All the parts laid out
All the parts laid out Matrix Portal S3 mounted in the case LED panel in the printed bezel The two halves connected by ribbon cable The finished Theme Park Waits display The Theme Park Waits faceplate The display on a shelf The display in use
ScrollKit 3.0

Build your own theme park ride wait time display

Four off-the-shelf parts, a 3D-printed case, and about half an hour with a screwdriver. No soldering, no subscription. Just live ride times from 100+ parks on your desk.

BeginnerDifficulty
~30 minAssembly
NoneSoldering
~$80In parts

Parts you’ll need

The CPU board was designed by Limor Fried and is manufactured in New York City. Everything plugs together. Nothing to solder.

No kit, no checkout. I don’t sell hardware or run a store. These links point to the standard parts so you can buy your own. They’re not affiliate links; I don’t make anything if you click them.
  • Adafruit Matrix Portal S3
    ESP32-S3 controller, the brains of the sign (Adafruit #5778)     View at Adafruit
  • 64×32 RGB LED matrix panel, 3 mm pitch (P3), HUB75
    The 7.5×3.75″ display. Usually ships with the HUB75 ribbon cable and 5 V power leads. Any P3 64×32 HUB75 panel works.     View at Adafruit
  • 5 V USB-C power supply (3 A+)
    Powers the board and panel over USB-C     View at Adafruit
  • USB-C cable
    1 m is plenty     View at Adafruit
  • Fasteners
    4× #3×⅜″ screws (board) · 4× M3×6 mm cap-head screws (LED display)     From any hardware kit
  • 3D-printed case: body + faceplate
    Print it yourself from the files below, or ask a maker friend     Get the files ↓
No soldering required. The Matrix Portal S3 has a HUB75 header that mates straight to the panel, and power is a plug-in connector. The only heat involved is optional: the faceplate can take M3 heat-set brass inserts, or you can self-tap the screws into the printed holes.

3D-printed case & software

The case prints in two colors (a black body with white lettering) on any FDM printer. Recommended profile: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm layers, PLA, about 6 h 35 m per set. Do a filament swap at the text layer for the two-tone look.

  • Case: branded faceplate + body (.3mf) Download .3mf
  • Case: plain (.stl) Download .stl
  • CircuitPython 9.2.8 (Matrix Portal S3)
    Flash this to the board first: drag-and-drop UF2. Use 9.2.8, not CircuitPython 10, which has a networking bug     Download .uf2
  • Theme Park Waits 3.0 software
    Open source (MIT). One zip: copy its contents to the board. Source on GitHub.     Download .zip
Assembly guide Flash & set up

Specifications

Display64×32 RGB LED matrix, 3 mm pitch (P3), retro 8-bit look
Display Size7.5 × 3.75 in (190 × 95 mm)
ControllerAdafruit Matrix Portal S3 (ESP32-S3, CircuitPython)
ConnectivityWiFi (2.4 GHz)
Data Sourcethemeparks.wiki API (no key, no account)
Wait-time refreshEvery 10 minutes
Parks Supported100+ worldwide, up to 4 at once
ReliabilityHardware watchdog, reboot-loop safe mode, self-healing WiFi
Software UpdatesFree, over USB (park list updates on its own)
PowerUSB-C, 5 V
AssemblyNo soldering, plug-together
Warning: DO NOT LEAVE IN A CAR IN THE DIRECT SUN DURING THE SUMMER, ESPECIALLY IN FLORIDA!

Parts on the way?

Follow the illustrated assembly guide, then flash the software and set it up from your phone.

Assembly guide →