DIY Disney Magic Band Reader

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.