With that said, its climate speaks to a number of the attractions San Diego offers its visitors, including its beaches, Balboa Park, Belmont Amusement Park, and San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban park in the heart of San Diego that was named after Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. The park is one of oldest recreational spaces in the nation, as the space for the park was established in 1835. In addition to the beautiful green throughout the park, today it also hosts museums, restaurants, and retailers, in addition to the world famous San Diego Zoo. The Zoo is one of the most advanced zoos in the world with over 4,000 animals, including the incredibly rare giant panda. One feature of the zoo, which is an overhead gondola lift called the Skyfari, provides an ariel view of the entire zoo and allows patrons to explore a great deal of the animals from a different perspective. The overhead Skyfari is a more effective attraction given the fact that, besides the reptile house, the entire zoo has open, outdoor exhibits. Built in 1925 by John Spreckels, Belmont Amusement Park is an oceanfront attraction that has rides that resemble that of a carnival. The main draw to Belmont is a wooden roller coast called the Giant Dipper, but there is also a Tilt-A-Whirl, the Liberty Carousel, and the Vertical Plunge. It is located on Pacific Beach, which is one of the many other lovely draws of San Diego. Some of the other beaches include: Black's Beach, La Jolla Shores, Marine Street Beach, and Mission Beaches, among others. The beautiful weather in San Diego is closely linked with the majority of the tourist attractions. If you're a resident or a visitor, there's no denying the gorgeous sunshine that showers this city is the primary thing that brings people back time and time again!