A day at Disney World can be exhausting for your family! You’ve got characters to meet, virtual queues to secure, and parks to hop.

And just when you think you’ve mastered it all, you try to Mobile Order your next Quick Service meal and find out your phone battery is about to quit.

That’s right — a Disney day is draining on your smartphone’s battery!

But, just like coffee (or a nap!) might help you recharge, there’s a way to bring your phone battery back to life when you’re in the Disney Parks–  FuelRod stations!

We know that you have more photos to capture, and information to keep track of on the My Disney Experience app, so let’s get your phone recharged right away!

FuelRod Stations

FuelRod stations came to Disney World in 2016. At these kiosks, guests can purchase a new charging kit. Or swap out a previously purchased FuelRod (that is out of juice) for a fully charged one!

When the portable phone chargers were first introduced at Disney, guests had to shell out $30 for the first FuelRod and accompanying charging cords, but then any and all replacements were free. That was until Fall 2019.

That fall, Disney announced that it would cost $3 to swap for a fully-charged FuelRod at the kiosks.

This sent customers into a spiral and shortly after, a Class Action Lawsuit was filed against FuelRod citing false advertising. Disney quickly rescinded the fee for a temporary amount of time and replaced it with a Founder Program in 2020.

According to the Founder Program, users who purchased a FuelRod prior to October 26th, 2019 would not be charged a $3 replacement fee. However, anyone who purchased one after would be subject to the fee.

In order to distinguish between customers who qualified for the free charger, the kiosks asked for an email address when swapping. Those who qualified for the Founders Status had to fill out an online questionnaire, create an account, and register with the same email address they used when filling out the questionnaire.

Well, we’ve got another development in the FuelRod saga. As you can imagine, our phone batteries drain pretty quickly while we’re searching for everything new in the parks, so we put these stations to the test pretty often. And recently the kiosks haven’t been prompting us to enter our email address to swap our charger.

Disney has not released any official word on whether FuelRod replacements are free for new and old customers, but a few reporters on our team who have purchased one of their own recently have not been charged the $3 swap fee.

If you’re interested in picking up a FuelRod at your next Disney visit, you will need to pay $30 for the first portable charger, but seemingly after your replacements may be free of charge!

Note however that Disney’s website states that “charges may apply” when swapping for a fully charged replacement.

As always, we’ll continue to keep you updated on all the changes around the parks!

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Do you have a FuelRod? Let us know in the comments!

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