FastPass to History: Fish Extender Edition
Hello FastPass to History Blog Hoppers!
Thank you, again, Frontierland Station for hosting this blog hop.
If you've spent some time poking around in the Disney Cruise Line forums, you've probably noticed the term FE getting flung around.
What is an FE?
Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start), FE or "Fish Extender" stems from the on deck mail delivery system.
Each evening your personal navigator is left on a decorative clip outside your stateroom. On the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, it is a pewter fish. Onboard the Dream class ships, the clip is shaped like a fish only on the starboard side of the ship, the port side features seahorse in an effort to make navigating hallways easier (if in doubt the clips face the front of the ship). The Dream and Fantasy concierge get yet a different clip in a starfish shape. All fish, seahorses and starfish function the same way for the purposes of fish extender.
Occasionally other communications will occasionally be delivered on this clip as well. I have found the majority of our other mail (port adventure tickets, invitations to DVC presentations, reminders about time changes, Palo reservation confirmations) gets left either on the bed with our towel animal at turn down each evening or on the desk if it's clear of vacation things.
Where (and when) did they come from?
The extender part of the fish extenders came from an early DCL cruise, most likely one of the first DVC member cruises. The first cruise specific mention I can find is from the 2005 DVC members cruise page discussing them in 2004. Shortly before fish extenders a variety of online groups (notably the DISboards.com cruise meets groups) started arranging meet and greets, group events and gift exchanges with the friends they made before their vacation. Some brilliant castaway realized that if they left a bag hanging from the fish, delivery did not have to line up with times people would be in the room and so the fish extender is born.
Though many fish extenders still are a home made affair, thanks to sites like etsy and eBay, there are now fish extenders to match every style even for the least crafty of us.
What do they do?
In addition to making your room easy to spot, they serve as a receiving location for all the neat goodies your friends from the discussion forums leave during your cruise. I have heard reports of people who purchased their FE, made little gifts to hand out to others with FEs on their cruise, but did not sign up for an FE group and received no gifts. Please do the online legwork and sign up with an FE group through either DISboards, a Facebook cruise meet up group or another group. It's really worthwhile.
After sneaking through the halls enjoying dropping off gifts to all of their "new friends" my kids are thrilled to return at the end of a long day of shuffleboard, swimming and dance parties to discover a FE chock full of every kind of imaginable goodies.
Depending on your group, either gifts for each stateroom member, gifts for the individual stateroom, gifts everyday or gifts once per cruise will arrive. Some handmade, some prepackaged, some from the gift-ers home state, some practical and all well appreciated. Keep in mind when planning out your FE that these will have to travel with you to the ship.
Do I need to do this on my cruise?
I think that this is a really magical touch as part of our cruise experience. That being said, for a first time cruiser, especially on a three or four night cruise, I might hold off and save it until a subsequent voyage.
If the planning, packing, organization and distribution of gifts (large or small) for 100 people in 20 staterooms sound like a headache rather than a fun scavenger hunt skip out on it. Will your kids feel like they are missing out without it? I will say that there are hundreds of rooms on board and most do not participate in either fish extenders or in decorating their staterooms with magnets. It is a fun extra, but not necessary to enjoy the best vacation ever. I will say that many of the people who participate in the online forums do these, but not all.
Since Chris and Kylee really, really love the experience we do it every cruise with them.
Best FE gifts?
Something consumable or something special. Candy, first aid kits, trading pins, buttons, magnets, coloring packs, mugs, stationary, personalized things, autograph books, bows, key chains, scavenger hunt lists, hand sanitizer...the list goes on and on...
Have you done a FE? What was your favorite gift you've given or received?
Thank you, again, Frontierland Station for hosting this blog hop.
If you've spent some time poking around in the Disney Cruise Line forums, you've probably noticed the term FE getting flung around.
What is an FE?
Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start), FE or "Fish Extender" stems from the on deck mail delivery system.
 |
| Fish Mail Clip above room number. |
Occasionally other communications will occasionally be delivered on this clip as well. I have found the majority of our other mail (port adventure tickets, invitations to DVC presentations, reminders about time changes, Palo reservation confirmations) gets left either on the bed with our towel animal at turn down each evening or on the desk if it's clear of vacation things.
Where (and when) did they come from?
The extender part of the fish extenders came from an early DCL cruise, most likely one of the first DVC member cruises. The first cruise specific mention I can find is from the 2005 DVC members cruise page discussing them in 2004. Shortly before fish extenders a variety of online groups (notably the DISboards.com cruise meets groups) started arranging meet and greets, group events and gift exchanges with the friends they made before their vacation. Some brilliant castaway realized that if they left a bag hanging from the fish, delivery did not have to line up with times people would be in the room and so the fish extender is born.
Though many fish extenders still are a home made affair, thanks to sites like etsy and eBay, there are now fish extenders to match every style even for the least crafty of us.
 |
| Modern day fish extender on the Disney Magic during Thanksgiving 2012. |
In addition to making your room easy to spot, they serve as a receiving location for all the neat goodies your friends from the discussion forums leave during your cruise. I have heard reports of people who purchased their FE, made little gifts to hand out to others with FEs on their cruise, but did not sign up for an FE group and received no gifts. Please do the online legwork and sign up with an FE group through either DISboards, a Facebook cruise meet up group or another group. It's really worthwhile.
After sneaking through the halls enjoying dropping off gifts to all of their "new friends" my kids are thrilled to return at the end of a long day of shuffleboard, swimming and dance parties to discover a FE chock full of every kind of imaginable goodies.
 |
| April 2013 Fish Extender brimming over with treats and gifts. |
Do I need to do this on my cruise?
I think that this is a really magical touch as part of our cruise experience. That being said, for a first time cruiser, especially on a three or four night cruise, I might hold off and save it until a subsequent voyage.
If the planning, packing, organization and distribution of gifts (large or small) for 100 people in 20 staterooms sound like a headache rather than a fun scavenger hunt skip out on it. Will your kids feel like they are missing out without it? I will say that there are hundreds of rooms on board and most do not participate in either fish extenders or in decorating their staterooms with magnets. It is a fun extra, but not necessary to enjoy the best vacation ever. I will say that many of the people who participate in the online forums do these, but not all.
Since Chris and Kylee really, really love the experience we do it every cruise with them.
Best FE gifts?
Something consumable or something special. Candy, first aid kits, trading pins, buttons, magnets, coloring packs, mugs, stationary, personalized things, autograph books, bows, key chains, scavenger hunt lists, hand sanitizer...the list goes on and on...
Have you done a FE? What was your favorite gift you've given or received?
I had heard about the Fish Extenders but never really understood what it was or where it came from. This is a great explanation of it! Sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for linking up! (By the way, I love that you included a Sound Of Music reference!)
ReplyDeleteI think that fish extenders are one of those things that get spoken about much more often than they get explained. This had originally been a very short part of another post, but I decided that rather than assuming everyone knew what they were that I give a proper explanation.
Delete(By the way, I love Sound of Music!)
This is a super informative post! Thank you so much for sharing it on Travel Tip Thursday! I am pinning it as well. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteYou are featured at this links Travel Tip Thursday! Thanks for linking up last week. Hope you will join us again!
ReplyDelete