Bay Lake Florida is a city that is located in the State of Florida and the United States of America. In addition, Bay Lake is located inside of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) and encompasses around 23 square miles or 14,720 acres of the improvement district. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was created by the State of Florida at the request of Walt Disney Productions in 1967. Walt Disney Productions, now The Walt Disney Company, has full, indirect management control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The district is like a county that The Walt Disney Company controls as the majority landowner in the district. Some Disney employees live in the district and make decisions on the various city and district operations.
The City of Bay Lake was created at the time RCID was approved by the state of Florida, which was on May 12th, 1967. The City of Reedy Creek was also created as another city that was part of the district. The City of Reedy Creek became Lake Buena Vista sometime in July 1969 as a part of adjustments made to the district. Lake Buena Vista contains Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) and the management offices of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Lake Buena Vista is directly adjacent to the city of Bay Lake. Bay Lake, FL is also mostly inside of of Orange County Florida; however, Reedy Creek Improvement District is the entity that overseas the city.
Bay Lake - Walt Disney World’s City
When looking at the address for some of the theme parks and hotels in Walt Disney World you will see that Bay Lake is the city that they are all in. Bay Lake is the primary city in the RCID and is home to all of the four theme parks that make up Walt Disney World Resort. The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom are all located in Bay Lake, Florida. The only attractions that are not part of Bay Lake is the area around Disney Springs, which is inside of the city of Lake Buena Vista.
Above Bay Lake Florida photo by Ivan Curra on Wikimedia Commons. Originally on Panoramio (Closed Down). Photo enhanced by NavFile and released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Walt Disney World is Not Actually in Orlando
Even though it is commonly known that Walt Disney World is located in Orlando, it is actually not. Walt Disney World is mostly part of the City of Bay Lake. The Walt Disney Company has one of the most unique location setups due to the fact that it was able to create its own cities to house the amazing attractions that they have created. Bay Lake and Reedy Creek may be one reason that Walt Disney World has been a success that is known throughout the world.
The Walt Disney Company does not actively advertise the city and mostly uses Orlando to describe the area that Walt Disney World is located in.
Bay Lake Florida Zip Codes
Bay Lake FL has 5 zip codes that encompass the city’s land area. The zip codes are 34787, 34786, 32836, 32830, and 32821. 34787 is located in the west and northwest portion of the city. 34786 is located in the northern part of the city. Zip Code 32836 encompasses the east and northeast portions of Bay Lake. 32830 is Bay Lake’s main Zip Code and is in the central and south areas of the city.
Bay Lake Florida Map
Below are some maps of Bay Lake, Florida to showcase where it is located.
The History of Bay Lake
Bay Lake and the Reedy Creek Improvement District were both originally created to support the develop of EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). EPCOT was Walt Disney’s vision and idea to help solve problems associated with cities. According to Mr. Disney, EPCOT was supposed to be a community of tomorrow that showcased new innovations
On October 27th, 1966, Walt Disney had the following to say about Disney World (later changed to Walt Disney World) and EPCOT:
“I don’t believe there’s a challenge anywhere in the world that’s more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin – how do we start answering this great challenge? Well, we’re convinced we must start with the public need and the need is not just for curing to the old ills of old cities. We think the need is for starting from scratch on virgin land and building a special kind of new community. So that’s what EPCOT is, an Experimental Prototype Community that will always be in a state of becoming. It will never cease to be a living blueprint of the future, where people actually live a life they can’t find anywhere else in the world. Everything in EPCOT will be dedicated to the happiness of the people who live, work, and play here. Those who come here from all around the world to visit our living showcase.” - Walt Disney About EPCOT.
Walt Disney Productions would not go on to complete EPCOT in its entirety as Walt Disney passed in December 1966, a few months after providing the above explanation of EPCOT. As a reult of Mr. Disney's passing, the company was unsure on how to operate the original EPCOT plan and decided to build a modifed version of EPCOT that was called Epcot Center and is now Epcot (lower case letters, instead of upper case letters).
Bay Lake and RCID; however, is a living version of EPCOT that does provide happiness to the people who visit the city everyday.
To learn more about Bay Lake, Florida, please feel free to visit the other pages about the city and the pages covering Walt Disney World Resort.
