What in the world is a Fish Extender and how can it possibly produce Magic? If you have never heard of a Fish Extender you may be wondering what this article is all about. I am here to provide the answers to this question, to share with you the true magic behind the Fish Extender, and to share ideas that may assist you with planning for using a Fish Extender on a Disney Cruise.
A fish extender is typically hung outside your stateroom door aboard one of the Disney cruise ships. Directly outside your door there will be a metal fish, or other sea life creature, that sticks out slightly from the wall. The fish extender may have one pocket, two pockets, or up to about five pockets. They are made out of fabric and at the top there is a dowel with some ribbon; thus “extending” the fish from the wall towards the floor. There are many vendors who make fish extenders and I had the best luck searching Etsy for them. If your cruise will be around one of the holidays, you can even have one designed for that.
The idea is that you will come back to your stateroom and find a small treat, gift, or message from a fellow Disney Addict in your Fish Extender. Whether you have children, or not, the feeling you get when you arrive back to find something in your Fish Extender is so much fun. You will likely not know who the person was that left you the gift and therefore, it is as though your gift appeared magically! If you are placing gifts into Fish Extenders you may also bump into a fellow addict doing the same and possibly make a new YMBADA friend.
When I recently traveled on the Disney Dream for a “Merrytime Cruise” I ordered a two-pocket fish extender with a Christmas fabric. I purchased a number of small Disney holiday magnets, snowflake bubbles, miniature hand sanitizers, holiday pencils, erasers, holiday cards, Disney Christmas ornaments, Disney cruise key chains, wrapped holiday candies, and small fabric gift bags. I filled fifty little fabric gift bags to distribute into Fish Extenders during my cruise. I also kept a number of small gifts to give as individual gifts along with the holiday cards. I would suggest having a lot of small individual gifts as many Fish Extenders have four or five pockets with each pocket containing the name of a family member. I found myself wishing I had more individual treats and gifts to give. The gift bags were a great family gift but it was important to have small gifts to provide something for everyone in the family.
Each day of our five day, four night cruise, I wandered through the stateroom hallways of each deck and distributed these small gifts. This is where the Magic really happens! The feeling you get, knowing that this family you have never met, will soon arrive back to discover these small treasures is amazing. When my grand-daughter arrived back to our stateroom, to discover that someone had filled our Fish Extender, her facial expression was that of pure joy! There is nothing more Magical to me than that.
Happy Disney Cruising!
This article was written by our incredible guest blogger Lisette Raynor! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!
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Awwww… planning our first Disney cruise and this sounds like SO much fun!!
Do I need to sign up for Fish Exchange? Or, I just hang a Fish Extender, and go distribute to wherever there are Fish Extenders also? =)
Either way will work but if you sign up for a fish extender group, you will have a lot more success! Just google fish extender groups and you will find what you need 🙂