I see a number of you have questions about Fish Extenders. Maybe this will help get things going:
WHAT IS A FISH EXTENDER? (FE)
Outside your room onboard is a message holder, in most cases it's shaped like a fish:
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The fish is there for Disney to place important communications to you such as excursion tickets and notes from the Cruise staff. It is like a mailbox for your room. A Fish Extender (FE) it is something that you hang off the fish. By hanging the Fish Extender off of the fish, the Cast Members can still use it for its original purpose.
THIS IS NOT A ONE ON ONE EXCHANGE, YOU ARE PART OF A GROUP. All the people in the exchange buy or make little items and place them in each other's fish extenders. It is great fun to come back and check the items you have received.
Once a cruise meet thread is up and running, someone in the group will (should?) step up and say "I'll maintain the Fish Extender exchange list". That person is the center point for all those who want to participate in the exchange. The list can be as simple as DISnames/room number/number of guests or as involved as full names/room number/ages of guests/like & dislikes/allergies/favorite characters/whatever is deemed necessary to know assemble the gifts.
Then each room on the FE list (note this will not be everyone on the Cruise Meet thread for your specific cruise), makes a Fish Extender holder. This is basically an organizer-type hanging bag with separate pockets for each person in the room:
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The most common Fish Extenders are ones that have a pocket for each person in that stateroom. Some are very fancy, some are very plain. Some are store bought, some are homemade. Search "Disney fish extender" and you will get options that range in price. You should make sure your Fish Extender is between 8" & 12"" wide. Otherwise it starts to get in the way of your stateroom door. It should not exceed 5 feet; otherwise it will hit the floor. If you are creating your own it is suggested you make the pockets a little deeper than normal too. It will keep items from falling out and keep curious hands from reaching in (average depth is 5-6 inches)but 8-11 is a better way to go if you are making it yourself
They also make up gifts (either individual gifts or room gifts - whatever is decided by your group) to be delivered during the cruise).
One note about the gifts, some groups set up specific delivery dates, and specify "each person gets a gift" or "only one gift per room" or (even) maximum/minimum price ranges for gifts. Other groups just say "whatever", so people can choose what/how many gifts to give. Some give individual gifts, others only one gift per room, while others might do one for the adults and separate gifts for kids. Or only gift the kids.
HOW MANY CABINS WILL BE IN MY FE GROUP and WHO PARTICIPATES???
That depends on your cruise meet group. They range in average from 10-15 sometimes even 25 and up. Most do the smaller groups with the option to join more than one. It makes it more manageable.
This is typically a whole cabin event. You usually may not just sign up the kids. There are some cruise meet groups that have Adult Only groups. But not Kids only.
If you are signing up more than one cabin to participate, you should not combine them. It’s not fair for people to make items for 2 cabins and receive from 1 of them. They should be counted as 2 separate cabins.
DO I HAVE TO BUY FOR EVERYONE? DO I NEED TO GIVE PER CABIN?
Sort of…You have to do something for EVERY CABIN PARTICIPATING, You choose whether its adult gifts or kids gifts or cabin gifts or a combination.
YOU CAN NOT LEAVE A CABIN OUT IF THEY HAVE SIGNED UP. At the very least, 1 cabin gift, per cabin. Some do a cabin gift, and then do a few items for the kids. Some do individual for each member of the cabin. Some people are crafty and make gifts, and some are store bought. Some gifts are to be used on board and some are to be used at home.
WHEN LEAVING A GIFT, DO WE IDENTIFY WHO IT IS FROM?
Some people do put some kind of to/from tag on their items. Most want to know who it came from. Some do it because they don't want people to think they got shorted a gift or assumed theft of an item. Others go with the original intent and deliver anonymous gifts.
ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO KNOW?
- It has been pointed out that some TAs are giving wrong info. They are saying you can hang a FE holder outside your door and expect gifts.
- Cast members are not walking around like Tinkerbelle handing out gifts.
- You cannot just show up on a cruise with gifts to randomly pass out (well you could but that would be “pixie dusting” not participating in a FE).
- You have to find your Cruise Meet group and join a FE group to know how many people are participating, how large your group will be and all other info.
- This is a voluntary program and is not sanctioned by Disney.
Now that you have a Cruise Meet thread started, and some people who have expressed an interest in participating in a Fish Extender exchange, it's up to one of you to be the contact point.
And the most important:
SETTING UP A FE GROUP
It appears there are a number of you who are interested in a Fish Extender group. There isn’t one currently set up here on DISBoards. Here’s a little write up on how FE groups are set up:
There really are no “rules” as to how a FE program runs. Basically someone maintains the list of those who wish to participate. The group can decide on what information is necessary to produce FE gifts. A basic list may only have DISname/room number/number of people in the room. A more involved list could be first & last names/ages/room number/ favorite character/ favorite color/allergies/whatever is deemed necessary to know in order to create the gifts. Also a decision can be made as to size of FE group. Some groups break out the list(s) at 10-15 rooms max, so that there are multiple lists (and some people will participate in more than one list). Other groups just make one big list (upwards of 20-30 rooms).
The easiest, most private way to handle the information necessary to prepare the list (many people prefer not to put sensitive information on a public forum), is to use the “Conversation” feature here. There needs to be at least two people to start a conversation. Only the starter of the conversation (usually the organizer) can add additional people into the conversation (as long as they do NOT select “Allow anyone in the conversation to invite others” at the bottom of the reply window). Then when new people express a desire to join, usually by just saying “we want to join the FE”, the organizer can add them by clicking on the “Invite more” button in the “Conversation Participants” window (lower right of conversation page). Only those people participating in the conversation can see what’s posted there, and respond there. I will also note, to participate in conversations, everyone needs to have at least 10 posts. For those who wish to use this option for private conversations that don’t have 10 posts yet, head over to the Test Board to post and up your post count.
http://www.disboards.com/forums/test-board.88/
Up to 20 people can participate in any given conversation.
At some point the list will “close”. Typically this happens 30-45 days out from the cruise, so that everyone participating has time to organize/prepare their gifts. Shortly before this time (about 2-3 weeks prior) the organizer will post the list, either directly on the Cruise Meet thread, OR via private conversation, or, possibility, via e-mails. This is to confirm everyone on the list is still participating. It’s important to make a statement about “
anyone not confirming by XX date will be dropped” at this time. A little harsh, yes, but often there are people who will post on the cruise meet thread as soon as they reserve the cruise and say “I want to participate”, and are never heard from again.
Once the list closes, the organizer will post the final list. Also, a decision must be made as to whether to allow late additions. Sometimes there is a “pixie dust” list. That is, basically, a latecomers list that gets posted about a week out from the cruise that others may or may not add to their “final” list. Be sure the “pixie dust” list participants realize they may or may not get gifts from others, but are expected to provide gifts for the other FE participants anyway.
The other “biggie” is no other social media sites are allowed to be linked or search directions posted as to how to find that other site here on DISboards. Please read this: http://www.disboards.com/threads/im...uise-meet-and-fish-extender-programs.3353477/
As it seems there are a few here on your cruise meet thread who would be interested in doing this, who’s going to step up and volunteer to maintain the list?
Sorry for the long response to your small question
BTW - May 3rd is my 50th and May 6th is Kathy's 49th 
