Disney Cruise Fish Extenders: All You Need to Know + Ideas

Fish extenders are a decades-old tradition of Disney Cruising, and for some people, it’s a major part of their Disney cruise experience. Fish Extenders started small, and the tradition has gotten bigger and more widespread across Disney Cruise sailings.

Exchanging Fish Extenders is a fun activity that can create community on the ship, and allow you to receive little sporadic surprises throughout the sailing. It’s especially fun for kids, but adults are crazy about it too.

I used to not bother with Fish Exchangers – I didn’t see the point of exchanging a bunch of things with other staterooms, and come back with a bunch of ‘stuff’ that I didn’t really need. But then, I came around to the idea, and then I ended up organizing a Fish Extenders for a cruise I was on.

As someone who’s been on multiple Disney Cruises, I went from being against the idea of Disney Cruise Fish Extenders to later being ‘all in’ – so I’m going to share with you both sides of the coin: what Fish Extenders are all about, pros and cons of participating, what makes them fun, and also the downsides to consider. I’ll also give you a BUNCH of Fish Extender and Pixie Dust gifts below.

What Exactly is a Fish Extender?

Disney Cruise fish extenders are a gift exchange between staterooms on a Disney Cruise which is completely organized by guests who are sailing – not by Disney itself. It’s basically like a Secret Santa (except having nothing to do with Christmas.)

People going on the cruise typically sign up to be a part of the fish extender exchange on their cruise Facebook group; they’re then matched with 3-5 other staterooms to exchange gifts with during their cruise.

The reason it’s called ‘Fish Extender’ is because the little hooks outside of the staterooms (on some of the ships) are shaped like a fish. That’s how this tradition got its name.

Are you organizing Fish Extenders, or want to see what the rules and guidelines usually look like? Here is a copy of the Fish Extender rules that can be personalized for each sailing.

Do All Guests On Board Participate in Fish Extenders?

Oh gosh, no. Absolutely not. Contrary to how it may seem on social media, the vast majority of guests any given Disney Cruise are usually not participating in the fish extenders.

If I had to give an estimate based on all the Disney Cruises I’ve gone on, I would say about 25-30% of the cruise usually participates. When you’re walking up and down the cabin corridors on your ship, you’ll see many staterooms with the fish extender bags hanging outside the doors of the cabins that are participating. But, you’ll likely also notice that the vast majority are not participating at all.

So, if you participating in fish exenders, you’re in great company because there will be hundreds of other staterooms participating too. (If you’re not, don’t worry. I avoided taking part in fish extenders for the longest time and you won’t out of place at all.)

Pixie Dusting as an Alternative to Fish Extenders

Some people do something in between – rather than sign up for fish extenders, they prefer to do Pixie Dusting, which is sprinkling random gifts or treats to staterooms around the ship.

Unlike Fish Extenders, Pixie Dusting is anonymous and you can do as much or as little as you like. With Fish Extenders, you are assigned to gift to specific other staterooms, and you can’t (or really shouldn’t) let them down.

With Pixie Dusting though, there’s no need to sign up, because there’s no obligation or anyone expecting anything – you can leave as few or as many little gifts as you want, to whomever you want! Some people prefer this more relaxed and easygoing approach to onboard gifting.

How Many Staterooms Are You Gifting To?

Usually Fish Extender exchanges are between groups of 5-6 different staterooms that are exchanging with eachother. Often, the organizer will try to put staterooms with similar ages together to make the gifting more fun between them. That way, families with similar age kids can gift to eachother, or adult-only staterooms can gift to eachother.

So, if you’re joining a Fish Extender exchange, then you’ll probably be bringing gifts for 5 other staterooms on board.

For Pixie dusting, you can bring random gifts for anywhere from 20 to 100 other staterooms. (It depends how many you’d like to do; there’s no requirement at all.)

Types of Gifts and Items that Are Exchanged for Fish Extenders

People give all kinds of Fish Extender gifts; some go all out with the gifts, and others keep it very simple. Some gifts are handmade, some store bought, some edible, some reusable – its a completely mixed bag of the different kinds of gifts you could give and receive.

Most of the time, the fish extender gifts will be trinkets, such as keychains, ornaments, jewelry, rubber duckies, silly straws, magnets, croc charms, or stickers. If the gifter has a Cricut, then they sometimes personalize the gifts with names and the cruise date. Sometimes the gifts can be edible, like chocolate, candy, or 3D-printed stuff.

You may encounter some people who go ‘above and beyond’ with their fish extender gifts, either spending a lot of time making or spending money on really nice gifts. At the same time, it’s important to keep your expectations low.

Pros and Cons of Joining the Fish Extender Exchange on a Disney Cruise

A Bunch of Ideas for Fish Extender Gifts

When you sign up for Fish Extenders, you may receive a wish list on the likes and dislikes of the stateroom(s) you’re gifting with. This will likely give you some ideas. In addition, here are some ideas here:

1. Disney-themed gifts, like stickers, magnets, keychains, bottle openers or even stuffed animals
2. Handmade crafts, like friendship bracelets, needwork, or even artwork
3. Pens, pencils and stationery.
4. Personalized gifts. If you have a Cricut or know someone who does, then some people like to personalize gifts with names, and/or the sailing date. Examples are: pens, magnets, stationery, ornaments, keychains or jewelry.
5. Consumable itms. I like the idea of gifts that are something they can use or consume, and therefor not going to clog up the people’s luggage or ultimately end up in landfill. Here are some of the ideas I’ve seen that people can use during the cruise:

• a sundae kit (where you give them a waffle cone and sprinkles)
• laundry kit
• first aid kit (this was actually my idea)
• simple vanity kit (soap, lip gloss, bath bomb)
• candies
• chocolates (just be aware that they could melt in transit, so be careful)
• sweets from your home county (if not from the US)

You can buy premade Fish Extender gifts, or make them yourself using items from the dollar store. There are a TON of ideas on Amazon and Etsy. I’m not the craftiest person, so this is what I’ll be doing – buying gifts from someone who’s really good at making them.

Specifc Really Cool Ideas on Amazon and Etsy

A quick search on Amazon or Etsy will show you lots of pre-made Fish Extender and Pixie Dust Ideas. Here are a few I found that I personally loved:

• These Micky skeleton key bottle openers
• Disney draw-string Tic Tac toe bags
• Mickey Ice Cream Bar Magnets

Final Thoughts on Fish Extenders

As someone who has been on multiple Disney Cruises, and for the longest time once hated the idea of fish extenders, but then later got involved and even ORGANIZED fish extenders for my cruise – I think there are pros and cons to fish Extenders, but overall, its a fun thing to do if you want to add an extra element to the cruise.

There was so much enthusiasm for Fish Extenders in our Disney Cruise Facebook group; even a year before our sailing date, there were already people inquiring and getting ready to plan their fish extender gifts. People really are quite crazy about them.

Keep in mind, Disney Cruises are already so much fun in themselves, with a lot of things to do. If it’s your first cruise, I probably wouldn’t recommend doing Fish Extenders unless you really want to them. On my 4th Disney Cruise, I finally decided (mostly through pressuring from my kids) to join Fish Extenders. I’m glad I waited that long to take part, because I felt that there were already so many other things to focus on during the cruise, that it wasn’t something that was needed.