It’s finally here! You’ve been waiting in line for the last 50 minutes to meet the man himself, Mickey Mouse! Your 4-year-old has been talking about this moment since the trip countdown started. You have your phone ready to video the reaction on her face and then you realize…you only have 3% left of battery life.

Now what? Hopefully you at least purchased the Memory Maker package to capture the still shots of the moment, but you really were looking forward to watching her videoed reaction with her grandparents when you returned home.

What went wrong? You had the phone fully charged before leaving your room, you took a few pictures walking into the park, took a short video of the morning show and afternoon parade, posted pictures to Facebook while waiting in line and reorganized some of your FastPasses on the My Disney Experience app. All of these things can cause the battery life to fall…fast.

The resolution is simple, pack a portable phone charger before you go. There are many out there, so you may need to research which one will work best for you.

If you are already there and forgot to get one before leaving, Disney still has your needs covered. Throughout the parks and the resorts, they have FuelRod stations. There are some very positive things about these FuelRod chargers:

  • You can purchase them on property if you underestimated your need to have a portable charger.
  • If you use the FuelRod charger in the park and you drain it, you can easily swap it out at another station for a fully charged one at no cost.
  • If you choose to keep the same one, it is fully rechargeable with a USB adapter.
  • They come with an adapter plug for both an Android and iPhone.

If you know you will benefit from the ease of swapping dead chargers for fully recharged ones, you may want to consider purchasing a FuelRod before you travel. In Disney, the FuelRods currently sell for $30 each. Online, these chargers start at $20 (with a $5 delivery charge **pricing may vary at some locations). So, if you wanted to get a couple for the guests in your group, you are paying $45 versus $60 in the park. It is a great option to save some money.

Although we would all love to be able to put our phones away on vacation, the functionality of a phone is ideal depending on your needs. Whether you want to capture candid photos, videos, vlog, or use the My Disney Experience app while there, a phone’s functions are a necessity to fulfill those needs. It is best to be prepared from the start to alleviate any stress something as simple as a dead phone could cause.