Holiday Crowds and Fuel Rods

[minniebeth]

We’re thinking of using the fuel rod exchange kiosks this trip since we will have a few very long park days. (Over New Year’s Eve/Day)
Wondering if the high crowds might make it difficult to swap out batteries. Thoughts? Anyone have experience using them in general? Thanks!

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

When you drop the old ones in the machine, does the machine start charging the returned ones? As in, they all are constantly being cycled?

It still amazes me how much people look down on their phones all day. To the point where they need to bring extra chargers or purchase extra chargers in the park. What were you doing 10 years ago? haha!

Good luck with this. I'm curious if those machines DO run out of batteries.

 

[11290]

When you drop the old ones in the machine, does the machine start charging the returned ones? As in, they all are constantly being cycled?

It still amazes me how much people look down on their phones all day. To the point where they need to bring extra chargers or purchase extra chargers in the park. What were you doing 10 years ago? haha!

Good luck with this. I'm curious if those machines DO run out of batteries.

As in, they all are constantly being cycled? No, a private contractor comes in throughout the day and replaces the used with fresh.
What were you doing 10 years ago? Getting more enjoyment out of the parks.
I'm curious if those machines DO run out of batteries. Yes, soemtimes.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

What were you doing 10 years ago? Getting more enjoyment out of the parks.

This is the exact reason I leave my phone in my bag the entire day, unless I need to change Fastpasses. I just can't fathom staring at a phone for that long where I drain the entire battery, when I'm standing in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!

 

[minniebeth]

Trust me, We don’t choose to be on our phones. (Even my older kids)
But with FP+, mobile ordering, pictures (don’t want to bring our DSLR on New Year’s Eve and Day), ride wait times, MDE, etc. they make it hard for you NOT to use it!

That’s what I’m worried about, there not being enough charged batteries to swap out. We usually just try to find a quiet place to find an outlet but not sure that will work with it being so crowded. We will have a couple of our own external chargers, still worried it won’t be enough.

 

[wgeo]

This is the exact reason I leave my phone in my bag the entire day, unless I need to change Fastpasses. I just can't fathom staring at a phone for that long where I drain the entire battery, when I'm standing in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!

Almost every other thread you open on this page tells you that to enjoy your day you need to get more FP+ and to get more FP+ you need to be willing to keep refreshing, keep refreshing. For better or worse Disney is forcing (enticing) people to spend much more theme park time staring at their phones. Does the end justify the means? That's a personal decision - but it does certainly lead to many more drained phone batteries than before.

 

[Tomh]

I don't go crazy refreshing in MDE for new FP+ times. When we finish our 3, I check what is available, and chose from that, done. However, I do use my phone to take pictures, and video, and the occasional FB update, and communicating with different family members, when they go somewhere different than I do, etc. That is still plenty enough to kill the battery on a long park day.

 

[Lesley Wake]

That’s what I’m worried about, there not being enough charged batteries to swap out.

The Fuel Rods people are usually on site (if not that particular park then somewhere else at WDW). The machines monitor how many charged fuel rods remain so they know where to send the person to refill. If you get to a machine that is empty, you can try calling the tech number on the kiosk. They can remotely activate it and even if they don’t have any plain fuel rods left, they will probably have the intro kits, so the technician can virtually get the machine to dispense one of those instead. The rep I talked to also said if you ever have an issue with the charging cords you can call in and they will dispense a whole new kit with replacement cord (I had broken mine when I jammed it into my pocket and bent the metal tooth, so ended up buying a whole new kit and she said that was unnecessary)!

I, for one, am a huge fan of the fuel rods. Just so much easier than remembering to charge my other mobile chargers, and if you’re in a group, easier than carrying around multiples.

For me, my phone not only gives me access to MDE and wait times, but it’s my camera and watch and just my way to stay connected with the world outside Disney! I get that some people can just turn it off and not deal with it (my mom is one of them), and at times I envy them, but I honestly feel lost without it! When I had broken that charging cable I knew I needed to get a new one rather than deal with my phone dying.

 

[minniebeth]

The Fuel Rods people are usually on site (if not that particular park then somewhere else at WDW). The machines monitor how many charged fuel rods remain so they know where to send the person to refill. If you get to a machine that is empty, you can try calling the tech number on the kiosk. They can remotely activate it and even if they don’t have any plain fuel rods left, they will probably have the intro kits, so the technician can virtually get the machine to dispense one of those instead. The rep I talked to also said if you ever have an issue with the charging cords you can call in and they will dispense a whole new kit with replacement cord (I had broken mine when I jammed it into my pocket and bent the metal tooth, so ended up buying a whole new kit and she said that was unnecessary)!

I, for one, am a huge fan of the fuel rods. Just so much easier than remembering to charge my other mobile chargers, and if you’re in a group, easier than carrying around multiples.

For me, my phone not only gives me access to MDE and wait times, but it’s my camera and watch and just my way to stay connected with the world outside Disney! I get that some people can just turn it off and not deal with it (my mom is one of them), and at times I envy them, but I honestly feel lost without it! When I had broken that charging cable I knew I needed to get a new one rather than deal with my phone dying.

THANK YOU! Such a super helpful post with lots of great information! Great to know! I truly appreciate it! Makes me feel much better about going ahead and giving it a try!

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I purchased & used the Fuel Rod a few weeks ago. Your phones batteries do get drained while in the parks and I even take a screen shot of our MDE for the day so I won't have to bring up the app so much, and we don't do all the FP refreshes, etc. The Fuel Rod worked very well for us. We either recharged the Fuel Rod in our room in the evening or swapped out in the parks if needed.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

This is the exact reason I leave my phone in my bag the entire day, unless I need to change Fastpasses. I just can't fathom staring at a phone for that long where I drain the entire battery, when I'm standing in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!

I can't fathom that people are actually standing in Magic Kingdom staring at their phone and draining their battery. Most are simply using their phone to check/change fast passes, take pictures, make/change reservations, place online orders or to contact other members of their party. And in the process of all of that, draining their battery.

 

[Ed J]

I can't help but to picture the "can't fathom" folks as the elderly people in church who get a puss on and look down their nose at the person sitting next to them when a cell phone rings. Then they realize it's their phone and and yell (they think they are whispering) I told "you" not to call me when I'm at church! :laugh:

 

[si-am]

I can't fathom that people are actually standing in Magic Kingdom staring at their phone and draining their battery. Most are simply using their phone to check/change fast passes, take pictures, make/change reservations, place online orders or to contact other members of their party. And in the process of all of that, draining their battery.

When we were there last month, there were some teenage (or college age) girls standing next to us texting and looking at Instagram in the stretching room of the Haunted Mansion... it took all of my will power not to tell them to shut it off, lol. And they continued to text through the whole ride (I could see their phones from my doom buggy.) I mean, WHY bother going on the attraction at all?!

Other than extreme cases like that, I agree that most people just use their phones for normal things and the battery just drains over the course of the day. I brought my own external battery (got it at Wal Mart for $10) and that worked out fine for me. Super easy to charge everything at night, too, since we were in a refurbed Pop room with tons of USB charging ports!

 

[bladiator]

But with FP+, mobile ordering, pictures (don’t want to bring our DSLR on New Year’s Eve and Day), ride wait times, MDE, etc. they make it hard for you NOT to use it!

This is it exactly. Even before the app came out for FPs, I could burn a whole battery using the Liner App exclusively. Now I don't use that app nearly as much but I do the refresh refresh refresh all the time. Out with one battery burner, in with another.

 

[ShadeDK]

Based on my trip last week: I took two external chargers (a larger Anker power bank (4.5 charges) and a smaller charger (2 charges)) on the trip. I never had to use/carry the Anker and my smaller charger was plenty. On average, I needed to recharge once during the day - usually in the late afternoon. Phone use was limited to taking pictures/videos (moderate), using MDE, refreshing FPs, viewing/downloading Photopass pictures, and the occasional text. I will say that MDE was the biggest drain on the battery - particularly refreshing FPs.

Best guess is that you'd need 1-2 fuel rods for the day under similar usage (the specs for fuel rods aren't published, but the consensus seems to be that they are not good for as many charges - which makes sense since you just swap them). If you're staying at a Disney resort, you might consider picking one up there in the morning to have later (or, alternatively, picking one up when you get to the parks) if you're concerned the supply will deplete later on during a crowded day.

 

[Tomh]

Based on my trip last week: I took two external chargers (a larger Anker power bank (4.5 charges) and a smaller charger (2 charges)) on the trip. I never had to use/carry the Anker and my smaller charger was plenty. On average, I needed to recharge once during the day - usually in the late afternoon. Phone use was limited to taking pictures/videos (moderate), using MDE, refreshing FPs, viewing/downloading Photopass pictures, and the occasional text. I will say that MDE was the biggest drain on the battery - particularly refreshing FPs.

Best guess is that you'd need 1-2 fuel rods for the day under similar usage (the specs for fuel rods aren't published, but the consensus seems to be that they are not good for as many charges - which makes sense since you just swap them). If you're staying at a Disney resort, you might consider picking one up there in the morning to have later (or, alternatively, picking one up when you get to the parks) if you're concerned the supply will deplete later on during a crowded day.

With my Galaxy Note 4, a full fuel rod was good to bring my phone to 100% charge one time from around 30% to 35%. The main advantage in it for me was that I could charge my phone, then swap for a new one, and charge my sons phone, then swap again for my daughter, my wife, and my mother, so with just one fuel rod, we were able to keep 5 phones charged through the entire day at the park.

 

[Monykalyn]

The rep I talked to also said if you ever have an issue with the charging cords you can call in and they will dispense a whole new kit with replacement cord (I had broken mine when I jammed it into my pocket and bent the metal tooth, so ended up buying a whole new kit and she said that was unnecessary)!

Oh my goodness had no idea! We just bought several short charge cords when the one with the FR quit working. And I have seen te tech rep in the parks-he carries around "emergency" chargers JIC too-if a machine gets super heavy use he will swap out with fully charged rods.

With my Galaxy Note 4, a full fuel rod was good to bring my phone to 100% charge one time from around 30% to 35%. The main advantage in it for me was that I could charge my phone, then swap for a new one, and charge my sons phone, then swap again for my daughter, my wife, and my mother, so with just one fuel rod, we were able to keep 5 phones charged through the entire day at the park.

Bought my FR in August and have used on several trips-love that it fits in my pocket, don't need to worry about how much charge is left etc. I use it alot at home too-just leave it charged up and toss in purse on way out door when I think I will need it.