Bay Lake Travel and Things to Do Guide

The lesser known of the two Florida municipalities controlled by the Walt Disney Company (the other is Lake Buena Vista), Bay Lake is home to all of Disney’s theme parks and most of the other Disney event venues. Bay Lake is located 24 miles from Orlando International Airport, 13 miles from the Orange County Convention Center and 23 miles from downtown Orlando. Groups can select from a plethora of hotel venues in Bay Lake's area that have large-scale meeting space and easy access to entertainment, dining, theme parks, and golf. Among the largest are the 655-room Disney's Contemporary Resort, the 1,900-room Disney's Coronado Resort, and 1,001-room Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, which each have more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space. With its prime location in the heart of Walt Disney World, the special event venues in Bay Lake are plentiful. Some of the more intriguing are the ESPN Wide World Sports Complex, a 220-acre athletic complex ideal for corporate Olympics competitions and team-building activities, Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney, a restaurant brimming with movie memorabilia that can seat up to 650 people and T-Rex-Orlando at Downtown Disney, a restaurant with a prehistoric theme and private dining rooms. Near Bay Lake, Downtown Disney is the epicenter for after-meeting relaxation and entertainment. The complex has 40 stores, a 24-screen movie theater, restaurants such as Bongo’s Cuban Cafe and Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe and attractions like Cirque du Soleil and House of Blues. Nearby, Disney's Boardwalk Resort has a quarter-mile-long authentic boardwalk lined with specialty shops and restaurants such as the ESPN Club and Big River Grille & Brewing Works, a microbrewery/restaurant. Beyond the dining options at Downtown Disney, top restaurants at hotels include California Grill on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort, Artist Point and Whispering Canyon Cafe at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Victoria & Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian and Deep Blu Seafood Grille at Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek.