Welcome aboard, Valerie! This fall is going to be a wonderful time for your family to set sail on the
Disney Dream for a magical vacation at sea with Captain Mickey!
You're asking about the Fish Extender groups, which are little gift exchange groups that Disney guests organize amongst themselves before setting sail. These are not sponsored by Disney Cruise Line but are created by Disney fans on online forums, as a way to meet other cruisers before heading out to sea, and create a fun gift exchange onboard. Disboards.com is one of the most popular fan forums where guests meet up to create Fish Extender Exchanges. Check out that site and navigate your way through it in the Disney Cruise Line forum, then choose Disney Cruise Meets, then your sail year and ship, and your particular sail dates. You can join the group and see if a Fish Extender Exchange has been set up. Each group tends to create their own rules for the exchanges and cut off dates, so check to see if you can still participate!
My family and I have participated in Fish Extender Exchanges on a few of our Disney cruises, and our kids thought it was such fun to find little gifts waiting for them each day. But, they really loved going hall by hall and deck by deck to find the staterooms of others in our group to secretly leave gifts for them! Why is it called a Fish Extender, you might ask? There are small clips outside each stateroom door that are shaped like fish, starfish or seahorses. Guests hang pockets from the fish clips, thus "extending" the fish, so that there are pockets for guests to leave gifts for each person. Guests create all sorts of creative Fish Extenders, or purchase them personalized on Etsy. It's a fun way to add some extra magic to what is already a truly
magical vacation for everyone!
Have fun planning, Valerie!
Marcy