FE disapointment?

[fairytalelover]

It's all as fun as YOU make it to be. It takes up the time YOU want it to take up. For us it's a fun crafting day as a family where we talk about what we are most excited about and what we are scared about etc...we LOVE this time together and it never takes longer than a day on a weekend or weeknight. We also don't think it takes up any space at all, we don't get statues or giant parcels!! What little we take back (if it's not edible) fits in a small space if not pockets of a backpack and the edible stuff is usually eaten during shows! If there is truly something that we would not use or is just not worth bringing back, or millions of glowsticks (which we have yet to be this lucky), we pass them along into other FE as 'tinkerbell' gifts or hand them out to kids we encounter along the way. Every experience is what YOU choose to make of it. I said it before, but if we ever felt it was too 'stressful' or time consuming or we started to judge other people, it would be over.

Meh...sorry.....it just sounds like a pain in the behind to me......we're on vacation. Dont really want to be worried about getting gifts for strangers. And you dont need to get statues to have it take up room in your luggage. There are tons of posts about how much this stuff takes up people's luggage. And for what? Cheap candy, tattoos, stickers and glow sticks??? Not very exciting stuff. Not even my son would care about getting that stuff. Like I said he gets that kind of stuff all the time through school and birthday parties. We don't need to have to bring more home to add to our pile. But you find this fun and exciting, more power to you. To each his own.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

while I agree, experience IS the best teacher....
IF one uses these boards to learn about DCL, clearly there are many negatives to the FE.

I voiced similar opinions regarding key chains and glow sticks years ago...while it is fun for the kids (heck, that's why Christmas is so magical...no stress for them) the magic runs out quickly if the organizers demand a certain level of participation. That is; $$$$, colors, characters as a requisite part of the FE experience.
It's like little league, once the parents start demanding all-star performance from their kids, the fun is GONE and the angst is IN

The exact reason why the one I am running for our cruise will just ask how many people are in your stateroom and what your stateroom number is. That's it. No restrictions, everyone delivers on their own schedule and makes what they want. It's fun for the kids and that's how it is supposed to be!!

 

[fairytalelover]

If you haven't done it, how could you know what the reality is? Absolutely makes sense not to do if you don't think it sounds fun, but clearly, the reality *is* fun for those who do it (or, at least, those who do it more than once).

I dont need to "do" everything to know it would suck. The reality is that we would have to spend money to buy stuff for strangers and time to make stuff for strangers then we have to pack it all in our suitcase and then we have to spend our vacation time on the cruise going around distributing it then I have to find space in our luggage for stuff my son will most likely just throw into his closet and never look at again or candy that he doesnt really need to eat. Yeah, sounds like a blast.......

 

[wcw57]

I dont need to "do" everything to know it would suck. The reality is that we would have to spend money to buy stuff for strangers and time to make stuff for strangers then we have to pack it all in our suitcase and then we have to spend our vacation time on the cruise going around distributing it then I have to find space in our luggage for stuff my son will most likely just throw into his closet and never look at again or candy that he doesnt really need to eat. Yeah, sounds like a blast.......

i've never swallowed broken glass, but 'm pretty sure i won't like that, either.
you are correct, for the most part it seems the FE's have gone crazy detailed but THAT may, in part, be due to the lack of organization on DISboards and the influence of social media

 

[WanderLit]

It didn't take long for me to decide agains participating in a FE group for my cruise in June. I really want to make it a special time for me and my family. I want to spend real quality time with my daughter and granddaughter. I will hang a FE so my granddaughter can have fun checking it for goodies. But I'll be the one dropping little treasures in it for her to find.

All the wonderment without the angst. Instead of trotting up and down corridors exchanging gifts, I'll be playing with my family at the Mickey pool.

Part of me is curious about the social nature of FE groups but the larger part of me feels that this cruise should be about investing in family rather than engaging with strangers. I might feel differently if I were part of a large family or group traveling together though.

On the other hand... I LOVE the idea of "pixie dusting"! I think I just might have to leave a few little presents in random FEs. Wouldn't it be awesome if instead of organized FE groups, everyone interested just hung FEs and everyone just randomly dropped in treasures? No obligation, no formula, no angst. just sharing the milk of human kindness and randomly paying it forward.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

The exact reason why the one I am running for our cruise will just ask how many people are in your stateroom and what your stateroom number is. That's it. No restrictions, everyone delivers on their own schedule and makes what they want. It's fun for the kids and that's how it is supposed to be!!

That is good that you are organizing it for your cruise. I've done the organizing for one cruise before (and was just a participant for another). Make sure people can add a "comment" in case they need to share allergy info. Also, I personally found having ages of kids helpful when I realized that one item I was going to distribute had a button battery in it that was not at all kid friendly (very easy to access and remove). It was not in a toy, so was not an item marketed to kids. I was able to keep that item from all cabins that had any kids 5 and under in them.
Have fun, I've enjoyed participating in them and now that I've got two under my belt, they don't stress me out at all!

 

[Anisum]

You can always just fill in the blanks you want to. You don't have to give all the info.

My traveling companions and I generally just make up names with a theme at this point. If someone makes something with the name I gave on it I consider it to be another reminder of the fun my friends and I had on that particular trip.

 

[DnA2010]

I dont need to "do" everything to know it would suck. The reality is that we would have to spend money to buy stuff for strangers and time to make stuff for strangers then we have to pack it all in our suitcase and then we have to spend our vacation time on the cruise going around distributing it then I have to find space in our luggage for stuff my son will most likely just throw into his closet and never look at again or candy that he doesnt really need to eat. Yeah, sounds like a blast.......

Wow negative much? Just read your last 4 posts- we get it- you think it's crap.

We adored everything about the FE- from making our gifts, delivering them and receiving gifts from others. It was the process as much as anything for us. DD has lots of "stuff" so no I wouldn't buy "stuff" to put in a FE for the sake of putting in our own FE, but it was having her fully involved in the process which was the ulimate value. She loved helping with our gifts, finding the cabins, putting the gifts in. Our gifts that we received were varied and all appreciated

 

[FigmentSpark]

It didn't take long for me to decide agains participating in a FE group for my cruise in June. I really want to make it a special time for me and my family. I want to spend real quality time with my daughter and granddaughter. I will hang a FE so my granddaughter can have fun checking it for goodies. But I'll be the one dropping little treasures in it for her to find.

All the wonderment without the angst. Instead of trotting up and down corridors exchanging gifts, I'll be playing with my family at the Mickey pool.

Part of me is curious about the social nature of FE groups but the larger part of me feels that this cruise should be about investing in family rather than engaging with strangers. I might feel differently if I were part of a large family or group traveling together though.

On the other hand... I LOVE the idea of "pixie dusting"! I think I just might have to leave a few little presents in random FEs. Wouldn't it be awesome if instead of organized FE groups, everyone interested just hung FEs and everyone just randomly dropped in treasures? No obligation, no formula, no angst. just sharing the milk of human kindness and randomly paying it forward.

If you decide to 'pixie dust', maybe take your GD along. She might have just as much fun giving as getting. She'll probably also enjoy seeing people's different FEs and their door magnets.

My kids are older and would now think this is 'lame' (teenagers!), but if they were younger, I think I would have participated.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I had an awesome experience with FE with my group. My DD loved it the most. My favorite was these maple tea biscuits and maple tea I got from a fellow cruiser from Canada...but I also got wine, trinkets...and so much thought

 

[WanderLit]

If you decide to 'pixie dust', maybe take your GD along. She might have just as much fun giving as getting. She'll probably also enjoy seeing people's different FEs and their door magnets.

My kids are older and would now think this is 'lame' (teenagers!), but if they were younger, I think I would have participated.

She would get a big kick out of that! I could let her pick which ones we should "dust".

 

[jiminyC_fan]

The exact reason why the one I am running for our cruise will just ask how many people are in your stateroom and what your stateroom number is. That's it. No restrictions, everyone delivers on their own schedule and makes what they want. It's fun for the kids and that's how it is supposed to be!!

Exactly the way it was done in the beginning.....NO RULES. I applaud you!

 

[diznymom]

We are heading on our 4th cruise in December. We have never been in a FE group that had any rules.

We have never been disappointed in our FE gifts, either. It is just fun. I put into my gifts what I want to put into them. I never feel like I "Have to" do more than I want to. Some of our favorite gifts have been some of the more simple gifts. One time, we each received what I would call an extravagant gift. All I could think was "Wow!! Someone spent some major $$$$ doing this for each person".

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I dont need to "do" everything to know it would suck. The reality is that we would have to spend money to buy stuff for strangers and time to make stuff for strangers

So it sounds like it's not an activity for you, if that's how you feel. For ME, the fact that's it's strangers is what made it fun. I don't want to do it for people I know. In fact, i hate that FE's are now "sign your room, name and home address and phone number in case they want to return it". The idea that I liked about FE's when we first did them is that it WAS a stranger. it was random acts of kindness for people who didn't know you and you didn't know. It was creating magic for someone else. I LOVED the idea that WE - NOT Disney - were creating magic for people. We were PART of Disney and were participating in and living it, not just soaking it up for ourselves. We were making the cruise a little better for SOMEONE.

God: How do we change the world?
Evan Baxter: One single act of random kindness at a time.
God: [spoken while writing A-R-K on ground with a stick] One Act, of, Random, Kindness.

When FE's become "tell me who you are so I can make sure my FE is better than yours" and "I want specifically Winnie the Poo or else you suck" - that's when FE's become not worth it. They are no longer magic - they are expectations, demands, entitlements.

My 2 cents.

 

[scootch]

We did the FE on our last cruise. I was so excited to do it being our first Disney cruise. I planned, made and picked everything for each person according to there favourite colours and characters.

Then when we received all of our gifts I was very surprised and disappointed after all the hype and work I put into ours. We mostly received just candy. None of the character stuff was the right characters.

I was just wondering if more people have the experience we had or if the FE was everything they thought it would be? Not posting to complain but booked our second cruise and not sure if I should give it another try? Maybe ours was just a fluke?

We had the same experience and haven't done it since.

 

[ALittleMoreDisneyforUs]

We did the FE on our last cruise. I was so excited to do it being our first Disney cruise. I planned, made and picked everything for each person according to there favourite colours and characters.

Then when we received all of our gifts I was very surprised and disappointed after all the hype and work I put into ours. We mostly received just candy. None of the character stuff was the right characters.

I was just wondering if more people have the experience we had or if the FE was everything they thought it would be? Not posting to complain but booked our second cruise and not sure if I should give it another try? Maybe ours was just a fluke?

I am sorry you didn't have as magical an experience as you had hoped. We did FE girfts on our first Disney cruise on the Fantasy last Sept. Well, I did most of the planning and work Our two DDs and DH did help deliver the gifts on the ship, though, and had fun with that.
I had purchased original Disney sketches (JPEGs) of many Disney characters from Etsy, printed and made magnets from them, and gave those along with Disney Tsum Tsum vinyl characters, some stickers, glow sticks, and pins to the people in each of the seven? cabins in our group - with some sample size laundry detergent/dryer sheets, and then a few extra goodies thrown in for a birthday boy of 21 who shared the exact same birthday as our daughter! We had just one infant in our group - I hadn't found anything suitable for him beforehand, so I bought a cute bib on St. Thomas for him. It is possible that some people in our group probably spent less than we did. I used a lot of ink, really, a lot, and also bought a laminator and extra supplies as I am not very crafty and had nothing on hand. I actually spent much more than planned, it just took on a life of its own, but the excitement of making them and of anticipating the enjoyment I hope they got from receiving the gifts was worth it. But we really didn't know what to expect as far as gifts, so we didn't feel disappointment. I really appreciated the gifts we received. some were handmade, some were specially made for us, and our daughter received a special birthday gift. And some were very useful as well. I truly felt that the people in our group took time and put thought into the gifts. I have to say, though, for simplicity and to save some money as well, for our next cruise this fall, we plan to do only pixie dust gifts. We will hang the same FE as last year, and if we receive pixie dust, great, if not, we all will have a ball leaving pixie dust in others' FEs - and in person when it works out. One of our my biggest joys was seeing a little girl dressed as Ursula at our Halloween on the High Seas cruise - she was twirling and dancing away while waiting in line with her family. I ran up to our room to grab an Ursula Tsum Tsum I had been saving as a pixie dust gift, and ran back down to give it to her (after asking her Mom, of course). Later in the week, I was able to give a little boy a magnet that matched his favorite character - Captain America! That is where the real fun comes in for me. I hope that your next cruise is the best, whether or not you decide to do a FE!
P.S. This is one of only a handful of posts I have made on DIS... I apologize if I went on too long or if I overused emojis.......

 

[Kennywood]

Fish extender gifts started out as the equivalent to Christmas stocking items. Now they've "evolved" into full-blown, under-the-tree, Christmas-gift-level items.

We dropped out of the exchanges as they became too expensive and too stressful.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I am sorry you didn't have as magical an experience as you had hoped. We did FE girfts on our first Disney cruise on the Fantasy last Sept. Well, I did most of the planning and work Our two DDs and DH did help deliver the gifts on the ship, though, and had fun with that.
I had purchased original Disney sketches (JPEGs) of many Disney characters from Etsy, printed and made magnets from them, and gave those along with Disney Tsum Tsum vinyl characters, some stickers, glow sticks, and pins to the people in each of the seven? cabins in our group - with some sample size laundry detergent/dryer sheets, and then a few extra goodies thrown in for a birthday boy of 21 who shared the exact same birthday as our daughter! We had just one infant in our group - I hadn't found anything suitable for him beforehand, so I bought a cute bib on St. Thomas for him. It is possible that some people in our group probably spent less than we did. I used a lot of ink, really, a lot, and also bought a laminator and extra supplies as I am not very crafty and had nothing on hand. I actually spent much more than planned, it just took on a life of its own, but the excitement of making them and of anticipating the enjoyment I hope they got from receiving the gifts was worth it. But we really didn't know what to expect as far as gifts, so we didn't feel disappointment. I really appreciated the gifts we received. some were handmade, some were specially made for us, and our daughter received a special birthday gift. And some were very useful as well. I truly felt that the people in our group took time and put thought into the gifts. I have to say, though, for simplicity and to save some money as well, for our next cruise this fall, we plan to do only pixie dust gifts. We will hang the same FE as last year, and if we receive pixie dust, great, if not, we all will have a ball leaving pixie dust in others' FEs - and in person when it works out. One of our my biggest joys was seeing a little girl dressed as Ursula at our Halloween on the High Seas cruise - she was twirling and dancing away while waiting in line with her family. I ran up to our room to grab an Ursula Tsum Tsum I had been saving as a pixie dust gift, and ran back down to give it to her (after asking her Mom, of course). Later in the week, I was able to give a little boy a magnet that matched his favorite character - Captain America! That is where the real fun comes in for me. I hope that your next cruise is the best, whether or not you decide to do a FE!
P.S. This is one of only a handful of posts I have made on DIS... I apologize if I went on too long or if I overused emojis.......

Not at all. But, in the future, you might take note of when the post you're quoting was posted. In this case, 2015. I rather imagine the Original Poster got enough responses regarding her disappointment.

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

We did the FE on our last cruise. I was so excited to do it being our first Disney cruise. I planned, made and picked everything for each person according to there favourite colours and characters.

Then when we received all of our gifts I was very surprised and disappointed after all the hype and work I put into ours. We mostly received just candy. None of the character stuff was the right characters.

I was just wondering if more people have the experience we had or if the FE was everything they thought it would be? Not posting to complain but booked our second cruise and not sure if I should give it another try? Maybe ours was just a fluke?

I too put a lot of effort into mine. We have a Disney outlet and I bought things on clearance. But they were super cool things like notebooks and figurines. Come time for the FE, I put things at peoples doors and half of it was stolen. I was so mad. Those poor kids didn’t get enjoy the items we bought them.

 

[mcd2745]

Fish extender gifts started out as the equivalent to Christmas stocking items. Now they've "evolved" into full-blown, under-the-tree, Christmas-gift-level items.

That's a great analogy.