Fort Gatlin was established by the U.S. Army in November 1838 during the Second Seminole War. The site of the fort was chosen due to its strategic position on a hill overlooking three lakes and the fact that it was less than 250 yards from a nearby Council Oak tree, where Native Americans had traditionally met. It was named after John S. Gatlin, an Army physician who was killed in Dade's Massacre on December 28, 1835.

According to some sources, the city was named after the protagonist of As You Like It. James Speer, a resident and admirer of William Shakespeare, suggested the name in a letter, writing that "Orlando was a veritable Forest of Arden, the locale of As You Like It." In addition, one of downtown Orlando's major streets is Rosalind Avenue, which may have been named after the heroine of the play.

Orlando is famous all around the world for its collection of theme parks, which bring an astounding 75 million tourists to the city every year. While the Walt Disney World Resort is the most renowned attraction, it isn't alone. The area now boasts 7 of the 10 most visited theme parks in North America (5 of the top 10 in the world) and the 4 most visited water parks in the U.S.

When it first opened in 1949, Gatorland's main attraction was a 15-foot gator that was billed as the biggest in the world. Today, this theme park and wildlife preserve features thousands of alligators and crocodiles, many of which were bought from trappers who would otherwise have killed the animals for their meat and skin. The breeding marsh area of the park was used in the filming of the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The Backstreet Boys were literally born in the backstreets of Orlando. It happened in 1993 when Lou Pearlman decided to name them after Orlando's Backstreet Market, a flea market where the group liked to hang out.

It has been called "the City Beautiful" since 1908 when local officials borrowed the name from an urban planning movement that was transforming places like Cleveland, Detroit, and Denver. In Orlando, a rural cow town at the time, "City Beautiful" represented something different, an aspiration rather than a reality. A hope that the small assortment of ranchers and citrus growers could one day grow into a full-fledged city. The nickname stuck, and today it's included on the city seal.

The world's largest McDonald's restaurant, also known as Epic McD, opened in Orlando in 1976. The three-story restaurant has a floor area of 19,000 square feet (1,800 m²), a 22-foot-tall PlayPlace, over 100 arcade games, and a waving 30-foot-tall image of Ronald McDonald. In addition to the standard McDonald's menu, Epic McD offers over 50 additional items, including brick oven pizza, Belgian waffles, and customized pasta dishes.

To pay for the demolition of its old city hall, Orlando made a deal with Hollywood. Producer Joel Silver blew up the building for the opening scene of Lethal Weapon 3, with Warner Bros. covering the $500,000 cost of the demolition. The building was made to collapse forward (toward Orange Avenue) so that it wouldn't damage the new City Hall building, built directly behind it.

Orlando is home to more than 100 lakes. Many are formed from giant sinkholes, included Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, which is 80 feet at its deepest point.

When the Orlando Magic joined the NBA in 1989, a contest in the Orlando Sentinel allowed the community to suggest names for their new franchise. A total of 4,296 entries were submitted and subsequently narrowed to the "Heat", the "Tropics", the "Juice" and of course the "Magic".