WONDER 11/19/14 4-Night Bahamian Cruise

[hysch]

Have you joined our FB page? 83 more sleeps!!!

My wife has.

 

[awg]

First time Disney cruisers interested in a fish exchange. Kids can't wait!

 

[argomANIA]

Fe group is now closed!!!

 

[Frebellabarnk]

Could you give me the facebook page? I noticed this group is closed, I am new to this DISboard. Just looking for tips this is our first cruise. Thank you for your help.

 

[argomANIA]

Could you give me the facebook page? I noticed this group is closed, I am new to this DISboard. Just looking for tips this is our first cruise. Thank you for your help.

DISboards have since banned Facebook links so I'm not sure if this will be allowed. Please let me know if you can't find it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3534...ref=ts&fref=ts

 

[MissChris]

Hey there everyone!

So I see the FE group is closed and I'm feeling concerned because somehow I wasn't getting the thread updates in my email and I missed the whole thing about joining the fb page. I did post earlier, back when we first made our reservations, that we wanted to participate, but like I said, we missed the updates about facebook and haven't joined the group. I'm going to try to join now and I'm hoping its not too late.

I'm very excited for this cruise!

 

[MissChris]

I just tried to find the facebook group, and like others before me I can't seem to find it.

eek Help!

 

[MissChris]

Hey folks,

So the first Fish Extender group has reached their maximum number of participants, so we decided we'd open up a second group for "slowpokes and procrastinators" .

Those of us who were a bit slow on the uptake (including us, for sure) are hereby invited to sign on up. To give some hope that we'll have time to finish our gifts before sailing I think we'll set a closing date of October 15. At that point we'll try to get a final list.

If you're interested please PM me with:

Stateroom number
real Name
number of travelers in your party, be sure to tell us how many kids, whether they are boys or girls and what ages so we can give appropriate goodies.

See you in just a couple of months!

 

[hubbard53]

Just booked this cruise for a quick get-away!

Me, wife, and 4 yr old boy...

this will be our 3rd disney cruise but first time on the Wonder. Really looking forward to it!

 

[argomANIA]

Just booked this cruise for a quick get-away!

Me, wife, and 4 yr old boy...

this will be our 3rd disney cruise but first time on the Wonder. Really looking forward to it!

Welcome! This is also my third cruise and first time on the Wonder

If you'd like to join the FE Gift Exchange please send MissChris a private message

 

[Canada74]

Hello! My family will be on this cruise as well. Will someone please tell me what fish exchanging is? Obviously this is our first Disney cruise.
Thanks!!

 

[Rolly40thBday]

hi everyone this is our first cruise ever and we heard about the fish extender and my two girls are very exited!! one is 3 years and the other one is 12...I dont know much about it? can you guys help me with instructions of how we could register and play? thanks Desiree

 

[Rolly40thBday]

hi Im trying to PM you MissChris with our details but I cant!! we want to participate with the FE game we have 2 girls one 3 and the other one 12 thanks

 

[vandort]

I would like to join your Facebook page. However, the link doesn't work for me and I can't find this group when I use the search tool. Will someone please help me? I would sincerely appreciate it!

 

[argomANIA]

Hello! My family will be on this cruise as well. Will someone please tell me what fish exchanging is? Obviously this is our first Disney cruise.
Thanks!!

A Fish Extender exchange is like a "secret Santa" type thing. A bunch of cabins sign up and leave gifts for each other. Our main group is now full, but MissChris is organizing a second group if you would like to participate. To send her a private message you need at least 8 post though I believe. So, just make a couple more posts here till you're able to send private messages.

hi everyone this is our first cruise ever and we heard about the fish extender and my two girls are very exited!! one is 3 years and the other one is 12...I dont know much about it? can you guys help me with instructions of how we could register and play? thanks Desiree

Please send MissChris a private message to sign up. Again, I believe you need at least 8 posts here before this site allows you to PM.

I would like to join your Facebook page. However, the link doesn't work for me and I can't find this group when I use the search tool. Will someone please help me? I would sincerely appreciate it!

We've closed the group because the original group is now full. But MissChris is starting a second one. Please send her a PM with your details.

 

[argomANIA]

All You Need to Know About Fish Extender Exchange


WHAT IS A FISH EXTENDER? (FE)
Every stateroom has a fish of some kind hanging on the wall outside the door. This is part decoration and part message center. 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. 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.
*It has been brought to our attention that some TA's are giving wrong info. You cannot just show up on a cruise with gifts to randomly pass out (well you could but that would be more like Pixie dusting than FE) YOU HAVE TO FIND YOUR CRUISE PAGE AND JOIN A GROUP TO KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PARTICPATING, HOW LARGE YOUR GROUP WILL BE AND ALL OTHER INFO!

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? WHERE CAN I GET ONE?
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 and many are bought on eBay or Etsy.com. search on "Disney fishextender" and you will get options that range in price. IKEA also has a 4 pocket holder for about $5.00 you can personalize yourself

SIZE DOES MATTER!
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 can be about 5-6 feet long. Longer than that 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)

WHY DO I KEEP HEARING ABOUT FISH EXTENDERS? (FE’S)
Many of the DisGroups arrange the Fish Extender Exchanges. You can usually find them one the Disboards.com. Everyone that would like to participate will sign up by a deadline. Normally the deadline will be about 6-8 weeks before you sail. This allows everyone ample time to pre-buy/make what they want to exchange, even if you are adding a stop to Walt Disney World before we sail.

ARE THERE ANY RULES REGARDING WHAT I HAVE TO GIVE OR HOW MUCH TO SPEND?
There are really no strict rules regarding gifts (no minimum or maximum dollar value). Gifts can be homemade or store-bought, Disney, non-Disney, totally up to you!
It is suggested that an FE is given to each child and a FE for the cabin. However, You can either give one gift to each cabin or a gift to each person in the cabin. Or kids gifts or Adult gifts…or something for everyone! It is the thought that counts.
If you are signing up more than one cabin to participate, you should not combine them.. its not fair for people to make items for 2 cabins and receive from 1 of them. They should be counted as 2 separate cabins

WHAT DO WE EXCHANGE?
Some people get very crafty and make items, some are store bough. Again , no set rules.
Magnets, Anything Pirate, Anything Disney, Anything with our cruise sailing dates on it (pencils, pens, candy . . . ) (there is a file: Fe ideas for all, Check it out)
It isn't about how much you spend; it is about the fun in exchanging and seeing what you get! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DISNEY THEMED.

DO I HAVE TO BUY FOR EVERYONE?
Sort of. You have to do something for EVERY CABIN PARTICIPATING, Some do a cabin gift, and separate adult gifts too, and then do a few items for the kids. Some just give the kids and a cabin gift. Some people are crafty and make gifts, and some are store bought. Its across the board. Some gifts are to be used on board and some are to be used at home. Again.. up to you.

DO I NEED TO GIVE PER CABIN?
YES! you have to give every cabin that’s 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, a cabin gift, per cabin. (Refer to last question). It’s up to you whether or not to give every day. Most give once during the cruise. And most split up delivery. Front of the ship one morning, back later that day and mid –ship the next.

DO WE PUT GIFTS IN EVERY DAY OF THE CRUISE?
That's up to you. Some do one gift, some do multiple gifts. Some do multiple gifts for the kids and one cabin gift and also adult gifts. Some do all one night, some do it over a few nights and multiple times. You can break up delivery by floors, and rooms then figure out who is on which end of the ship and work from top floor down the stairs to drop gifts.

WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP? HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?
Once a Cruise Meet thread has been started for a cruise, (usually on DISBOARD.COM) someone steps up to handle the exchange. Once it’s determined that there are enough people interested in participating in it, someone will (or should) volunteer to organize it.
The FE organizer will maintain the FE list. Everyone will get a list of who is participating, this list usually will have participant’s names and room numbers. Other bits of information that can be included would be ages, genders, any allergies, favorite Disney characters, or any other item of interest to the other participants.
The organizer will make the "rules/guidelines" for participation. These rules/guidelines may (or may not) include how many gifts, whether one gift per room or one gift per person or whatever anyone wants to do; whether there will be set delivery days or just deliver whenever; maximum price of gifts. It's also possible for a FE group to get quite large (especially on longer cruises). Sometimes the FE group will decide on a maximum number of rooms in a FE group. For example a cruise that has 80 rooms wishing to participate may decide to break up into smaller groups of 15-20 rooms, adding additional groups as necessary. People can sign up to be in all the groups or just one or two, depending on how much they want to participate.
Generally there is a cut-off date for signing up. This usually is about 4-6 weeks from the cruise timeframe, in order to allow everyone participating to have time to purchase/make/finalize their gifts.

MY GIFTS ARE TO BIG TO FIT IN THE POCKET, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT?
1. You can lean it against the door
2. You can hang on door knob
3. You can leave it at guest services, marked for each stateroom and then notify each stateroom to go pick up.
4. You could try to ask the stateroom host out in the hallway to place it inside the cabin.
5. You can just hang it on the "fish.

WHO CAN JOIN?
Anyone and everyone! Even if your stateroom is 2 adults, you can join and have just as much fun! The only rule I would say is to HAVE FUN!! if it's not about the gift it's about the thoughtfulness behind it.

I’M IN A CONCIERGE SUITE, OR SOMEONE IN MY fe GROUP IS. WOULD THERE BE A PROBLEM BEING PART OF THE FE?
No, there are fish message holders outside all rooms on board.

WHEN LEAVING A GIFT, DO WE IDENTIFY WHO IT IS FROM?
This is totally optional. We have gotten them both identified and unidentified. I personally prefer to know who it is from but each person can decide for themselves.

WILL I HAVE TO WALK ALL OVER THE SHIP?
It depends. Sometimes If the group gets to be too large it gets split . If you end up being one big group, I suggest you break up your items by stateroom number before leaving home. Use large ziploc baggies - the empties can be used for so many other things - maybe even bringing your FE items home!

****ITS BEST TO DELIVER DURING HIGH TRAFFIC TIMES
Like breakfast or dinner. It’s suggested not in the middle of the night, when no one is around. or when people are off the ship. ***

DO PEOPLE CARRY ALL THEIR GIFTS IN THEIR SUITCASES?
Most do, however, you can ship your items down. They must arrive by the day before you sail and contain no food items (they will get snagged by the dogs and get held up). Make sure you packaged addressed exactly how your name is in your reservation and it will be in your stateroom when you get there (even before your luggage!). Below is more info on shipping items.

I HAVE TO DROP OUT.. HOW DO I DO THAT.
Its very important that if you have to drop out for any reason you notify the person running your FE. (They can usually be found on the cruise page you signed up on) NOT ON THE DISNEY FE PAGE.
Its important so that others who are participating don’t count you in, when you wont be there. Everyone’s time is valuable. Its courteous to let someone know

I’M CURIOUS, HOW DID THIS FISH EXTENDER IDEA GET STARTED?
The idea was the brainstorm of DisBoard member EpcotKilterFan (Debbie). For the first Magical Sailing through the Panama Canal back in 2005. Debbie thought it would be a fun way for Disboard members to exchange gifts. Apparently a lot of people agreed with her!

ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO KNOW?
Yes, this is your vacation! You do not have to feel obligated to join anything you don't really want to do!

However, if you decide you do not want to participate, please let the organizer know. People put a lot of time and effort into FE gifts, and are expecting something in return. Its not fair to the group if you bow out without letting anyone know

 

[grage]

Hello! I have never used DIS for messages, I have never posted so I am not able to send you my email.?? We just booked this cruise today and would LOVE to be part of this FE group. We are two adults, girl 10 boy 7.

Thank you!!!




QUOTE=MissChris;52262429]Hey folks,

So the first Fish Extender group has reached their maximum number of participants, so we decided we'd open up a second group for "slowpokes and procrastinators" .

Those of us who were a bit slow on the uptake (including us, for sure) are hereby invited to sign on up. To give some hope that we'll have time to finish our gifts before sailing I think we'll set a closing date of October 15. At that point we'll try to get a final list.

If you're interested please PM me with:

Stateroom number
real Name
number of travelers in your party, be sure to tell us how many kids, whether they are boys or girls and what ages so we can give appropriate goodies.

See you in just a couple of months![/QUOTE]

 

[Schafffamily]

We just booked on Monday night, so we messaged Miss Chris about joining the FE list as well! It sounds like we might have enough late comers to make up a decent sized FE group! =)

Hello! I have never used DIS for messages, I have never posted so I am not able to send you my email.?? We just booked this cruise today and would LOVE to be part of this FE group. We are two adults, girl 10 boy 7.

Thank you!!!




QUOTE=MissChris;52262429]Hey folks,

So the first Fish Extender group has reached their maximum number of participants, so we decided we'd open up a second group for "slowpokes and procrastinators" .

Those of us who were a bit slow on the uptake (including us, for sure) are hereby invited to sign on up. To give some hope that we'll have time to finish our gifts before sailing I think we'll set a closing date of October 15. At that point we'll try to get a final list.

If you're interested please PM me with:

Stateroom number
real Name
number of travelers in your party, be sure to tell us how many kids, whether they are boys or girls and what ages so we can give appropriate goodies.

See you in just a couple of months!

[/QUOTE]

 

[MissChris]

Hey there everyone!

Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days. We're homeschoolers and the beginning of the academic year is a hectic time for us. Things are settling down a bit and we're ready to get organized and get crafting!

Thanks so much to ArgoMANIA for doing so much to keep everyone updated and informed.

I've PM'ed
Rolly40thBday
Grage
Schafffamily
Frebellabarnk

with contact info. If I've missed you, please post a message to this list so I can contact you.

I'm going to contact Ania on FB today so I can be added to that group as well and better keep track of everyone who is interested. I do want to do our primary organization of the FE group here on the Disboards because I think it's more open and easily accessible. So while I'll be on the FB group as well please be sure to check back here for updates as we continue along.

One detail I forgot to add in my original request for information:

In addition to:
Real name and Disname
Room number
Number in party
ages and genders of any children

Please also include an email address where I can send you the completed list of participants once we're ready to send that out.

Just a reminder, we plan to close the list on October 15, to give everyone time to compile their gifts before sailing, so if you are considering joining please be sure to sign up before that date.

We had such a good time with the FE last time we cruised, it was such fun to find little treats waiting for us when we got back to our cabin, the kids loved it and it made us feel like we had friends on board. If you're on the fence about it I encourage you to give it a try. The gifts don't need to be elaborate or expensive, although many of our fellow cruisers were amazingly creative and crafty last time.

Looking forward to it!
Chris

 

[Riley Family 1984]

Hello, yep I am a procrastinator, but we would love to do the FE...this is our first cruise and we are sooo excited. I sent a request to be added on the FB page as well. Thanks!!