Power Banks

Walt Disney World
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Am I crazy or did I see something about a place within the parks to switch out Power Banks / external batteries? If that’s true, what brand would we need to get to take advantage of that? And how does it work? Any other recommendations?

Also, does one usually get you through the day? I’ve read that you need something if you plan to use your phone for plans/ MDE?

Thanks! I’m a newbie when it comes to these external batteries!

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Buy yourself one of these. It will easily last you all day!

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The Anker that @RotR recommended is awesome and what I’d suggest buying to use. We’ve got 2 or 3 for the family and they work very well and are a nice size.

DIS does offer “fuel rods” - looks like they are $30 and you can either recharge it yourself or swap it for a fully charged one at various locations throughout the parks.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/portable-phone-chargers/

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This in-park option is news to me. Sounds pretty convenient, especially if you forget to bring your own battery. But since the one on Amazon costs less than this (currently $23.99), and it will provide more charges than the Disney one, I personally would buy the Anker one. I have no idea what the brand is that Disney kiosk will dispense, but I’d bet it isn’t Anker. I will say that the Disney one at $30 which includes cables, it is a surprisingly reasonable price for an in-park item.

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I’m more the of the opinion that packing your own larger battery is a more betterer option (that is my professional IT advice.) I don’t want to be looking for kiosks, and my kids can drain a battery in 48 nanoseconds.

But, if you think the Fuel Rod concept works for you (they are at some airports too), then be aware they sell them online for only $20. There is also $5 shipping - but if you need to buy multiple rods they shipping remains $5 if you order them all together.

(BTW: If I ever put a band together I am now naming it Multiple Rods. ROCK ON.)

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Thank you all! It sounds like the general consensus is that I would be better off buying my own (Anker maybe) before we leave! We have plenty of time (not going until October) so that’s great to know!

Thanks again!

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Still, only $10 markup in the park isn’t that bad. But I’m with you on BYOD!

Plus the in the park (Fuel Rod) “Each fully charged FuelRod can add up to 8 hours of talk time to your smartphone, or 4 hours run time to your tablet.”
Whereas the Anker I linked above “Provides almost three-and-a-half iPhone 6s charges or two-and-a-half Galaxy S6 charges.”

Btw, @JJT, extra points for the use of “more betterer” :smiley:

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I agree the park markup is not bad for WDW!

I know most product stats embellish, so out of curious I just googled and found one review that seems to back up my suspicions that the battery wouldn’t cut it for me: guy testing his iPhone 6 only getting from 20% to 66% on a single rod before having to swap it.

In the comments on that post there is at least one other that reports the same outcome, but another that says his fuel rod got him from 0 to 96%, so I suppose YMMV. For the record, I don’t believe that latter comment.

Fuel Rod’s own site says “it will provide up to 8 hours talk time on your smartphone”. Apple says an iPhone6 has 14 hours of talk time, so 8/14 = 57%, so I’d expect that is the percentage an iPhone should increase. Batteries appear to be working within design range, but not what I personally need.

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I used an Anker charger with less mAh than the one I linked above when I was in the parks, and was able to run my Android all day on it, and it still had half it’s charge left. So this one (10,000 mAh) should definitely last all day!

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Sorry I’m jumping in late… Here are my thoughts on fuel rods…

For:

  1. They are convenient. You don’t need to remember to charge them over night, as soon as they are exhausted you can exchange them for another which is charged.
  2. They are small. Don’t take up too much room to carry.
  3. Fuelrod has kiosks in airports and malls too, not just Disney Parks/Resorts.

Against:

  1. You are paying for the convenience.
  2. The battery capacity is usually less than 1 phone charge.
  3. You WILL need to search out Kiosks in the park to exchange (because you will exhaust the battery before your day is up), potentially multiple times, which negatively impacts the convenience factor of the Fuel Rods.
  4. You need more than one if you have multiple phones/family members needing them.
  5. While they come with cables, you may want to carry your own to make sure it matches your device (i.e. USB-C, MicroUSB, etc) or is long enough (if you want to keep the battery in your pocket while using your phone in hand.
  6. You can easily find better cost vs performance portable batteries on-line (Amazon, etc) that are higher capacity and have more ports (to charge multiple devices at one time).

That being said… My first external battery for use at WDW, long before Fuel Rods, was the Anker 2nd Gen Astro3 12800mAh External Battery. It had one port that supplies up to 2Amps and two ports that supply up to 1Amp. The total battery capacity being 12800mAh (or 12.8Ah) means we can charge an iPhone about 5 times. We used it for my phone, my wife’s phone and our Nikon Coolpix S8200 camera. My wife started traveling for work, so we got another Anker 2nd Gen Astro3 12.8Ah, which now had 2A out of all 3 ports. They both still work great, even being 4+ years old.

Carrying my own, I never saw the value in the fuel rods.

Since then, we have amassed more portable electronic devices, so I purchased or otherwise acquired the following… (I’ve used them successfully with my various phones, tablets, cameras, and bluetooth headsets, speakers, etc. Including GS6/7/8, Note 5, Pixel, Nexus 5X, HP Elite X3, iPad Mini2, Mini3, Air, Air2 Cellular, Galaxy Tab S3, and more).

Anker PowerCore 20100 good for two devices simultaneously, including iPads. Can recharge a Galaxy S6 about 6 times, or an iPhone 6S about 7 times. While it outputs 2+ Amps per port, it doesn’t support Qualcomm QC2/3 so it wont “quick charge” a Samsung Galaxy S6/Note5 or newer, but still charges them, iphones and ipads pretty quick…

Anker PowerCore+ 10050 good for single device at a time,. Qualcomm QC 2.0 support for fast charging of Samsung devices. Can recharge a Galaxy S6 about 2.5 times, or an iPhone 6s about 3 times.

Anker PowerCore Mini+ 3350mAh can charge a single iPhone from 0% to 100% once, so not ideal for park days. Can only recharge a Galaxy S6 to about 80%

RAVPower 20100mAh Portable Charger w/QC 3.0 and USB-C good for two USB-A and one USB-C device at the same time. Supports QC2/3, USBC and 2.4A USB output. Can recharge a Galaxy S6 about 6 times, or an iPhone 6s about 7 times

AUKEY 10400mAh Portable Charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 good for a single device, be it an iPhone or Samsung phone. Supports QC2.0 for Samsung Galaxy S6 and newer. Can recharge a Galaxy S6 about 2.5 times, or an iPhone 6s about 3 times.

Another I don’t have, but recommend:

Anker PowerCore+13400 can charge 2 devices simultaneously, up to 2.4a output per port, has enough capacity to charge a Galaxy S6 about 3.5 times. Or an iPhone 6 about 4.5 times. NOTE: This model supports QC2/3 for INPUT or charging itself only. It does not support QC2/3 OUTPUT to quick charge samsung phones.

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Oh, with Prime Day coming to Amazon, expect sales from Anker, RAVPower, Zerolemon and other vendors.

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This is great! Thank you!!!

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Terrific write up!

Even if I didn’t need a tiny generator facility in my backpack because of the gear I have to carry, your item (3) alone in the Against section would be the dealbreaker for me. The last thing I want to do is add more things to do in park, so having to take time out to find a kiosk to swap a fuel rod is not appealing.

Just looked at the map of locations - surprised there’s only 1 in AK! That’s a LOT of ground to cover with a single kiosk.

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Yup, size/weight of the battery pack can be an issue. The Anker PowerCore+ 10050 works fine in the pocket of my cargo shorts, but its a little difficult in my jeans pocket. Even though the PowerCore 20100mAh and RAVPower 20100mAh batteries are the same capacity, the PowerCore 20100 is a little smaller so its more manageable, but still a bit too big for putting in your pants pocket. The RAVPower 20100 isn’t pocketable at all.

When our son was younger, we just left the batteries and our stuff in the stroller’s storage area. Now that our son is too big for a stroller, my wife and I use string bags/packs?? on our backs to carry a poncho and sun screen (can’t be too prepared), and we put our batteries in there too, so the size doesn’t matter as much.

On the trip we came back from last week, I carried the RAVPower 20100 in my bag, and she carried her trusty old 2nd Astro3 12.8A… She and our son shared the PowerCore 20100 on the plane to keep their ipads charged. She also charged her fitbit with it. While I packed the PowerCore+ 10050, I never used it.

On a previous trip we even carried only the Anker Powercore 20100 in the parks. It lasted the day of both of us charging our phones, and still had juice to spare. But we still each used our own battery on the airplane.

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