If you’ve visited Walt Disney World, you’ve probably wandered into a counter service restaurant or gift shop in the middle of the afternoon and seen guests sitting in random corners charging their phones at power outlets. It’s a common sight, and always reminds me of a visit to Innoventions (RIP) in EPCOT one surreal summer day when literally everyone in the building was sitting on the floor, charging their phones.
It’s also a weird thing to see. These guests clearly have the foresight to bring their phone chargers with them to the parks, meaning two things: 1) they know they’re going to drain their battery, and 2) they can afford to visit Walt Disney World in the first place. Do they not know that they can buy a portable phone charger for like twenty bucks on Amazon? Time is money at Walt Disney World, and sitting in a corner in CommuniCore or wherever is a comically poor use of it. That portable charger would pay for itself after only a couple days in the parks.
If you’ve visited Walt Disney World, you also know how necessary it is to have plenty of juice for your phone. The My Disney Experience app alone can be a tremendous drain on your battery, as you do everything from Mobile Ordering to refreshing the Walk-Up Waitlist for table service restaurants to Mobile Checkout to playing the Lightning Lane ride reservation refill “game.” And if you do anything with photos in the app, such as the AR filters or even reviewing PhotoPass images, your battery can be drained in a hurry. So it’s easy to see why people end up sitting on the floor charging phones, and it’s certainly a better solution than having a dead battery for half the day!
This is precisely why FuelRods became so beloved, with their popularity fueled by the amount of screen time that was practically necessary when visiting Walt Disney World. But FuelRods are far from the best solution to this problem. We first published our review of the product, We Don’t Recommend FuelRods, several years ago. You don’t even need to read past the title to have a rough idea of where we stand on that particular product.
There was a time when that stance was controversial, but now, not so much. Our issue with FuelRods has always been that they offered very low capacity and slow charging relative to other batteries. That has only grown truer over time, as time has passed FuelRods by–both in the portable charger realm and in phones, both of which have higher capacity. Whereas a modern charger might take your iPhone from 10% to 90% quite quickly, a FuelRod will take it from 10% to 20% quite slowly.
This undercuts FuelRods’ other big selling point: convenience. It’s not such a convenient product if you’re needing to use it multiple times per day for lengthy stretches, and repeatedly hunting down stations to swap out the device. FuelRods are still stuck in 2016 and a lot of strides have been made in battery charging technology since then. In fact, every single device on our list was released last year or in 2024–and we upgraded our own chargers last year during Black Friday/Cyber Monday and this year. (And will do so again if we end up upgrading to the iPhone 16.)
Before turning to the portable chargers we do recommend, I want to quickly share our philosophy on backup batteries. To the greatest extent possible, we try not to use them. There are field testing days for me when this is absolutely unavoidable, as I’m in the park from Early Entry until after park closing, booking Lightning Lanes and refreshing for better times along the way, while also responding to comments here and doing blogger stuff. But for the sake of your own sanity, I hope you are not a blogger.
While Walt Disney World does make some screen time practically inevitable, it is not mandatory. You can book Lightning Lanes when eligible without compulsively refreshing. You don’t need to post real-time updates on Facebook or wherever; give your social media addiction the week off and share when you get home.
When we’re in the parks for fun, we make a concerted effort to be present in the moment–talking with one another, seeing our daughter as she discovers this or that and her eyes light up, poring over the little details throughout the parks, and even people-watching. During fun park visits like this, both of us can make it through a full day without using a charger…most of the time.
Nevertheless, we realize this is overly idealistic and we’re not going to change the behavior of a TikTok-obsessed tween with a few paragraphs here. Still, something worth considering given all of the money you’re spending to be at Walt Disney World…why spend the time glued to your phone, something you could do anywhere else?
Since this approach only works most of the time, we also pack three backup batteries before each trip and try to each bring one to the park every day. This is our rule for a simple reason: we sometimes forget to charge a battery overnight and one of us also sometimes forgets to bring a battery to the park.
There have been plenty of times when we’ve brought three batteries and, by the end of the trip, we find ourselves rushing out the door with only 1 charged battery. To their credit, this is precisely what FuelRod fans argue is a selling point of that device in the first place.
Another rule we have is that we no longer buy generic batteries. You’ll see some great deals on brands that are like QWEDHYX or a bunch of other random letters. We’ve had our share of no name batteries over the years–they’re all junk. Our storage container of random cords and electronics accessories is littered with these bricks that barely hold a charge. Portable batteries have come down in price so much over the years that it’s silly to buy anything other than name brands.
For us, this means Anker. In fact, that’s the only brand on this list…not because we have a lucrative sponsorship deal with them (sadly, we do not), but because they’re the best brand that also offers good value. There are other higher end options, but with the propensity for batteries to get lost or degrade over time, we don’t see the point in spending more. Anker is the sweet spot.
Finally, we try to find the best balance between size, capacity, and speed. It’s literally impossible to have all of these things, so tradeoffs are a must. Since we try to minimize phone use, we’ve found that we no longer need the highest capacity (and biggest) batteries. Instead, we go for options that are the size of the phone or smaller and can fit in our pockets. Your mileage may vary on that–you might want a ‘family-sized’ option that’s sufficient for 4 full phone charges. That’s overkill for us.
With that lengthy preface out of the way, here are our favorite portable phone chargers for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and traveling in general…
Anker Zolo 10,000mAh 30W Portable Charger with Built-in USB-C Cable for Travel – This charger was just released in the last couple of weeks, and it is–without a doubt–the charger we’d buy if we had the iPhone 15 or Samsung phones–or anything with a USB-C connector instead of the Lightning connector. Everything about this looks perfect to us, from the built in cable to the size and speed. And the price is certainly right, too! Also available in 20k capacity.
Anker Magnetic Power Bank 10,000mAh Wireless Charger – The key difference between this and other chargers is that this is wireless. That means you can use this if you don’t have a phone case or have a MagSafe case. It’s not compatible with non-magnetic phone cases, such as OtterBox Defender cases, so don’t even bother.
Anker Nano Portable Charger – I just started using this in 2024, and it’s now my favorite charger. The big selling point is the built-in Lightning connector for iPhones, meaning that you don’t need to carry additional cords. That alone is a game-changer for me, as I can hold the phone in my hand while the charger is attached and simply use it like normal. The only downside is slightly slower charging than the other batteries below, but that’s actually remedied by an updated, faster version that was just released. (I’ll be buying it if there’s a sale for Amazon Prime Day!)
Anker 3-in-1 Power Bank USB C Charger Block – This is another one we don’t own (yet) that was just release in 2024. As the name suggests, this is a portable battery that doubles as a power bank with two USB-C ports. That’s the issue for us (again) as it’s better for iPhone 15 (and future) or non-Apple devices. (Speaking of which, I use and highly recommend the Anker 100W USB C Charger Block for that purpose. Great for a MacBook, iPhone, and Apple Watch!)
Anker Slimline Phone Charger 10,000mAh Battery (USB-C) — Even before Lightning Lanes, we recommended bringing a backup battery pack to charge your phone while using My Disney Experience or social media at Walt Disney World. This one has great capacity and the fastest quick-charging capabilities. This is perfect for the two of us–probably insufficient for a larger family or one (1) TikToking teenager.
Anker 20,000mAh 22.5W High Speed Charging Portable Charger – This has double the capacity and faster charging, but is not slim as a result. Good for an entire family, and an objectively better deal than the 10,000mAh version. This is overkill for us, at least for now, but if we “needed” a 20k charger for whatever reason, this is the one we’d buy. With that said, once it’s time to do Lightning Lane Multi Pass field testing, we might need of these!
As always, we receive a small commission from Amazon for your purchases, so buying through these links helps support the site. However, neither the price you pay nor our recommendations (or lack thereof) are impacted by that. There’s a reason we don’t recommend the cheapest off-brand junk or the most expensive and fanciest chargers on the market–they’re not the ones we use or recommend. These are. Well, with the exception of the new Anker Zolo, and that’s only because we still use the “old” (heavy air quotes) iPhones. Jealous of anyone who isn’t and can use that one–it’s pretty clearly the best option!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Which is your preferred portable phone charger for Walt Disney World or other travel? Any great ones that we’ve missed? Do you opt for Anker, or go with whatever is cheapest and just buy new ones regularly? What matters most to you: speed, size, capacity, or cost? Have any product recommendations (or dislike any of the items listed here)? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
