No one knows more about enjoying Orlando's famous attractions than the Theme Park Rangers. Get the inside scoop from these park veterans. Collectively they've spent more than a century exploring how to have fun there.

Dewayne Bevil writes: I moved to Central Florida in 1989 and since then have survived days and nights of theme park fireworks, food festivals, Mickey bars, months-long Mardi Gras merriment, stilt walkers, wet clothes, parades, impatient parents and the Ticket & Transportation Center.  A notable day was for a work assignment of "Seven Theme Parks in One Day." It was picked up (ahem, and plagiarized) by several sites, which led some folks to call me a "bozo." But they missed the point of the exercise and the parks: It's all for fun. My first exposure to Disney was as a preschooler at Disneyland. The most vivid memories include the teacups and "it's a small world." Sorry for planting that song in your head. Today I have an affection for Tower of Terror, Islands of Adventure (I went Islands-hopping for nine consecutive weekends in the early days), Animal Kingdom's Primeval Whirl and having my picture made with the Epcot ball. I like going to SeaWorld, but I feel funny eating there. Dislikes? Ever-rising parking fees. Demon moms with double-wide strollers. And I was once trapped in the Carousel of Progress first act for four rounds, so I'm a bit scarred.  When not theme parking, I'm working at the Orlando Sentinel as the designer of the Calendar section, the entertainment tabloid that is published every Friday.
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Mary Frances Emmons writes: I was born and raised in Orlando and have been to the parks hundreds of time, but stayed on property only twice (Disney's Boardwalk and Port Orleans, thumbs up for each), so I still have things to explore. I vividly remember the day in October 1971 when my parents took my sister and me out of school to go to the Magic Kingdom for the first time, a just reward for the countless muggy, buggy hours spent with out-of-town relatives exclaiming over the models at the Mouse's Preview Center, the first public building on property, on what's now called Hotel Plaza Boulevard (and yes, it's still there, although the model is long gone). I've never lost my taste for theme parking since, and yes, I still believe in the magic, including the kind that comes from Universal and SeaWorld.
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Kristin Ford writes: I visited Walt Disney World when I was a child in the '70s and '80s. I have fond memories of staying with my family at the then-modernistic Contemporary Resort and taking in all that Walt Disney World had to offer -- which, in those days, was the Magic Kingdom and River Country water park. A journalism career brought this Hoosier grad to O-Town and back to the parks for more fun. Today, I'm there with two preschoolers and a grumbling husband, yet I still find the experience to be a magical one.
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Steven Ford writes: As a youngster in the '70s, I remember watching "The Wonderful World of Disney" on TV every Sunday night and seeing scenes of Disney's newest themed attraction being built somewhere in the swamps of Florida. "Far out!" I thought, hoping in vain to visit but knowing it was a long way from my Texas home. At the time, little could I have imagine that, decades later, I'd be living in the park's backyard and taking my two kids there often. Maybe too often, I think now, as I struggle  to keep up with two energetic preschoolers and a wife who believe in the magic.
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Matt Palm writes: In 1995, I visited my friend Rebecca on a Japanese military base. Desperate for a taste of home, she suggested visiting Tokyo Disneyland. I immediately scoffed, "I do not want to visit a theme park!" Two years later, I moved to Orlando and to date have been to our big-seven local parks more than 300 times. And I have made multiple visits to all the Disney parks, except for the newest Hong Kong park. Yes, that includes 12 visits to Tokyo Disneyland. Today, I can recite Prince Eric's dialogue from "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" on cue, I still miss Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and I can perform the hand-ography to the old "Remember the Magic" parade.  Somewhere, my friend Rebecca is having the last laugh.
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