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Update: Free Swapping Lives On
BlogMickey now reports that, in a victory for the people, free FuelRod swaps will not be ending November 1.
This news couldn’t have come at a worse time for me, as my new Anker PowerCore charger (affiliate link) just arrived in the mail. So here’s what I’m going to do…on our next trip (in a week), I’ll be trying out the new PowerCore charger and comparing it to my usual FuelRod experience. Then I’ll report back on whether I’ll be sticking to FuelRods or the Anker charger going forward!
(Original Post Follows)
FuelRods at Walt Disney World and Disneyland will begin charging $3 for swaps beginning November 1—essentially removing any value these chargers had.
How Fuel Rods Work
In case you missed them, here’s how FuelRods work…
To start, you’d purchase one from a kiosk (available in each park as well as other locations nationwide) for $30. The purchase included a charging stick (FuelRod) along with a few small USB charging cables for different phones.
The charging stick wasn’t very good. It charged my iPhone about 40% most of the time. But, once you’re done with it you can take it to a kiosk and swap it. (Fuelrods are also rechargeable themselves.)
When swapping, the machine takes your old FuelRod and spits out a fully charged one (this time without the USB cords and such).
Paid Swapping Is The End of These
When swapping was free, I was a fan of FuelRods. Yea…they’re bad chargers. But I’m not very responsible. I don’t remember to charge things overnight. Since all I had to do to charge with a FuelRod is remember to bring it to the park (if it’s empty I just swap it), I was pretty happy with them.
Update: Again, as mentioned above, BlogMickey now reports that, in a victory for the people, free FuelRod swaps will not be ending November 1.
However, paying $3 per swap sort of ruins that. To avoid paying $3 (or even $6 or $9) every visit, I’ll need to get a new charging block (since a single FuelRod charge isn’t too good) and remember to charge that regularly.
Now, to be fair, it might still be worth it to toss a FuelRod in my bag. That way if my charging block runs out, I’ll at least have the option to swap for $3 to get a new FuelRod.
But even that won’t be a big deal much longer. Disney parks are adding USB charging spots regularly, and even the buses are getting USB charging ports.
The Ongoing Downside of FuelRods
Update: This section actually remains somewhat true, even with FuelRods swapping remaining free. In fact, it’s incredibly likely Disney and the company behind FuelRods were able to come to an agreement in part because of this contract. It’s certainly better for FuelRod if they get to stay in Disney, and Disney may have decided a $3 swap program wasn’t conducive to a continuing relationship.
There’s very little upside left to FuelRods and one very big downside—whatever contract Disney has with them. Unless I’m mistaken, FuelRods are the only option for buying a charged fueling option in the parks, and they’re horribly priced.
Without whatever contract FuelRod has with Disney, it’s likely Disney could offer reasonably priced, themed chargers. However, it’s likely FuelRod has Disney locked into some sort of exclusivity agreement.
Since FuelRods are now indisputably an awful value, guests are basically locked into not having a quality charing solution, even at an inflated “Disney” price.
At their quality, FuelRods are probably worth about $3, not $30. By contrast, Disney could take a $15 charger, throw Buzz Lightyear on it, and sell it at a 100% markup and be giving guests a a superior product to what FuelRod offers. Unfortunately, until whatever agreement with FuelRod exists ends, we’ll be stuck with them.
HT: WDWNT
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