Do you use the ones that you can exchange for new ones at the in park dispensers at Disney? If you don’t mind my asking? I know DLR had a few of the trade in stations, but I don’t remember if WDW did as well. Or maybe it was WDW had it and DLR didn’t. I’m losing my mind here.
I used one. You should buy one ahead of time off Amazon or somewhere else (DH says they are pretty easy to find.) They are half the price if you buy them elsewhere, and you can still swap them for a couple bucks in the park machines. They are all over WDW, and cast members seem happy to help figure them out.
I am in the same boat as you with my battery. I can go at least two days without charging at home, but in the parks I left it on the charger all night, took it off as we were leaving the room, and it was dead before 10:00am. The Fuel Rod helped charge it, but it was really slow and never got beyond 50% full on it. I actually just walked aroung HS with it on the Fuel Rod charger, which was annoying. I don’t think I’ll prefer this new app to a MB. The phone I have now, while new to me, is too old to use the nfc technology.
edited to add (and correct some typos): I did use my phone a lot to take pictures, I think that might be what drained it.
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This is more expensive than what I bought it for, I was able to get the kit for around $15 but maybe it was on sale
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I’m sorry you were having issues too! It drives me bonkers!
Thank you for the recommendation! I will absolutely pick one up before I go. I do like the ease of the kiosks in the park to change them up if need be!
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Magic Bands for me. I won’t ever buy an Apple product. I’d rather have a key card!
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I’ll definitely stick with magic bands for anything I can tap (ie NFC tech). But I do find it a bit annoying I have to buy a new MB for automatic ride photos etc if the band is old and the battery flat. There’s no mention of it in the article, but if the phone system could be used for ride photos and the like, that would be really handy.
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I would appreciate that too!
All phones have Bluetooth Low Energy, which is what Magic Bands use to communicate for automatic ride photos. So phones of any type should work for that bit (once Disney has it working in MDE). It is just the NFC stuff that will be problematic for a great deal many non-Apple phones.
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I bought a fuel rod this past December in the park when I forgot my cord bc you can’t just buy the cord.
Fuel rod is garbage. Imo. I have 2 or three chargers that have a lot more power than fuel rods do.
I have a Samsung phone. I also have a samsung charger that will fill my phone up 2 times before needing to be recharged. Fuel rod won’t even fill my phone once. Buy a good charger like Anker. Don’t rely on fuel rods.
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Same here.
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I have to agree with this, as stated it didn’t charge my phone very well at all. It was convenient for someone who didn’t/doesn’t know the alternatives and it helped me in a pinch. I was really just glad that I didn’t pay the $30 that they cost in the parks, which is why I was passing along the info that you can get them cheaper. 
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We’ve used this brand portable charger with good success
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Fuel rods suck! Great concept but terrible capacity.
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A third vote for Anker, I love mine.
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I agree. We have an Anker and it holds a charge forever. We charge our 2 phones and we could still charge them several more times in one day of we needed to. So we only typically have to plug the Anker in at night once or twice a trip.
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This would be great - I hate, on principle and environmental grounds, buying a whole new MB just because the battery is flat! Thanks.
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Some of us have our Bluetooth Low Energy disabled for security reasons.
So, is it BLE that labels you in the ride photos? That is the main thing I’d miss about only using the card.
Thinking this through, this is the list of things that Magic Band and/or Updated App can do for you while in the parks. Can people correct me?
- Open your hotel room door
- Tap to enter parks
- Charge things to your room
- Tap to enter fast pass line (assuming something will replace it and you will have to tap something)
- Be tagged while on rides so photos are automatically added to you photopass.
- Tap to enter parking lot when an onsite guest at parks or hotels.
- App only, mobile ordering
- When reading about Star Wars, I heard that if you say crashed the ship then went to Oga’s later in the day, a CM might make a crack about “Bad Pilots”. That your MB would communicate to Oga’s how you did. I don’t know if they ever did that.
I wonder how it would work to have a spare/old cell phone setup just for the Disney trip. That way I wouldn’t worry so much about the security aspect of a wide-open cell phone.
I would have preferred that they upgraded the MB’s. A tiny screen that could say stuff like “Pickup at window 2” when you do a mobile order. Or “Ride XYZ Now” when some form of ride reservation comes back. And that could also be recharged. Since you aren’t getting them for free, people will want to reuse their bands. So, the dead batteries will be a problem. A replaceable battery would also be nice. Disposed electronics are horrible for the environment.
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You could order a solid color for cheaper and swap the puck into your favorite band. I’ve thought about that and with Disney had a cheaper option with just the puck.
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Anker etc are WAY better.
But the year I forgot to pack mine, I was glad to be able to get a PowerRod, even though it was overpriced and only charges the phone halfway.
I’m glad they are adding a new phone-based option AND keeping MagicBands. I like MagicBands, but I can see the benefit of being able to pull up your park info via the Wallet on your Apple Watch.
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