What will happen with FEs?

[wideeyedwonder]

That is a dangerous risk to have people depend on magnets on a door to find their room.

I think that the previous posters were saying that it *helped* their kids find their room (quickly?), and not “it’s the only way my kids knew where our cabin was”.

 

[OpieDoodle]

That is a dangerous risk to have people depend on magnets on a door to find their room. There are multiple tales of magnets being moved to other doors or flat-out stolen. Much better to teach people - even kids who are old enough to roam alone (and if they are not old enough then it shouldn’t matter as they will be with someone) - the room number.

I think most adults know where their door is. It was mighty fun watching my 2 and 4 year old last cruise walking down the hallway on our way "home" every night saying "found it here's coco" (we had our door decorated in Coco). I knew where my room was, my husband knew where the room was, and even my 6 year old knew. Heck, I still know my room number from the cruise

It was just a fun thing to make the trip extra special for them and other kids that also walked around admiring the door decorations. We also had a little pin board so every day multiple times a day they'd go running to the door to look at the magnets and see any new pins people left.

 

[HiStitch626]

It looks so small, the carriage. I thought it was a name tag or something.

I wonder if they will all be the same or if there will be different designs for port and starboard like on the other ships.

 

[Cheburashka]

I left off decorating my door when I graduated from college.

Not us...it’s been a while since I graduated college, and “the wife” went through 24 years of education if you count medical school and residency, and we *still* put personalized magnets on our doors and participate in fish extender exchanges...even when we don’t bring the “kids” who are now 19, 19, and 22.

But of course, we are weird, and celebrate Halloween full force, and go all out with Christmas lights on our house, so you know, different strokes and live and let live.

Nothing weird about having a lighthearted sense of fun even as an adult.

It's a bit strange for an adult who chooses to cruise Disney solo to try to shame others for lack of maturity. There's nothing wrong with adult solo Disney cruising, but we all know that plenty of non-Disney vacationers look down their noses on adults who choose to vacation with the mouse, criticizing them for being immature.

 

[Dug720]

Nothing weird about having a lighthearted sense of fun even as an adult.

It's a bit strange for an adult who chooses to cruise Disney solo to try to shame others for lack of maturity. There's nothing wrong with adult solo Disney cruising, but we all know that plenty of non-Disney vacationers look down their noses on adults who choose to vacation with the mouse, criticizing them for being immature.

I wasn’t shaming anyone. Just saying I don’t get it. To me it destroys the classic look of the ships. Even with lots of kids, the ship design is not dumbed down - it is classy. Flashing lights and doors where you cannot even see the physical door detract from that. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wishing the halls could be kept as classy as the ship designers intended.

 

[OpieDoodle]

I wasn’t shaming anyone. Just saying I don’t get it. To me it destroys the classic look of the ships. Even with lots of kids, the ship design is not dumbed down - it is classy. Flashing lights and doors where you cannot even see the physical door detract from that. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wishing the halls could be kept as classy as the ship designers intended.

I think the whole point of a "disney" cruise distracts from the "classic" look of the ship. Hidden mickeys all over the ship, disney decor, disney dinning, disney related excursions, on the Dream there is a whole faux room for a muppet with a DECORATED door (done by the cruise designers), so I think the expectation is to see more disney than the classic look of a cruise ship.

Disney's claim to fame is the family atmosphere and the extra "magic". So its not surprising there is lots of extra magic on board! From passengers and crew! If you don't like it no worries, no one is twisting your arm to decorate your door. Anyone who wants to is always welcome to join in the fun

 

[MomOTwins]

We’ve had numerous compliments on our door and people who pixie dusted us magnets and FE gifts with notes saying they liked our door decor (we did a big castle around the porthole with tinkerbell and peter pan magnets around). It’s fun! The people who get it are my kind of people. For people who aren’t into it, it’s not as though the narrow hallway on a cruise ship is something you are going to stop and sit and watch—you just walk on by.

I do hope FEs come back. Making and wrapping gifts was something that helped make the waiting not so hard for the cruise. Plus, I still have a ton of gifts stuck in my Disney drawer from our cancelled cruise in May 2020 that I need to unload!

 

[yorkieteacher]

Oh. please! I will probably regret saying this, but everyone-you do you! I love magnets on our door, you think I'm tacky, well I think you're stuffy, lol! YOU DO YOU! I don't go into any other people's staterooms that much, but how much they decorate inside is totally up to them. I don't decorate other people's house either! Or my own to suit anyone but me! I did a "private" fish extender our last cruise for my grandson where we secretly put in "prizes from Mickey" ourselves. Some here may even discourage Santa, for goodness sake, you do you! I posted on the DCL FB group that surely these private ones will be allowed on our upcoming cruise but got many opinions saying I was trying to circumvent Disney rules, which I am not! I will hang it inside and do as before! Of course you are entitled to your own opinion but it's just your opinion and others have ones that differ. We're in a group of adults dedicated to all things Disney! Some folks have the opinion that makes us all a little crazy!

 

[wideeyedwonder]

I did a "private" fish extender our last cruise for my grandson where we secretly put in "prizes from Mickey" ourselves...
I posted on the DCL FB group that surely these private ones will be allowed on our upcoming cruise but got many opinions saying I was trying to circumvent Disney rules

That's interesting that you got that reaction...isn't that basically buying gifts for members of your own stateroom(s), and just not telling them who they are from? That sounds like a splendid idea, especially if "public" FEs (which were invented by a DISBoards member if I remember correctly) are prohibited for a while.

 

[yorkieteacher]

That's interesting that you got that reaction...isn't that basically buying gifts for members of your own stateroom(s), and just not telling them who they are from? That sounds like a splendid idea, especially if "public" FEs (which were invented by a DISBoards member if I remember correctly) are prohibited for a while.

I thought so too, but they pointed out rules should apply to everyone, no means no, Disney wouldn't know it was just family members, they aren't sanitary as others could touch them, ad nauseum! Not everyone, of course, just the usual number of responders who like to disagree on public forums! We are just going to hang it inside the room.

 

[Weedy]

Just like Disney now limiting the amount of alcohol people can bring onboard people went to the extreme and Disney now limits it.
When a few people go to the extreme it ruins it for everyone.
Yes we decorated our door. We framed pictures from our previous cruises and put the date on them. It was fun to see how much the kids grew from year to year. We always got fun comments from people walking past our cabin.

 

[TestingH2O]

I posted on the DCL FB group that surely these private ones will be allowed on our upcoming cruise but got many opinions saying I was trying to circumvent Disney rules, which I am not! I will hang it inside and do as before!

When I read the regulations it seemed to emphasize the gathering in hallways more than the gifting. I cannot imagine that having your hanger on this inside would cause anyone to bat an eye. I do wonder about if the hanger would be removed if it was on the outside though.

That sounds like a splendid idea, especially if "public" FEs (which were invented by a DISBoards member if I remember correctly) are prohibited for a while.

I very much like this idea. I’ve always done small FE type surprises for everyone in my family and, as DD gets older, we’ve moved to just doing kids exchanges. I would not be surprised if we decided to move to just personal little swaps moving forward.

 

[HiStitch626]

(which were invented by a DISBoards member if I remember correctly)

Here is a little background. I think the spirit behind them has changed for some because FEs have migrated away from the DIS to Facebook. You read now about people spending so much money and then people complaining about the gifts they get. I don’t think any of that happened in the early years.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-history-of-fish-extender-exchanges.3805059/

 

[nmoody1]

I never got the fish extender thing personally - but don't have a problem with it happening. U personally wouldn't want to take up my luggage space to the cruise with gifts... and potentially have more gifts that I don't want/need to bring home. But that's my personal stance.

I can see why disney would maybe want to phase it out.... hoping people buy thier own kids gifts in the shops onboard instead

 

[PrincessShmoo]

DCL is not permitting them on the UK Staycations this summer. Might this be a policy that continues?

Hanging Gift Bags on Stateroom Doors
In an effort to minimize traffic in common areas, door-to-door gift exchanges (via “fish extenders”) among Guests are not permitted.

Boo....

 

[Dug720]

Here is a little background. I think the spirit behind them has changed for some because FEs have migrated away from the DIS to Facebook. You read now about people spending so much money and then people complaining about the gifts they get. I don’t think any of that happened in the early years.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-history-of-fish-extender-exchanges.3805059/

Yes, I remember a discussion on here where people were talking about the whole gift thing and there was someone who admitted to having a spreadsheet of everyone in her group and what they gave, and she only gave her stuff at the end to those she deemed worthy based on what she had received. I don't do them, but that is NOT what I thought they were supposed to be about.

 

[squirk]

Fish Extenders are not for me, but I don't begrudge anyone else having a good time participating in these exchanges.

That said, I have a hard time seeing how the activity caused by FE exchanges makes a measurable difference in hallway foot traffic.

I can see DCL implementing this policy short-term for these UK staycations out of an abundance of caution, but once all the ships are rocking and rolling again? If the policy stays in place after that, then "reducing foot traffic" is just a pretext for DCL wanting to get rid of the exchanges altogether.

 

[HiStitch626]

DCL wanting to get rid of the exchanges altogether.

I can understand this. We overheard a guest on one cruise complaining that they thought other guests had stolen their door magnets and FE gifts. I am not sure what Disney can do in this situation as neither of the activities (with the exception of the DVC welcome home magnets) is coordinated by them. If it has become troublesome to them, FEs may go the way of dropping off items to be signed.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I enjoyed the participation and the unique items. But I do pad the FEs with Disney mugs and adult Disney items in my family’s FE’s.
I walk into the bathroom with my change of clothes and my hidden family FE items, then with my back to them say I’m going to check the FE when I get out of the bathroom. I open the cabin door with all those items in my arms turn around and say “Wow! Look what we got today!” They were 20, 76 and 76. I don’t know how I kept getting away with that, but I did. Sadly, they got really bummed when the last mug broke a few months ago.
Guess what I already bought and will be on the August cruise if FE’s are available. (I always have extra room for souvenirs on the way home. Weird right? LOL)

 

[Cheburashka]

That said, I have a hard time seeing how the activity caused by FE exchanges makes a measurable difference in hallway foot traffic.

Right. It doesn't. Only a small percentage of cabins participate, and in those exchanges, it's typical to just drop off one item to each cabin in your exchange group (and exchanges average to around 10 cabins per FE group) - that's not much extra walking around in the context of an entire cruise. When we've participated, we've taken our bag of items and dropped them all off in much less than an hour. It's not much more walking around than you do for other activities onboard such as dining, ship entertainment, etc. Definitely less walking around than when completing the Midship Detective Agency Game (hope they won't ban that). I've been on 6 Disney cruises in recent years and have never noticed hallways crowded by people doing FE's.

If it has become troublesome to them, FEs may go the way of dropping off items to be signed.

I think they're just looking for ways to streamline and simplify the early cruises. They'll have their hands full just trying to simultaneously satisfy customers and the CDC, and don't want to deal with anything "extra", just like a lot of "extra" has temporarily been removed from the WDW experience. But the initial reopening phase won't last forever. Unlike character-signed items, FE's cost DCL almost nothing in terms of time, money or staff, and is a great way for some guests to keep enthusiastic about current and future cruises. I don't think they're going away permanently.