Decorating doors at Walt Disney World has taken off as the newest trend, which received its start on Disney Cruise Line. Disney recently clarified door decorating rules for their ships, especially now that decorations are beginning to extend past the individual doors and into hallways.
Since door decorating is still a newer trend at Disney World, there hasn’t been much official commentary from Disney yet, but now we are seeing how Disney housekeeping is responding to this growing trend. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including the newest line up of Disneyland popcorn buckets and a surprising change to one of Disney World’s least popular attractions.
Disney Door Decorating Trend Growing Fast at Pop Century
Door decorating has exploded in popularity at Disney World, most notably at Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Since the Disney World resort value hotels have metal doors, guests can use magnets to decorate their doors quite easily, which is the same way it works on cruise ships. Many guests decorate their windows with window clings and holiday decorations throughout the year as well.
Disney World Ride Closure ALERTS, Major Park Changes, Secrets Revealed
Get alerts on closures, park changes, exclusive discounts, and free printables. Trusted by 100,000+ Disney fans & planners.
This tradition of door decorating on cruise ships became popular in the ’80s and ’90s, especially on longer and family-focused sailings, originally as a way to identify cabins along long, identical corridors using simple touches like magnets, ribbons, and paper signs. The tradition continued to grow through the late ’90s and early 2000s, and online message boards helped the tradition spread and evolve. Today, it has grown even further through social media, especially with organized “Fish Extender” exchanges.
The term “fish extenders” actually comes from a tradition that originated on Disney Cruise Line ships. The earliest ships in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, feature stateroom numbers that are displayed on a small metal fish outside each door. Guests began hanging organizers from the fish, effectively “extending” it, which led to the name.
Now the practice has grown with the Disney-inspired trend of “pixie dusting,” where guests leave small surprise gifts like trinkets, bracelets, stickers, and other items. Some guests will also hang pin boards on their doors in an effort to participate in community pin trading on the cruise ships. Pixie dusting has continued to grow at the theme parks, with some recent practices of leaving items on people’s physical person or belongings creating controversy.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort has a strong following of fans who stay there on repeat visits, which has created a popular community that has grown into its own Facebook group with more than 100k members. Out of all the Disney World value resorts, door and window decorating and pixie dusting are most common at Pop Century. Fans use the Facebook group to let others know about pixie dusting items left on their doors, share photos of their fun decorations, and even pass on leftover groceries after the conclusion of a trip. It’s a pretty cool community, and it’s one of the reasons why Pop Century Resort is my favorite Disney World hotel.
In recent posts shared in the group, it appears that Disney housekeeping is now responding to the popular door and window decorating trend.
Disney Housekeeping Awarding Decorations with Ribbons
Disney’s housekeeping cast members have been awarding decorated guest doors and windows with themed ribbons recently at Pop Century Resort. Multiple guests have shared pictures of these ribbons on their doors in the Pop Century Resort Facebook fan group.
These ribbons come in a variety of colors with disco balls or vinyl records that say, “We think your door decorations are the BEES KNEES. Awarded by your Housekeeping Team at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.”
In this case, Disney housekeeping cast members might be giving out these ribbons as an individual practice, rather than something that’s coming directly from Disney. But the style of the ribbons is retro and themed to Pop Century Resort, so it would be interesting to discover if Disney is creating these ribbons to give to cast members to award to decorated doors.
The rules surrounding door decorating at Disney Resort hotels are a bit hazy, with this older post from Plan Disney stating only window decorating is allowed, although I’ve seen plenty of doors decorated. There doesn’t appear to be any clear regulations surrounding the practice.
Disney did recently crack down on third-party vendors at resorts for decorating rooms, but so far, no official rules have been announced for guests when it comes to door or window decorating at the resorts. Now that door decorating rules have been changed on Disney Cruise Line, to clarify that decorations have to remain on doors and not extend to hallways, that policy could show up at Disney World in the future.
READ MORE – I’ve Written About Disneyland For 13 Years, This is the SECRET Restaurant I Eat at Almost Every Trip
This is a fun tradition at Pop Century Resort, and now that Disney, at least through their cast members, is acknowledging it, that could mean the trend will continue to be allowed.
Don’t Miss the Latest Disney News
Don’t miss the latest Disneyland and Disney World news from Mickey Visit. Join the FREE Mickey Visit newsletter that over 100k readers receive every single week. Mickey Visit is here to help you save money and experience more during your Disney and Universal vacation. See the Mickey Visit guide to Disneyland and the Mickey Visit guide to Disney World for tips.
