Fuel-Rod Kiosk ever out?

[ericbansemer]

We are doing our planning for our upcoming trip and I am trying to decide if I want to order a larger portable battery on amazon that could recharge all of our phones from one charge, but we'd have to make sure we recharge that battery our self or if we should go with the smaller but possible more convenient fuel rods at Disney. Has anyone ever run into the situation of a kiosk being out of charged batteries?

I think if most people have had a good experience with them I am leaning on going with a Fuel Rod just so we won't have to remember to charge it and take it with us every night and day, I can just keep the rod in my backpack and exchange it when we run across a kiosk at our hotel and in the parks.

 

[xoSonya]

My vote was for bringing my own. Not that I have anything against the fuel rod kiosk, I just have my own and will use those.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We will have both.

I figure we can share the fuel rods between the three of us and use our regular batteries as back ups.

I picked up our fuel rod at the airport a few weeks ago since it was cheaper than getting it at WDW.

 

[mamamelody2]

We have a nice one off Amazon that we use a lot. We will take that and the smaller one my son got for Christmas. We have 3 phones that need to be kept charged.
Last year, I was the one constantly on my phone refreshing for FP, but I don't think I ever needed to use the portable charger, I just charged at night and that was fine.

 

[Monykalyn]

We have both actually. The Fuel Rod is great for the convenience but it really isn't designed or powerful enough to fully charge nearly dead multiple phones with just one rod. I use my Fuel Rod at home as well as it is easily tucked into a small evening purse and lightweight. Works fine to keep charge on phone for night out.
I enjoy the convenience as there are multiple spots in parks and all resorts have swapping stations-and we have made multiple trips this past year.

We also have a charging bank that is fairly small but is heavier. It does a better job of fully charging quickly, multiple phones. Although if you forget to recharge the bank overnight then you are outta luck.

Have never run into a kiosk that is out. Have seen the tech that services the stations a couple times-and have gotten brand new rods from him (like just going into service).

 

[imp&pixie]

I bought my Fuel Rod at the airport and saved a few dollars off the Disney kiosk prices. We had the Fuel Rod with us during our 7 day trip last year and exchanged them multiple times at the parks and resort. We never encountered a kiosk that didn't have a new Fuel Rod to dispense. I loved the convenience and will be bringing it with me to Disneyland and WDW again this year.

 

[cassie58]

We love our Jackery chargers from Amazon - holds three charges - we have a one charge I always carry around, but as PP mentioned, it is just a fail safe, charges slowly. I bring a multicharger as well for night, with 4 USB ports for phones and chargers, for ease with plugs around the room, and it has a bonus one charge rod included that is charging as well.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We love our Jackery chargers from Amazon - holds three charges - we have a one charge I always carry around, but as PP mentioned, it is just a fail safe, charges slowly. I bring a multicharger as well for night, with 4 USB ports for phones and chargers, for ease with plugs around the room, and it has a bonus one charge rod included that is charging as well.

We love our Jackery chargers too! I figured for $20 it was worth it to pick up a Fuel Rod in the airport and share it between the three of us, using our Jackery chargers as back ups.

 

[Sleepy425]

We have a Jackery as well as a solar powered charger. Now that we don’t use a stroller the solar charger isn’t as convenient (we used to just keep it on the top of the stroller as we wandered around the park so it could charge itself). But my Jackery has saved many people we have traveled with over the years. It’s powerful enough to charge a few phones during the day (last two trips I was working with an older phone whose battery drained quickly).

 

[cassie58]

We love our Jackery chargers too! I figured for $20 it was worth it to pick up a Fuel Rod in the airport and share it between the three of us, using our Jackery chargers as back ups.

We have a Jackery as well as a solar powered charger. Now that we don’t use a stroller the solar charger isn’t as convenient (we used to just keep it on the top of the stroller as we wandered around the park so it could charge itself). But my Jackery has saved many people we have traveled with over the years. It’s powerful enough to charge a few phones during the day (last two trips I was working with an older phone whose battery drained quickly).

Yes, we got ours for 2013 trip with the then new FP system with DD and DS smartphones and my old flipphone - passed around to keep everyone powered - now have several - kids take to friends' houses, soccer tournaments, school, etc. - use them daily, and have saved many friends as Sleepy425 mentioned, whose phones were going to die while out at mall or game. I keep a one charge in my purse - has saved me in Target when phone was going to die before I could use my Cartwheel at the register! DS will be taking his to WDW for Senior Trip in a few weeks!

 

[AngiTN]

We go with both
The fuel rod is always with us as a back up
There's been several times where we've needed it and our more powerful chargers