GPaLarry
Have earned one ear!
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2016
- Messages
- 1,144
After 8 DCL cruises, 7 of which I made door decorations for the two of us and, often, doors of others in our family, here are a few thoughts:
1. I have never had any door decorations walk away. Perhaps it depends on where your stateroom is located (we prefer forward, often with few rooms beyond ours). I change the decorations every day with what I think are fun photos with captions about our situation, be it in port or at sea. My humor might be limited to just me, thus no thefts. Ha! I have not done it, but some recommend putting your family name in the corner of each decoration so that they are useless to another family unless they have the same name.
2. Photos of family I never use. During our recent cruise to Alaska I created totem poles for four doors. I asked all 11 family members what their favorite Disney or non-Disney person/animal/character was months before the trip. In addition to finding a picture of each I also found one for their alter ego (i.e. for me I selected the grandpa from UP with Rafiki from Lion King). I printed then cut out each face and put them on the totem poles. For some reason there were very few door decorations or FEs on this cruise, so the family members found these creations helpful in finding their doors in a hurry...lots of potty stops.
3. I brought scissors and extra magnetic strips (my decorations are paper with strips on the back, not fully covered) for reinforcement of said door signs. Also, if you have a verandah with the door open and someone comes in the stateroom door, prepare to collect your door stuff off the hall floor. In addition, because the doors have various indentations, the placement of the magnets you put on at home might not match what is needed on the real door.
4. I spend hours looking through internet pictures of Disney and animal pictures to find figures/critters that are fun but not offensive and would appeal to every age. For the Alaska adventure I also prepared three quizzes for our five grandkids. One was a factual one on the Iditarod Dog Race. Another had 20 pictures of funny looking dogs and the kids were asked to put together their ideal dog team. The last had 20 Photoshoped pictures of two animals spliced into one that I suggested might be found in Alaska...none were, surprisingly. I also had a series of "Knock once if...Knock twice if..." signs for our interior connector doors, when available. Point being that there are a lot of fun things you can do for any cruise to entertain (maybe just yourself) your party and others that might see your work. Some do Fish Extenders, not my thing, but it, too, is what makes planning for a DCL cruise so much fun.
1. I have never had any door decorations walk away. Perhaps it depends on where your stateroom is located (we prefer forward, often with few rooms beyond ours). I change the decorations every day with what I think are fun photos with captions about our situation, be it in port or at sea. My humor might be limited to just me, thus no thefts. Ha! I have not done it, but some recommend putting your family name in the corner of each decoration so that they are useless to another family unless they have the same name.
2. Photos of family I never use. During our recent cruise to Alaska I created totem poles for four doors. I asked all 11 family members what their favorite Disney or non-Disney person/animal/character was months before the trip. In addition to finding a picture of each I also found one for their alter ego (i.e. for me I selected the grandpa from UP with Rafiki from Lion King). I printed then cut out each face and put them on the totem poles. For some reason there were very few door decorations or FEs on this cruise, so the family members found these creations helpful in finding their doors in a hurry...lots of potty stops.
3. I brought scissors and extra magnetic strips (my decorations are paper with strips on the back, not fully covered) for reinforcement of said door signs. Also, if you have a verandah with the door open and someone comes in the stateroom door, prepare to collect your door stuff off the hall floor. In addition, because the doors have various indentations, the placement of the magnets you put on at home might not match what is needed on the real door.
4. I spend hours looking through internet pictures of Disney and animal pictures to find figures/critters that are fun but not offensive and would appeal to every age. For the Alaska adventure I also prepared three quizzes for our five grandkids. One was a factual one on the Iditarod Dog Race. Another had 20 pictures of funny looking dogs and the kids were asked to put together their ideal dog team. The last had 20 Photoshoped pictures of two animals spliced into one that I suggested might be found in Alaska...none were, surprisingly. I also had a series of "Knock once if...Knock twice if..." signs for our interior connector doors, when available. Point being that there are a lot of fun things you can do for any cruise to entertain (maybe just yourself) your party and others that might see your work. Some do Fish Extenders, not my thing, but it, too, is what makes planning for a DCL cruise so much fun.
. Since he was 10, my nephew has been our guide on both the ship and in all the parks. We never need a map with him around. It's incredible how quickly kids can learn when they have an incentive, in his case getting to all his favorite rides.
