Bay Lake, Florida (city)

The city of Bay Lake, along with its sister city of Lake Buena Vista to the South East, is part of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a quasi-governmental entity created by The Walt Disney World Company. Despite its small size, it was incorporated as a city.

The district and the two cities were authorized by the Florida Legislature in May 1967 after the Disney company presented lawmakers with a set of requests to give it unprecedented administrative jurisdiction over zoning, road construction, utilities, building codes, drainage and environmental protection. Eager for the tourist dollars and jobs Disney World would bring, the Legislature agreed with only one dissenting vote.