The city's nickname is "The City Beautiful", and its symbol is the fountain of Lake Eola.
In 1959, the Walt Disney Company, under the leadership of Walt Disney, began looking for land for a second resort to supplement Disneyland, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys revealed that only 2% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland, and wanted control of a much larger area of land for the new project.
International Trolley and Train Museum features 14 model railroad trains with sound and lighting traveling through an indoor garden with 12-foot high mountains, waterfalls, and more than 30 trestles and tunnels. Also on display are toy trains from the 1920s to the present. Visitors can catch a ride in a California Victorian Style half open/half closed trolley or the 5/8 replica of an 1880 locomotive (a Mason Bogey) with its passenger cars.
SeaWorld is a chain of theme parks in the United States, with operations in Orlando, Florida, San Diego, California, and San Antonio, Texas. The parks feature killer whale, sea lion and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu the killer whale.
Most of the Walt Disney Company's Central Florida land, and all of the public areas, are located in the Cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, which are both contained in the Reedy Creek Improvement District. These governmental entities, controlled by the Walt Disney Company, are located southwest of Orlando and a few miles northwest of Kissimmee.
Discovery Cove, part of the SeaWorld Adventure Park complex. This attraction features tropical fish in a coral reef, snorkeling with stingrays, and interacting with birds in an aviary, as well as swimming and playing with dolphins during a half-hour dolphin encounter.
SeaWorld Orlando is a large adventure 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 comprised of Universal Studios Florida, CityWalk, and Islands of Adventure theme park.
In the Orlando area, like most metropolitan areas in Florida, the majority of the population lives outside the city proper. Nearby suburbs extend into Seminole County, including Oviedo, which has been listed as one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.