What is a "Fish Extender"?

Ah, the magical world of Disney...

It's no secret that Walt Disney has managed to capture the hearts and minds of parents and children the world over and his influence has dominated the entertainment industry ever since the early twentieth century. There is something magical about the characters and stories that Disney has spawned that gives families the same feeling you get when you're waiting for Santa Claus. 

Millions of families every year pack up and head out for Disney vacations at Disney parks, resorts, and on Disney cruise ships.  Disney vacation enthusiasts like us often seek to extend that feeling of magic and build anticipation before our trips by turning to social Internet forums dedicated to discussing all things Disney such as www.disboards.com to communicate with other Disney vacation enthusiasts about our planned Disney vacations. 

And that's where our family found ourselves last fall when we were planning our most recent Disney Cruise on the Dream.  In anticipation for our cruise, we started lurking on the DISBOARDS where we found a thriving community of Disney fanatics planning and discussing their upcoming Disney vacations.  There were even topics for each individual future sailing of each Disney Cruise Line ship where members who were going to be on each specific sailing could get to know each other before their vacations. 

That's where we inevitably ran into topics about "Fish Extender Groups" for our sailing.  We found ourselves scratching our heads in bewilderment and asking "What's a fish extender?"
 

SO, what is a fish extender?

As if going on a Disney vacation wasn't magical enough, Disney cruisers have found a way to sprinkle more pixie dust on their vacations by using social media to organize themselves into gift exchange groups prior to their vacations. 

First, cruisers meet up on websites like DISBOARDS and find out who is going to be on the same cruise as they are. 

Next, everyone who is interested in participating in a group gift exchange signs up for the "Fish Extender Group".  This normally entails one cruiser stepping up as a group manager who maintains a roster of room numbers of cabins which are going to participate. 

Everyone who is participating then gets to work assembling small gifts to bring on the cruise with them to give out to other cruisers who are participating in the gift exchange.  The gifts are usually inexpensive, small and handmade.  They are almost always are Disney-flavored. 

Once you're cruising, you sneak around the ship throughout the duration of your cruise and drop off gifts at each of the other participating cabins in your fish extender group. 

So why do they call it a "fish extender" group?

You see, each cabin on a Disney Cruise Line ship has a decorative clamp outside each cabin that is shaped like a fish:

What better way to put those fish to work than to hang something from them?  That's where the fish "extender" part comes in.  Those participating in the gift exchange either make or buy a special pocket that they bring with them on the cruise and then hang (or extend) from their fish.  Picture those fabric shoe organizers that you hang on the back of a closet door and you pretty much have yourself a fish extender.  Here are our first two efforts at making our own:

 

	Our first fish extender pocket was Toy Story themed and featured Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head along with Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear themed Mickey Mouse ear patches.
Our second fish extender pocket was Disney Princess themed and featured Mickey ear patches designed to resemble Ariel, Belle, Rapunzel, and Snow White!

 

Your "fish extender" is what other cruisers leave their gifts for you in.  We decorated ours with embroidered designs shaped like Mickey Mouse ears but filled with patterns inspired by our favorite Disney characters that we designed.

 

Our fish extenders drew so many compliments and spontaneous picture takers that we decided to share our patch designs on our Etsy shop.  Check out our EMBROIDERY SECTION to see our current designs.  We currently offer Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Rapunzel, Belle, Woody, Buzz, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and Carl and Ellie from Up!  We add new designs frequently so check back periodically to see what we've cooked up.  

 

Fish Extenders are great fun!

 

Fish extender groups are a unique and inspired tradition amongst Disney vacation enthusiasts that add a whole new layer of fun to Disney vacations.  Our family was always very excited to return to our cabins to see what pixie dust other cruisers had sprinkled for us.  The gifts were very inspired and thoughtful and made our cruise very memorable. 

 

Check back soon for part two of this post where we'll discuss some Fish Extender gift ideas and give some tips on having a successful fish extender gift exchange.  We'll post photos of gifts we gave and received on our last trip.  We'll also share ideas for other inexpensive and fun Disney-flavor FE gifts.

 

In the meantime, check out our shop at http://myhoard.etsy.com for several gifts that are perfect to give as FE gifts!