I’ve been geeking out on the details of the rollout of Disney’s massive $1.5BN MyMagic+ “next gen” guest experience. The center piece is the new RFID MagicBand. Based on several teardowns and the FCC documentation, there is apparently a passive RFID tag that is thought to be a Mifare Desfire EV1 with an encrypted portion of its 512k memory AND a battery-powered active RFID tag under that that can be read from a distance to trigger commemorative photos on rides and much more. The MagicBands are starting to appear on eBay for around $28.00 (Buy-It-Now), but as the program rolls out across the other parks throughout this year, I’m sure they will drop in price. I haven’t had a chance to try, but maybe the passive tag can be reprogrammed to work with Adafruit reader hardware? Makers have already started producing their own versions of the fabric covers that Disney sells. And it will just be a matter of time before someone comes up with 3D printable models of the snap-on MagicBand Band-Its.
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