A fun way to prepare for your Disney Cruise is to make Disney Cruise magnets to decorate your cabin door. There are lots of fun designs you can make, order from Etsy, or download them from Facebook.
Most people print them on a printer, laminate them and then glue or stick magnets to the back. While that is a good option, the magnets are easily bent, and depending on the type or quality of magnet, don’t always stick well to the doors. I use VistaPrint for my Fish Extender magnets—usually the postcard magnets. Recently I noticed that they also sell car magnets that range in size from 8.7″ x 11.5″ (29.2 x 22.2 cm) up to 18″ x 24″ (61.0 x 45.7 cm).
Ordering the Magnets
Using Adobe Illustrator, I set the artboard to 18″ x 24″ and placed our designs. You can use your own design program as long as you can manually place images and graphics, and set custom artboard sizes. My daughter made the people for our door. I made sure to leave space along the edge for the printing margin. Check the VistaPrint website for the precise print size measurements.
Once I had all the Disney Cruise magnets positioned on the artboard I exported it as a PNG, you can use JPG too. Choose upload complete design. VistaPrint will let you know if the resolution is not good enough. I exported my file in 300dpi. Once everything looked good I placed my order and waited.
I didn’t have to wait long. The package arrived a few days later. I am very happy with the print quality. The print feels slightly raised almost like it was a silkscreen print.
Cutting the Disney Cruise Magnets
My biggest concern with ordering the magnet was how thick it would be and how difficult would it be to cut. The thickness is between two to three mm, very easy to cut with scissors. I used a circle cutter to cut the round magnets. You could use an electronic cutter such as a Silhouette Cameo and print and cut the magnets with it. I have a KNK Zing. I need to update the software so I didn’t try to cut the magnets that way, but I think I will in the future for a precise cut.
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend using the VistaPrint car magnet for your Disney cruise magnets. The print quality is excellent, the magnet was easy to cut, and in my opinion, it gives them a professional look. I may use this method for my Fish Extender gifts (FE gifts) on future cruises. The cost for the 18″ x 24″ was $30.74CAD, I had a discount code; Vistaprint often has discount codes. That works out to about $1.54CAD per magnet. Most of the Disney Cruise magnets were around 4 inches wide. I believe it would be similar in price to printing, laminating and adding magnets to your design.
Planning a Disney cruise? Make sure you check out my Six Disney Cruise Line Packing Essentials, learn more about Fish Extenders, or enjoy my trip reports.
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning, that if you make a purchase through my links, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support of this site.
Do you know what size the hands, feet and pants are for the Mickey design on the cruise door.
Where did you get the graphics that you used to make your magnets. I do have Illystrator. Thank you!
I have created most of the graphics myself, some I have found from DCL promotional material.