chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I opened the app, clicked the magnifying glass, typed “charging” and clicked “find on map” in a 10 second period.
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Lack of Charging stations in Disneyland.
- Thread starter TrainsOfDisney
- Start date
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I tend to forget that most regulars on this subforum are Magic Key holders. As someone who goes only once or twice a year and pays full price, the thought of standing around doing nothing while a phone is charging at a station is synonymous with pulling dollar bills out of my pocket and dropping them into the toilet any pulling the flush lever.
Stevek
Well-Known Member
Some are but it's really not viable if you are expected to have your phone with you at all times for Genie+/Lightning Lane usage.
Stevek
Well-Known Member
Magic Key holder or not, sitting around at a charging station would be a waste of time.
flynnibus
Premium Member
yet goto places where you normally wait.. like airports, waiting rooms, etc.. and they have.. charging ports.
Honestly I'd start my asks lower for Disney... give me someplace to sit first of all!
flynnibus
Premium Member
This is only a problem when something is limited - if something is pretty much everywhere, it's a non-issue.
They could put them as pods on dining tables. They could put them in planters around the park. They could lease out charging lockers. They could expand the services they already have in terms of locker usage (chargers in lockers).
That would decrease turnover. And people who are sitting aren't spending.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
And I will still travel with my own.yet goto places where you normally wait.. like airports, waiting rooms, etc.. and they have.. charging ports.
Honestly I'd start my asks lower for Disney... give me someplace to sit first of all!
flynnibus
Premium Member
Again, please read the comment in full context instead of trying to isolate one line.
"if something is pretty much everywhere, it's a non-issue."
People wouldn't need to camp out on tables as non-partrons if they can get those ports conveniently everywhere else too. And people don't need to sit and do 30mins of charging if they are able to charge more frequently.
Yes, in general people taking longer to leave a table is a concern, but it's manageable. You just couldn't do it in isolation.
But being able to charge your phone while having a meal or snack would be quite convenient!
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Except you have people sitting and parking now, it would be worse with charging stations all over the place. Remember that DLR has a large locals population. They aren’t like vacationers who try to be quick as possible to maximize their time. They have no issue taking up a table for 3-4 hours. Not to mention you’ll have spots like this taken up by the YouTube crowd filming their latest DL vlog.
Disney wants guests on the move. Having charging stations all over the place would be opposite to that.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Disney also wants guests who are satisfied- its a balancing act. But the way to address your concern of congestion spots is to not have the resource be scarce.
Problem cases should be dealt with individually- not punish everyone to avoid facing the few.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
And Disney has provided an option to make sure the availability of charging isn't scarce and keeps guests moving, it just happens to not be "free". There are 7 locations in DL and 4 in DCA. And multiple ones outside the park within the Resort.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
No, the Fuel Rod kiosks are located at the lockers in both parks. I think at first in 2016, the only place to get a Fuel Rod was at the lockers, which caused some confusion now that there are 9 other Fuel Rod kiosks around the Resort.
The current cost for a Fuel Rod at Disneyland/DCA is $32.33, which includes the sales tax.
There are no other charging options officially available in the parks, unless you can find an unguarded power outlet on a wall somewhere. You either bring your own battery backup, buy a Fuel Rod for $32.33, or watch your phone die and then be unable to access the App and all the things that the App requires you to have access to in order to go on rides, eat, or gain information about the parks.
It's not a very kind or caring system, much less customer-friendly, to say the least.
Good! Anyone living in Southern California, an area with multiple fault lines capable of 7.0 or greater earthquakes, should always have backup power for at least 3 days, food and bottled water for at least a week, and a way to protect yourself and your loved ones from armed looters/attackers/hungry people. Especially if you are a woman living alone, and/or have small children in the house. Because when a major earthquake eventually hits SoCal, you will likely be on your own for at least 3 days, perhaps up to a week or more.
When I lived in OC, I had a generator and 10 days of fuel, plus two weeks of storable food, and two firearms with special ammo designed for close-range personal defense in my home at all times. When I moved out of earthquake country, I kept that basic system in place (I upgraded the generator though) here in my new home because you never know what could happen.
Charging up an iPhone will be the least of our worries after a 7.0 earthquake hits a populated area.
I would love to know how much of an issue this is. How many people per day, on average, are stranded with a dead battery and can't find a place to charge, can't/won't buy a fuel rod, and have no power bank of their own?
Thanks to this topic I looked into charging and found out that I've been doing it all wrong. Partial charges and discharging are better for the battery. My old, old school method of running it down and charging overnight is very, very bad.
Thanks to this topic I looked into charging and found out that I've been doing it all wrong. Partial charges and discharging are better for the battery. My old, old school method of running it down and charging overnight is very, very bad.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Nice word smithing. No they haven’t made sure charging isn’t scarce… as you said they have ‘made an option available’
Me: “Hey disney how about a bench to sit down?”
Disney: “oh you will be happy to know we value your need and have made __the option available__ to you to sit on these benches right here for $30 plus tax…”
Lol… just dancing. Charging is scarce by your own admission of fear of causing congestion if they made real options available.
Fuelrods are a joke. A pithy 2600mah battery designed to make money by overcharging people hoping they use them once or twice.
The ‘option’ sucks and is below normal hospitality standards. A concept disney used to excel at
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
About Optimized Battery Charging on your iPhone
With iOS 13 and later, your iPhone learns from your daily charging habits to improve the lifespan of your battery.
This is for Apple...but pretty much all phones (OS's) now have smart/adaptive charging that helps save your battery life.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Fuelrods are a one time charge for an unlimited use product. Trade-in the used Fuelrod for a fresh one for "free" no additional charge or recharge it yourself. Now if people tend not to use that availability of the "free" trade-in of the used Fuelrod that is on them, but its always available.
Point is Disney has provided an option, whether you like that option or not is irrelevant. And as we know Disney is not in the habit, and hasn't been for many decades now, to give something away for free.
So if you don't like that option, then you have to provide your own option for keeping your devices charged. Heck the last couple trips I've made I ended up not even needing to charge my phone anyways, it lasted the entire day even with constant app usage. So that "pithy" 2600mah battery would have been fine for me if I had needed just a quick charge. But hey ymmv.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Yes the old idea of "battery memory" doesn't exist with modern Li-Io batteries used in phones today. So fully discharging and recharging fully doesn't help anymore. Charge how you want, let it run down to 20% or 60% before recharging is the same overall.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Yes, I know what the product is... and I also know the product strategy. Sell and charge an 'all you can eat' price knowing that a majority of customers never get anywhere near the value out of it that you charge for. This is not some new concept... it's the same old upsell sales strategy around since the dawn of time. It's why they con people into paying $30 for a $10 battery kit they will most likely used 2-3 times at most.. and never use again until the next time they come to Disneyland.. where they probably forgot or lost the last battery you gave them, so they have to buy again.
Literally this size battery is the kind you find in a swag giveaway... it's a joke. It can't even fully charge an iphone from 5 years ago. The model is 'just get another one' and they can do it because they know on avg people will lose them and not eat up their margin with overhead costs of charging and replacing used batteries. There is a reason the battery is so small.. it's intended to be throw-away and they are betting on you losing it.
The business case is not some super complex concept.. it's same one borrowed over and over.
It's still not a sound alternative to A HOSPITALITY COMPANY providing a service that is common place now. It's Disney's way to con out of offering something at their own cost under the guise of 'value add'. When they could have allowed the vendor to operate in Disneyland AND offered customer direct charging. With this model they don't have to do anything AND still get paid by the vendor for allowing them to operate there.
This is not a customer service angle - this is a Disney money making angle.
Like the example before... whether the customer likes the option or not is for sure relevant when you are the one pitching it as an alternative to the customer's need. If your offer is seen as BS and not addressing the customer's desire.. then you can be sure that outcome is RELEVANT to the customer and their satisfaction.
There are two reasons Disney really won't offer free charging today
1 - It would undercut the deal they have with Fuelrod
2 - It would cost them significant money to build out and maintain those charging ports
And know what... that's what companies do when they are trying to offer a service to their customers. Disney is just prioritizing it as a revenue stream instead of the hospitality company they used to be.