Fuel Rod Coming to Walt Disney World

No More Dead Phone at the park!

Love it or hate it technology is a major part of a Walt Disney World vacation. New ways for guests to complete tasks like making dining reservation, checking to see if their room is ready, or making fast pass attraction reservations can all be done on a mobile phone. It seems like only yesterday when an army of cast members were needed at the front of each park every morning for dining reservations. The phone has also become a great way to reach out to the parks in real time through Twitter at @WDWToday. The biggest weakness however is phone battery life. While advancements in phone technology allow guests to do just about anything while in the parks battery life is still a problem. Disney recognizes the problem and has worked on solutions like adding designated areas for charging phones. The problem with charging stations is they tie people up as they sit there waiting for their phone to be charged. They are essentially guests in limbo not participating in the park. Disney tried to solve this issue buy once offering lockable charging compartments. These used a credit card as a key but the card was never charged. This allowed the guests to go about exploring the park while their phone was charging in one of the lockable compartments. This didn’t work and the experiment of the charging lockers was removed. It appears the next possible solution will be Fuel Rods. Fuel Rods are small rechargeable batteries that you can carry with you to charge your phone. Many guests carry similar devices already but like the original phone battery the boosters eventually need charging too. What makes Fuel Rods so unique is that once you buy one and deplete it you can exchange it for another fresh fully charged one for no fee. If it dies while you are not near a Fuel Rod kiosk it is also rechargeable. Forget your power cord? Don’t worry the Fuel Rod comes with those too. Each of the parks will soon be getting a Fuel Rod kiosk. The units are rumored to be in any day now and a rod is said to cost $20. Each rod should be able to keep a cell phone charged for 8 hours. Now if you think this is going to be great wait because it gets better. You don’t even have to wait to get to Disney to buy your Fuel Rod because they are already showing up in airports across the country.

The kiosk will be located in the following locations:

Magic Kingdom
- Tomorrowland Light and Power Co.
- Big Top Souvenirs
- Pecos Bill’s
- Curtain Call Collectibles
Epcot
- Disney Traders
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Celebrity 5 & 10
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Island Mercantile
Disney Springs
- Marketplace Disney Photo Imaging
- DisneyQuest
ESPN Wide World of Sports
- ESPN Clubhouse Shop