Welcome to ORLANDO

Orlando is a major city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan region. According to the United States Census Bureau the estimated population of the city is approximately 227,907; and of the metropolitan area, 2,045,322. It is the fifth largest city in Florida. It was incorporated on July 31, 1875, and became a city in 1885.

Originally the center of a major citrus-growing region, Orlando is now best known as the home of amusement attractions, including the Walt Disney World Resort, the Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld. These destinations helped make Orlando the third most visited American city among travelers in the year 2007. Since the establishment of destination tourism in the 1970s, the local economy has diversified, and today the region is the center of operations for companies servicing Central Florida. Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities by student enrollment in the nation.

Tourism

The Orlando area is home to a wide variety of tourist attractions, including the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Holy Land Experience. The Walt Disney World resort is the area's largest attraction with its many facets such as the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Downtown Disney. SeaWorld Orlando is a large park that features numerous zoological displays and marine animals alongside an amusement park with roller coasters and water park. Universal Orlando, like Walt Disney World, is a multi-faceted resort comprising Universal Studios Florida, CityWalk, and the Islands of Adventure theme park. Orlando attractions also significantly appeal to many locals who want to enjoy themselves close to home.

Orlando has the second largest number of hotel rooms in the country (after Las Vegas, Nevada), and is one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions with the Orange County Convention Center, the country's second largest in square footage. It is also known for its wide array of golf courses, with numerous courses available for any level of golfer. Located several miles away from the main tourist attractions, Downtown Orlando is undergoing major redevelopment with a number of residential projects, commercial towers, and major public works projects including the Amway Center and the Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center. Orlando ranks as the fourth most popular city, based on where people want to live, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center study.

Entertainment and Performing Arts

The hip hop music scene, metal scene, rock music scene, reggaeton and Latino scene, are all active within the city, which is largely home to the Florida Breakbeat movement. Orlando has also been called Hollywood East because of numerous cinematic enterprises in the area.

Until recently, Walt Disney Feature Animation operated a studio out of Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. Feature Animation-Florida was primarily responsible for the films Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and the early stages of Brother Bear and contributed on various other projects. Universal Studios's Soundstage 21 is home to The TNA Impact Zone. Nickelodeon Studios, which through the 90s produced hundreds of hours of GAK-filled game shows targeted at children, no longer operates out of Universal Studios Florida. The Florida Film Festival in nearby Maitland is one of the most respected regional film festivals in the country and attracts budding filmmakers from around the world. In addition, the implosion of Orlando's previous City Hall was filmed for the movie Lethal Weapon 3. Orlando's indie film scene has been picking back up since Haxan Film's The Blair Witch Project (1999) and a few years later with Charlize Theron winning her Academy Award for Monster (2003). A Florida state film incentive has also helped increase the amount of films being produced in Orlando and the rest of the state.

The Orlando Metropolitan Area is also home to a substantial theatre population. Several professional and semi-professional houses and many community theaters dot the area including Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando Repertory Theatre (Central Florida's only Professional Theatre for Young Audiences), Orlando Theatre Project, Mad Cow Theatre, Theatre Downtown, The Osceola Center for the Arts, Winter Park Playhouse, Theatre Winter Haven, and IceHouse Theatre. Disney also a cast theater company known as S.T.A.G.E. as well as Encore, a cast choir and orchestra whose annual charity concerts have raised thousands of dollars. Additionally, both University of Central Florida and Rollins College (Winter Park) are home to well respected Theatre Departments that provide an influx of young artists to the local area.

In addition, the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre brings national tours through town on a regular basis. This venue, built in 1926, will be replaced by the Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center in 2012.

Each spring, local theaters and downtown venues play host to the Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival, which draws touring companies from all around the world as well as readings and fully staged productions of new and unknown plays by local artists. Also in the spring, there is The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, hosted by Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world, containing four theme parks; two water parks; twenty-three themed hotels; and numerous shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation venues. Owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment of The Walt Disney Company, it is located southwest of Orlando, Florida. The property is often abbreviated Walt Disney World, Disney World or WDW, and is often referred to by locals as simply Disney.

It opened on October 1, 1971, with the Magic Kingdom theme park, and has since added Epcot (on October 1, 1982), Disney's Hollywood Studios (on May 1, 1989), and Disney's Animal Kingdom (on April 22, 1998).

Despite marketing claims and popular misconceptions, the Florida resort is not located within the Orlando city limits, but is in its own cities: Lake Buena Vista, and Bay Lake, just south of the city within southwestern Orange County, with the remainder in adjacent Osceola County. Most of the resort's land is located in the Orange County cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, about 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Orlando. Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista are controlled by Disney through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The 25,000 acres (101 km2; 39 sq mi) site is accessible from Central Florida's Interstate 4 via Exits 62B (World Drive), 64B (US 192 West), 65B (Osceola Parkway West), 67B (SR 536 West), and 68 (SR 535 North), and Exit 8 on State Road 429 (Florida), the Western Expressway.

At its peak, the resort occupied approximately 30,000 acres (120 km2) or 47 square miles (120 km²), about the size of San Francisco, or twice the size of Manhattan. Portions of the property since have been sold or de-annexed, including land now occupied by the Disney-built community of Celebration.

Sports

Orlando is the home city of the Orlando Magic NBA team and the UCF Knights college athletics teams. It has also been home to several successful minor league sports teams which have won two Arena Bowls, two titles in ice hockey, three titles in minor league baseball, one title in soccer, one title in American football, and one title in roller hockey.

Orlando has produced several major athletes, such as baseball players A.J. Pierzynski and Johnny Damon, football players Warren Sapp, Daunte Culpepper, Brandon Meriweather, Deacon Jones, Brandon Siler, Mike Walker, Brandon Marshall, and Kevin Smith, basketball players Amar'e Stoudemire and Darius Washington, and soccer player Michelle Akers. Orlando is also home to many current and notable former athletes as well, including baseball players Carlos Peña, Frank Viola, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Jonathan Aldridge, basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, and many golfers, including Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara and Arnold Palmer.