chance I will ever be able to run a marathon. I suck at running. I definitely plan on hitting the gym, to attempt to offset the quadrupling of my daily calorie intake that I expect to happen on the cruise.

 

[34Angels]

LOL I totally understand about running, it's hard to start but once you start, you feel so good! I use to run as a teen all the time, but quit when I got to be about 17 and "knew" everything and decided I didn't need to run anymore. I just recently started running again and I feel so much better!

Okay, so there's 2 newbies looking at doing the fish thingy? LOL This should be interesting! It sounds fun, I just want to know like what kind of stuff people have given and received. I just need a couple of ideas to jump start my creativity, or lack of it!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

34Angels: I am happy to help explain to you in more detail about what the Fish Extender thing is. First, did you go to eBay like I suggested to search “fish extender” to see some examples of what the actual extender is? That is where I would start so you know what we’re talking about. Now as far as what kinds of gifts, like Melissa (mmackeymouse) said, it is up to the individual what he/she wants to give. But here are some common things (and I also took a picture of all the goodies we got on the last night of our cruise, so if you want to see that, send me a PM of your email address and I will email you the picture as an attachment). Some things we got were lots of candy, pirate things (eye patch, fake tattoos) for Pirate Night, glow stick for pirate night, anything Disney themed (magnets, pens/pencils, pins, stickers, etc), things from people’s hometowns (we had people from Puerto Rico and Australia, they gave postcards, key chains, and coasters from there! Scrapbooking materials, homemade crafty items, etc. It was really a great variety. I think you can also do a search on the main forum here because I’ve definitely seen threads on this topic that will give you more ideas.

You do not need to give a gift every night…if you look at my post above (the first one on this page) it explains what information you need to provide to me as the organizer of the exchange, and it explains how each person will be assigned one night of the cruise to distribute their gifts to everyone’s fish extenders. This way, we all get gifts every day, because if we weren’t assigned days, then you risk getting everything in the first couple days and then nothing to look forward to the rest of the cruise : (

You also do not necessarily need to give something to every person in the stateroom. Some people just give one big gift baggie for the whole room and include a couple different things in it for the family, while others like to give one specific thing for each person in the room. Some people write a note saying who the gift is from, others leave it anonymous. It is totally up to you. Likewise, how much or how little you spend is up to you too- some people spend a lot, others hardly spend anything. Some like to buy things, others like to make things. The Fish Extender Exchange is very subjective, which is the best part of it- you never know what you are going to get!

I hope I answered your questions and explained this in a helpful way for you and anyone else who joins the thread who is new to the Fish Extender thing. Feel free to post or PM me if you have more specific questions, or if you want me to send you the picture of my fish extender, my door decorated with door magnets, or the actual gifts I got from everyone on the cruise in the FE exchange.

Lastly, I hope to hear from you and others soon if you decide you want to be a part of the exchange. I’ll just need the information I requested above in the first post on this page so that I can add you to my participant spreadsheet.

 

[mmackeymouse]

LOL I totally understand about running, it's hard to start but once you start, you feel so good! I use to run as a teen all the time, but quit when I got to be about 17 and "knew" everything and decided I didn't need to run anymore. I just recently started running again and I feel so much better!

Okay, so there's 2 newbies looking at doing the fish thingy? LOL This should be interesting! It sounds fun, I just want to know like what kind of stuff people have given and received. I just need a couple of ideas to jump start my creativity, or lack of it!

Meh, I am convinced there is some sort of running gene. My dad has it, but I clearly don't. Here is the thing, I have played sports all my life, so clearly I am no stranger to running in spurts. I also work out 5 days a week. But, when it comes to running on the treadmil, I stink at it. I cannot go more than 30 seconds without having to stop.

I am no better at running, nor can I run any longer now than I could when I got started, 27 lbs ago. I was expecting it to get easier as I got smaller, but nope, I still suck.

I have TONS of ideas for the FE. I get new ideas every day. I may have to bring a whole suitcase devoted to the FE stuff.

 

[toverly]

Hi Everyone, Tish here, my DH and DS, Ralph and Evan are cruising with you too. It's the first cruise for everyone. I am so excited. I made ressies at the Radison yesterday and want to just leave tomorrow and wait. Now I am saving money and trying to rack up reward points on my Visa Card for extra spending money. I look forward to meeting y'all. Is anyone doing the Fish Extenders? I am thinking of cutting out characters on my Cricut and making one.

 

[34Angels]

34Angels: I am happy to help explain to you in more detail about what the Fish Extender thing is. First, did you go to eBay like I suggested to search “fish extender” to see some examples of what the actual extender is? That is where I would start so you know what we’re talking about. Now as far as what kinds of gifts, like Melissa (mmackeymouse) said, it is up to the individual what he/she wants to give. But here are some common things (and I also took a picture of all the goodies we got on the last night of our cruise, so if you want to see that, send me a PM of your email address and I will email you the picture as an attachment). Some things we got were lots of candy, pirate things (eye patch, fake tattoos) for Pirate Night, glow stick for pirate night, anything Disney themed (magnets, pens/pencils, pins, stickers, etc), things from people’s hometowns (we had people from Puerto Rico and Australia, they gave postcards, key chains, and coasters from there! Scrapbooking materials, homemade crafty items, etc. It was really a great variety. I think you can also do a search on the main forum here because I’ve definitely seen threads on this topic that will give you more ideas.

You do not need to give a gift every night…if you look at my post above (the first one on this page) it explains what information you need to provide to me as the organizer of the exchange, and it explains how each person will be assigned one night of the cruise to distribute their gifts to everyone’s fish extenders. This way, we all get gifts every day, because if we weren’t assigned days, then you risk getting everything in the first couple days and then nothing to look forward to the rest of the cruise : (

You also do not necessarily need to give something to every person in the stateroom. Some people just give one big gift baggie for the whole room and include a couple different things in it for the family, while others like to give one specific thing for each person in the room. Some people write a note saying who the gift is from, others leave it anonymous. It is totally up to you. Likewise, how much or how little you spend is up to you too- some people spend a lot, others hardly spend anything. Some like to buy things, others like to make things. The Fish Extender Exchange is very subjective, which is the best part of it- you never know what you are going to get!

I hope I answered your questions and explained this in a helpful way for you and anyone else who joins the thread who is new to the Fish Extender thing. Feel free to post or PM me if you have more specific questions, or if you want me to send you the picture of my fish extender, my door decorated with door magnets, or the actual gifts I got from everyone on the cruise in the FE exchange.

Lastly, I hope to hear from you and others soon if you decide you want to be a part of the exchange. I’ll just need the information I requested above in the first post on this page so that I can add you to my participant spreadsheet.

Yep, checked them out, I actually might be able to make that, but probably won't (why do it when someone else will do it for me? LOL Yep, I'm lazy!).

Okay, so this sounds like fun, once DF and I can get some time to sit and discuss things we'll sort out what all we'll be doing on the cruise. I've still got some time to decide, right? Thanks for explaining it all to me!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Yep, checked them out, I actually might be able to make that, but probably won't (why do it when someone else will do it for me? LOL Yep, I'm lazy!).

Okay, so this sounds like fun, once DF and I can get some time to sit and discuss things we'll sort out what all we'll be doing on the cruise. I've still got some time to decide, right? Thanks for explaining it all to me!

Yes you definitely have plenty of time to decide if you want to participate in the Fish Extender exchange, or any of the other DIS activities that we plan. We haven't set an "official" deadline yet for the FE exchange list signup, but we're thinking sometime in late October, so you've got awhile! As far as the other events, what we'll likely end up having is a printed itinerary given out to everyone in the port, or at our first meet, or something, that lists everything we've planned for the week. That way, you have all the info and can decide what you want to do and what you don't want to do. Most of those things will be unofficial events where you can just show up if you want, no planning required.

If you have any more questions down the line please don't hesitate to ask!