DIY Disney Magic Band Reader
This DIY reader will bring the Disney World magic into your home using an Adafruit Feather RP2040 to emit lights and sounds.
Disney’s Magic Bands are a “mystical” enhancement for your park experience. While a neat device, astute hackers may suspect that their magical properties are a matter of wireless trickery, namely RFID. If this is the case – and it is – then it should be possible for your to use your collection of magic bands anywhere with the proper reader setup.
In this project, the Ruiz brothers show how to make a very nice Mickey Mouse-themed band reader similar to the ones you'd find inside each Disney World park. When a programmed Magic Band is held up to the device, it emits one of its stored sounds, and makes a pleasing light circle in the translucent printed area.
Programming in new bands is a matter of pressing a button on the dedicated RFID WIZ device, while holding the Magic Band over the reader. The WIZ acts like a button, sending a relay input to the device’s Adafruit Feather RP2040 that controls the NeoPixel lighting and sounds. An amplifier is used to supply power to a small 8 ohm speaker, but the RP2040 board conveniently has all the processing power needed to generate the audio signals.
The results, as well as a brief project overview, can be seen in the video below. The concepts presented should also work with more generalized RFID tags, in addition to Disney-styled wristbands. The write-up includes build instructions, along with code, CAD, and STL files for 3D printing.