More Things to Know About Your Disney Cruise!

I wrote some blog posts after returning from our cruise on the Disney Magic a couple months ago (find them here, here, here, and here), but have had a lot of questions about other topics since then.  I thought I'd add another post with some more things to expect and plan for.

1. Online Check In - If this is your first cruise, you'll be able to do your online check in at 75 days out, when your cruise is paid in full.  It is a really easy process, and you should do it as soon as you are able to.  You'll be assigned your port arrival time once all your information has been entered, and you can also register your kids for the kids clubs, make reservations for the adults only restaurants, and reserve your Port Adventures.  Some of the Port Adventures are really popular and fill up quickly, so if you know which ones you'd really like to do, now is the time to register for them.  You don't get charged with Port Adventures until you are on the ship, and I believe you have until 3 days prior to the cruise to cancel them if you change your mind.

2. Gratuities - You have several options with gratuities for the cruise.  You can prepay them, they can add them to your onboard account total that you pay at the end of the cruise, and you can also add additional tips with cash on the last night.  Disney has a set formula that they use for gratuities and it ends up being about $12 per person, per day.  Considering the absolutely incredible service you'll receive on your trip, this is a bargain.  They divide that out between your Head Server, Server, Assistant Server, and Stateroom Attendant.  If you don't prepay, you can always adjust the amount that you'll be billed by going to Guest Services, but there was no way we would have changed ours to less than that.  On the last night, your Stateroom Attendant will leave envelopes in your room for each of the people I listed above.  You can add cash to those and hand them out to each person.  The amount you leave is up to you, but our service was incredible and it never crossed our mind to not give them additional money.  These people don't have days off, work for sometimes a year straight on the ship, and provide service like no other you'll ever find.  

3.  Navigator - You can download the Disney Navigator App on your phone, but you'll also receive a Navigator (piece of paper printed on both sides) in your stateroom each night.  This lists all of the things that will be taking place on the ship the following day.  We took highlighters and would go over the Navigator each night and decide what we wanted to do.  It lists the character appearance times/locations, classes you can take, movies that are playing in the movie theater, evening shows, movies that play on the screen at the pool, activities in the kids club, Bingo, port arrival times, etc.  I had the app on my phone, but really enjoyed having the physical Navigator to look at as well.  

Here is a the front and back of one of our Navigators...

4.  Getting Items Signed - UPDATE - You can no longer drop items off at Guest Services to be signed.  Check the FAQ section on the Disney Cruise Line website to find out what items you can take around to each character to have signed.
You can bring two items per stateroom to Guest Services to be signed by the characters on the ship.  I've seen people bring a huge variety of things, but I chose to do photo mats  so that I could frame pictures of the kids from the trip.  I put them in a ziplock bag along with different colored Sharpies for them to sign them with.  You can choose to have them signed by Mickey & Friends or by the Princesses.  You just drop them off at Guest Services, fill out a little form with your info, and then your Stateroom Attendant delivers them to your room when they are done.  Great little souvenir items!

Here are the items we had signed...

5.  Go to the Shows - There are shows in the Walt Disney Theater every night.  Depending on how long your cruise is, they are a mix of big musical productions and smaller acts.  We went to all of the big shows and they were fantastic.  My daughter is still talking about them!  They really are top notch, and I'm really glad we took the time to go.  They do two shows per night to accommodate both dinner seatings.  We had late seating for dinner, so we'd go to the early show around 6:00, and then have a little bit of time between it finishing and our dinner seating at 8:15.  You can do it in reverse if you have early seating for dinner.

6.  Dinner Seating Options - You'll either be assigned Main Seating or Second Seating for dinner. Main Seating is at 5:45pm and Second Seating is at 8:15pm.  You are assigned the same table number for dinner each night, so you'll never be waiting for a table to open.  People line up outside the restaurant and then they open the doors right at the scheduled time.  The line moves really fast for you to be seated, so there really isn't any point in lining up really early.  Your servers also travel with you to all of the dinner restaurants throughout the cruise, so they'll get to know your family and what your likes and dislikes are.  I asked for lemon with my water on the first night, and from there on out had a little bowl of lemons waiting for me when I arrived.  Little things like that were really great.  They also bring the kids food out first, and then will take them to the kids clubs when they are done if they don't want to hang out and wait for the adults to finish eating.  Our servers were so amazing, and it was really hard to say goodbye to them on the last day.  

Omar was from Jamaica and was our Server.  Jasna was from Montenegro, and was our Assistant Server.  Loved chatting with them each night!

7.  Pools - The pools and slides are different depending on the ship you are sailing on, but if you think you are going to find a giant swimming pool, you will certainly be disappointed.  We were on the Magic, so we had the Aqua Lab (smaller kids slide, pool, and splash pad), the Aqua Dunk (water slide with 48" height requirement), Goofy's Pool (very small 4' deep pool that is always full of kids) which has the giant movie screen, and then the pool in the Adults only area.  We camped out around Goofy's pool a lot because we loved lounging and watching movies while the kids went on the slides.  The actual pool though?  I never touched it.  It was packed with kids at all times, and wasn't appealing to me at all.  We enjoyed hanging out there so much, that we never went to the adults only pool. I've heard it is really quiet and enjoyable though!

8.  Kids Club - My kids absolutely loved the kids clubs.  At first I thought I wouldn't let them hang out there that much, because we should all be together, but I realized quickly that they really had a great time there.  It was fun for them to get to know other kids ("Mom!  These boys I hung out with were from England!") and have some independence.  My son was 11, so he was old enough to go to Edge (11-14 years old), and my daughter used the Oceaneer's Club and Lab.  In Edge, the kids can check themselves in and out, which my son thought was incredible.  He is really responsible, so he'd take the Wave Phone from our room so he could call us if he needed to, and we'd just set rules about being back to the room at a certain time.  Watching him enjoy that independence was great.  The counselors in the Oceaneer's Club were great and really interacted with all the kids.  Security is also top notch.  The kids wear a wristband that scans them when they enter and exit the club.  Upon exit, when their band is scanned it pulled up our pictures on the computer screen so they could verify that we were the people allowed to pick her up.  We also had a password we had to give them before they'd release her to us.  The wristband also tells their location in the club when you get there so you can know right where to look for them.  If you have kids that can go to the Oceaneer's Club, keep an eye on your Navigator and be sure they go to Pluto's Pajama Party.  They get to wear their pajamas, hang out with Pluto, and they get a pillow case to color.  The kids can't wait for our next cruise, and they are probably most excited about the clubs.  

9.  Movie Theater - There is a beautiful movie theater onboard that shows a lot of recently released movies.  It also shows any Disney movies that are released during the that sailing, which we loved.  We had been looking forward to the release of McFarland, USA and it happened to be released the week we were on the ship.  It was really fun to be able to watch it onboard.  The movie theater has a concessions stand outside, which they do charge for.  You can pack your own snacks or drinks though and bring them to the theater with you.  

10.  Book Another Cruise While Onboard! - We knew ahead of time that Disney offers some incentives for booking another cruise while you are onboard.  We'd never cruised before, but decided that if we liked the trip, that it would be worthwhile to go ahead and book another trip.  Disney offers a 10% discount, up to $200 Onboard Credit, and a deposit of only 10% (instead of 20%).  There are some blackout dates that aren't eligible for the discounts, but we didn't have trouble with the date we picked.  You can also book a "placeholder" cruise, pick the dates later on, and still receive the discounts.  I loved getting off the ship knowing we had another trip in our future!

How to Hem Jeans & Keep the Original Hem

I used to skip purchasing jeans if the length wasn't exactly right.  A few years ago I learned how to hem jeans and keep that original hem (keeping that nice stitching at the bottom so they don't look hemmed). and it really is super easy to do.  I bought a pair of jeans last week that were only available in one length, and while the store offered free hemming, I was going to have to wait almost a week to get them done.  I can do them myself in 15 minutes, so that is the route I chose to take.  Here is a quick tutorial to show you how to do it.

Start by washing and drying your jeans so that you won't have to worry about them shrinking afterwards.  Next, figure out how long you want them.  You can measure the inseam of a pair of jeans you love, or try them on and fold them to the length you'd like them to be.  Once you've done that, decide how many inches shorter you want the jeans to be.  I needed mine to be 2" shorter than what they were.

Next, fold the jeans and measure half of what the total amount of inches you'll be shortening from the edge of the original hem.  I wanted mine 2" shorter, so I only folded them 1".  

Iron the fold flat all the way around, measuring often to make sure you are staying even all the way around.  Pin the fold in place all the way around, being careful to match up the side and inner seams.  With your sewing machine, stitch as close to the original hem as possible all the way around.  Backstitch at the start and finish.  You'll have to go slow over the thicker seams on the side and inner part of the jeans.  

Fold the extra fabric back inside the jeans and press flat, stretching the seam tight as you iron.  

You can either leave the extra fabric in place, or cut it off, just make sure you have them the right length before cutting!  Sometimes I leave the extra in place so that I can change the length of the jeans if I ever want to.  I have a pair that I've adjusted a couple times for different shoes.  Totally up to you!  

Here is the finished seam.  You can't even tell that they are hemmed unless you look super close.

Giveaway Time! Win a Chunky Necklace!

I am excited to do a fun giveaway to celebrate spring and all the fun colors that go along with it!  Star Creek Creations is a great place to pick up the adorable chunky necklaces that little girls love to wear.  This "Happy Spring" style hasn't been listed on the website and will be a one of a kind piece for one lucky winner!  Just use the Rafflecopter app to enter.  

Happy Spring!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Packing for a Disney Cruise

Our recent cruise on the Disney Magic was absolutely amazing (for help planning check out my Tips for Planning a Disney Cruise post), and a big part of how smooth it went was because I packed almost perfectly.  I am a habitual over packer, so to actually use almost everything I packed was quite the victory for me.  Here are some of my "musts" for your Disney Cruise as well as a list of of what kind of clothes I took for our family.  Keep in mind, we participated in all of the theme nights on the cruise, which I highly recommend doing, even though it does add quite a bit to your suitcases.  Our family of four took two large suitcases, one carry on size suitcase, and each of us had a back pack or bag that we carried on.

1.  Organize and Label the Kid's Outfits
This is where my OCD tendencies really paid off.  There are a lot of things you have to pack, and my kids never keep anything organized once we are on a trip.  I knew our stateroom was pretty small, and the thought of having clothes everywhere made me have a minor panic attack.  I put the kids stuff in ziplock bags and labeled each one with things like "Daytime", "Dinnertime", "Formal Night", "Swimsuits", and put all the matching accessories in each bag.  I kept the clothes in the bags in the drawers in our room so the kids could just grab one and get dressed quickly.  It made checking things off my packing list really easy as well.  We took the used ziplock bags to store wet swim suits or clothes on the port adventures we took.

2.  Storage Containers/Hanging Organizers/Clothespins/Magnetic Hooks
The staterooms are small and space is valuable.  I read a blog recommending that you bring a hanging shoe organizer attached to a hanger (you can't use any over the door type hangers), and this was very helpful!  There was a knob on the wall by the bathroom to hang it on and we kept our cups, kids shoes, sunglasses, and snacks in there.
Ladies, I also highly recommend taking your makeup/toiletries/jewelry in a hanging bag.  I found an awesome one at a local boutique for $7 before our trip and it was perfect.  I hung it on the towel rack in the bathroom.  You have almost no counter space in the bathroom, so a hanging bag is a must.
I also got a fabric pop up storage box at the Dollar Tree and used it on the desk.  We put all our Fish Extender gifts we received (check out FE posts here and here), tickets for port adventures, the kids journals, and anything else that would have cluttered up the desk.
There is a clothesline in the shower and I was so glad someone told me to bring clothespins to hang our swimsuits with!
I used magnetic hooks on the inside of our door to hang our lanyards from.  Oh yeah, bring lanyards too!  They hold your "Key to the World" which gets you in your room, on and off the ship, and is used to charge stuff to your account as well.  I found cute Mickey lanyards at Dollar Tree the day before we left.

3. Over the Counter Medication
One of the ladies from my cruise group mentioned that she packs something for almost any type of situation.  I threw in ibuprofen for kids and adults, Pepto for kids and adults, and kids cold medicine.  I didn't pack Dramamine because I learned that you can get it for free at Guest Services.  The family that we sat with at dinner each night had one of their kids encounter some stomach trouble and went to the staff for some Immodium or Pepto.  They were told he had to see the doctor, and then had his Key to the World deactivated and couldn't leave the ship for 24 hours because he wasn't feeling well.  If they'd brought their own, they wouldn't have had to miss out on one of the ports.

4. Water Bottles or Cups With Lids
This was another idea I got from all the pre-cruise research I did.  There are soda machines (they have water too) available all the time, but they only have small disposable cups.  I brought Tervis cups for each of us to use and one sports water bottle.  They also let you bring your own beer and or wine on the ship, so having a cup to make drinks in our room was really nice.  Make sure you check the Disney Cruise Line website to view their new policy regarding bringing alcohol on the ship.  It has changed since we last sailed.

5. Decorations for Your Stateroom Door
Lots of people decorated their doors and it was really fun to see what everyone did.  The kids loved having our door decorated because they could easily find our room.  You can buy decorations on Etsy, or make your own.  I found some templates and printables on Pinterest to make ours and had so much fun putting together things to show off our family's interests.  You can really do anything you want, they just have to be magnetic because no adhesives are allowed.  I somehow got home without ever taking a picture of our door.  I'll put together the things I made and take a picture and post it soon.

6. Laundry Bag
I didn't ever do laundry on the ship (although you can if you want to), but I found it really helpful to have a bag to put dirty clothes in.  Some things I read said to bring a pop up hamper, but that seemed like it would take up more space.  I got a drawstring laundry bag at Dollar Tree and hung it in the closet in our stateroom.


What kind of clothes to take?!?

I started making my packing list about a month before the trip.  At two weeks out, I started adding things to suitcases.  OCD tendencies aside, I am a professional procrastinator, so to have everything packed so early was nothing short of a miracle.  My husband likes to say "It wouldn't be a vacation unless you were up till 3am packing before we leave."  This trip was the first time I've ever been packed ahead of time and gone to bed at a reasonable hour. I attribute that to researching and knowing exactly what to pack, and also to knowing I'd be on a ship and forgetting things wasn't really an option.  That being said, I forgot to pack myself any pajamas and had to steal things from my husband.

Here is general breakdown of what I packed.  Hopefully this is helpful!

Myself
-Toiletries/Makeup
-Jewelry to match each outfit
-Undergarments
-Casual clothes for each day on the ship
-Casual skirts and dresses for "Cruise Casual" dinners
-Lightweight sweater (only ended up wearing this in theater)
-Knit sundresses for Port Adventure days (our adventures required you to be in your swim suit as soon as you got there, so I just threw a matching dress on over it to wear afterwards)
-Dresses for Formal Night, Semi Formal Night, and our Palo Brunch
-Pirate Costume
-3 Swim suits (this was hard, I usually pack one for each day of a trip!), 2 Cover ups
-Shoes - 1 pair of heels that matched all 3 dressy dresses, 1 pair of nude color sandals, 1 pair of black sandals, 1 pair of flip flops, and the Converse that I wore onto the ship.  Again, so hard!  I usually pack way more shoes
-Sunglasses
-Workout clothes (One of the few things I never wore on the trip)

Kids
-Toiletries
-Swim suits & Swim shirts (3 suits and a cover up for my daughter, 2 suits for my son)
-Casual clothes for each day on the ship
-Casual skirts and dresses for my daughter, and nice shorts and shirts for my son for "Cruise Casual" dinners.  My son could go from day to night in what he wore a lot of times.  I brought separate day and night outfits for my daughter.
-Formal Night outfits (dress for my daughter, slacks/vest/tie for my son)
-Semi Formal Night outfits (dress for my daughter, khaki pants, button down shirt for my son)
-Pirate Costumes
- Shoes - My daughter took 1 pair of flip flops, 1 pair of white sandals, 1 pair of black sandals, water shoes, and the Converse she wore onto the ship.  My son took 1 pair of flip flops, water shoes, 1 pair of canvas boat shoes (for dinners), 1 pair of dress shoes, and the sneakers he wore onto the ship.
-Pajamas
-Sunglasses & hats

My Husband
-Toiletries
-2 Swim suits
-Casual clothes for each day on the ship
-Nice shorts/shirts for "Cruise Casual" dinners
-Formal Night outfit - Slacks, button down shirt, tie
-Semi Formal Night & Palo Brunch outfits - Slacks, button down shirts
-Pirate Costumes
-Shoes - 1 pair flip flops, 1 pair dress shoes, 1 pair running shoes, 1 pair water shoes, and the Converse he wore onto the ship.
-Workout clothes
-Pajamas
-Sunglasses & hat

My Top 10 Disney Cruise Planning Tips

We recently went on our first Disney Cruise (actually our first cruise of any kind), and being the compulsive over researcher that I am, I did an insane amount of research.  We booked our trip in August to sail in February, and in that time I read countless blogs, talked to as many people as I could, and planned, planned, planned.  Our trip was incredible, and I almost died of happiness when my husband said "You really nailed this.  I really appreciate the amount of work that you did for this trip."  Totally validated my OCD, folks. :)  I didn't want to blog before the trip, because I wanted to see what was worth my time and what wasn't before I gave any advice to anyone.  I'm not getting compensated in any way for this, I just want to share my thoughts and experience.  So, without further ado, here are my top 10 planning tips.

1. Book Through an Authorized Disney Travel Agent

We were spending a large chunk of money on our trip and I was really hesitant to do that on my own. Through my research, I learned that a lot of agents will give you onboard credit (to use towards anything on the ship...dining, port adventures, spa services, etc) if you book through them.  They charge you the same price as you'd pay if you booked it yourself, but you get the onboard credit, plus someone to help you with planning and questions along the way.  Carrie Johnson at Small World Vacations was fantastic and I'd highly recommend booking through her.

2. Read Blogs and Utilize Pinterest

I found so much helpful information on Pinterest and through other people's blogs.  If you search "Disney Cruise" you'll find countless pins and sites with great information.  I created a Disney Cruise board on Pinterest and added things all the time.  You can check out my board here... Janae's Disney Cruise Pinterest Board

3. Do Fish Extenders!

This was one of my favorite things about our cruise.  My kids loved checking for goodies each time we'd go back to our room, and I loved putting together the gifts that we did.  You don't have to be crafty, we received plenty of gifts that were not handmade and we loved them just as much!  You can read more about Fish Extenders (FE) in my posts for Adult Fish Extender Gifts and Kids Fish Extender Gifts.

4. Stick With an Inside Stateroom

Our stateroom was on the inside, which meant it didn't have a window or balcony.  I thought I might regret this, but I am really glad I didn't spend the money for a different type of room.  We were very rarely in our room, and we didn't miss having a view at all.  Also, we did have a little trouble with motion sickness, and I think it would have been worse if we could have seen the water moving outside the room.  The rooms aren't large, and there is so much to do on the rest of the ship and at the ports, so we really only used our room to change clothes and sleep.

5.  Join an Online Group for Your Sailing Date/Ship

I've used online groups and social media for as long as I can remember, so joining a group for the cruise was a no brainer for me.  The Disney Cruising page on Facebook can help you find groups already made for as far out as you can book a cruise.  That page is full of information and and is a great way to find your exact cruising group.  The Facebook group was incredible.  I got to know a ton of new people, many of which had cruised with Disney several times before, so they were a wealth of knowledge.  We chatted for months leading up to the cruise, had a meet and greet on the ship, and have kept in touch afterwards as well.  I even found a gal who went to the same school as I did, but we had missed each other by a year or so.  We had a ton of stuff in common and it was great to meet her on the ship.  Also, this is how you'll join an FE group as well!

6.  Know What is Included in "All Inclusive" and What Isn't

The ships are "all inclusive", but there are plenty of things that you can pay for if you choose to.  Know what is included in your cruise price and what isn't ahead of time so that you can plan accordingly.  For example, alcoholic beverages aren't included, but I knew that we could bring our own liquor onto the ship.  Do your research and plan ahead.  We had a good idea of what extras we'd be doing so we'd planned ahead for the extra charges we'd be getting at the end of the cruise.  If you didn't know about the extras like gratuity, port adventures, professional photos, specialty drinks, or adult dining, you'd be in for a shock at the end of the trip when they slide the bill under your door. 

7.  You Have to Book Ahead for Princess Meet & Greets

This was one of the things I learned from the Facebook group that was incredibly helpful.  When you are on the ship, there are lots of opportunities for meet and greets with the Disney Characters.  You get a list of the times and locations for each character in your Personal Navigator each night and then just show up (and wait in line) to meet them.  You have to get a ticket (this is free) to meet the Princesses though, and I thought it was brilliant.  No big lines, and you are guaranteed to meet each one.  I knew of this ahead of time and went straight to guest services when we got on the ship to reserve our spots for Anna and Elsa, and the Princess Gathering.  You are now able to book these online when you do your check in for your cruise. I highly recommend reserving them online before hand. I found throughout the week, that a lot of people didn't know about needing the tickets, and there weren't any available by the time they went to get them.  Totally worth doing if you have a little girl.  

8. Dress Up for Pirate Night, Formal, and Semi Formal Night!

This was another really fun part of the trip for me because we got to do things we don't normally do at home.  The theme nights aren't required, but are something I highly recommend!  We loved Pirate Night, and went all out.  There is a Pirate Deck Party that night too which the kids (and the adults) loved.  I loved getting dressed up for Formal and Semi Formal night too and taking pictures all dolled up.  I mean really, how often do you get the chance to be a pirate and take pictures with Captain Jack Sparrow?!?  All the characters were dressed up as pirates that night!

9. Plan on Palo

I went back and forth on whether or not to make a reservation at Palo, the adult only restaurant on the ship, but am so glad that we did!  You can choose either brunch or dinner (or both!) and there is a dress code.  We did brunch on our last sea day and it was amazing!  I've heard the dinner is incredible as well, but that you shouldn't miss the brunch.  Brunch is more my style of food, so that's what we went with.  It is an additional cost (On our trip it was $25 per person, plus gratuity, but I believe it is now $30/person), but it was well worth it.  I made our reservation when I did our online check in, but you can do it at Guest Services on the ship as well.  

10.  Plan on Doing Some Planning

I had seven months to think about and plan our trip, which I loved.  As I mentioned before, I over research everything, and that gave me plenty of time to do that.  I felt like we got to really enjoy our trip because I had planned ahead and could pack accordingly (packing post coming soon), knew what to take advantage of on the ship, and what port adventures were worth while.  Can you hop on a cruise ship with little planning and enjoy it? Sure!  However, I like to get the most out of my money and am glad that I spent time planning everything out.  

I've also added another post with more cruise info here!

Disney Fish Extender Gifts for Kids!

These are the Fish Extender gift bags I put together for our upcoming Disney Cruise!  If you aren't familiar with Fish Extender gifts, you can read more about it in the post I wrote about the gifts I did for the adults in our group here.

We had 25 kids in our group to do gifts for, and their ages ranged from 10 months up to 13 years old.  It was a little tricky trying to come up with something that most everyone would like without having to do a lot of different things.  I also wanted to incorporate each child's favorite character (this was provided in the list for our group), and again wanted something that wouldn't take up a huge amount of space in our suitcase.  In the end, I decided to make some little personalized notebooks for each kid as the main gift, and then throw in a couple little items to go.  

I got 3 packs of spiral notebooks for $1 each at the Dollar Tree store.  The covers were tinted plastic which I knew I'd need to cover.  I cut rectangles out of cardstock paper and attached it to the outside and inside of the plastic cover sheet.  I used spray adhesive to glue the paper on because regular glue won't adhere to plastic.  Once thaMt had dried, I cut out the Mickey Mouse head shape from black cardstock and glued it on with a permanent glue stick.  I made each of the kid's name tags in Microsoft Word by typing their name in the Disney font and then adding an image.  I just printed them, cut them out, and then glued them on top of the Mickey head.  I also added a strip of paper at the bottom that I cut from some Mickey Mouse scrapbook paper.  

For the extra goodies, I did a small sheet of stickers for each kid, and also a little Mickey Mouse ball game that I got at Dollar Tree in packs of four in the party favor aisle.  For the couple of teenage girls in our group, I got itty bitty bottles of nail polish in Mickey colors and then added the Mickey stickers to the top.  My kids wanted to be part of the process (or I may have told them they needed to be...), so they made a Rainbow Loom bracelet for each of the kids using this pattern from Loom Love.  I slipped the bracelet around the notepad, added the stickers and game to the bag, put on a label that I made, and that was that.  

I had so much fun putting the Fish Extender gifts together!  I can't wait to see the gifts we get from our group, and I definitely will do this again when we do another Disney Cruise!

Disney Fish Extender Gifts for Adults

We are going on our first Disney Cruise this week, and I have done a ridiculous amount of research for the trip.  When I read about Fish Extenders, I knew we had to do them.  One, I love to craft, and two I love to give gifts, so it was a win/win for me. 

The first thing you need to do when you decide to to do a Fish Extender (FE) program is join a group.  If you skip this step, you'll end up leaving gifts for other people and not receiving anything.  If you go to the Disney Cruising group on Facebook, you'll be able to locate your specific cruise date/ship and join a group.  I love our group on Facebook where we can all chat, ask questions, and get to know each other.  It has been a very valuable tool for me.  I can't wait to meet everyone on the ship!

You'll also need to have a FE to hang outside your stateroom door.  You can buy them already made (tons on Etsy), or you can make your own.  I sew, but hate making patterns, so I bought a pattern on Etsy for $4.50 from The Rabbit's Hole Shop and it was worth every penny.  

Here is a picture of the one I made...

For our group, I made gifts for the kids and for the adults.  In this post, I'm going to show you the gifts I made for the adults.  Kids FE gift post can be found here.

I wanted to make gifts that were functional, but also could be kept for souvenirs from the trip.  I also wanted something that was light weight and easy to pack.  The doors on the Disney ships are magnetic, so for one gift I made a little dry erase board to hang on the door and added a magnetic dry erase marker with it.  I cut 5x7 sheets of white paper, got the Disney Cruise Line logo online and added the text to it I made these into stickers), and then cut some Mickey Mouse scrapbook paper to add as trim to the bottom.  I got a Scotch Laminator for Christmas (Thanks brother!) and used 5x7 sheets to laminate the boards I'd put together.  

 I bought a roll of adhesive magnets, cut them and attached them to the backs of the boards.  

The other item I decided to make was a Christmas ornament.  I thought it would be a fun thing to hang on the tree each year and to remember the trip by.  I bought some wooden rectangle plaques that  already had holes drilled (ArtMinds brand at Michaels that came in a pack of 8 for $1.99).  I painted them, cut out squares of scrapbooking paper (from the same Mickey Mouse pack I used above),  made the Mickey ear shaped logos with the cruise ship name and date, and used Mod Podge to attach everything.  I then cut ribbon, threaded it through the holes and knotted the ends.  I finished the ends with a fray stopper, but you could use heat to seal the ends as well.  

I got clear bags from the Dollar Tree store and packed the gifts up with some little labels I made.