Anyone ever move to Orlando just to be closer to Disney?

[21hearts]

I am so tempted to move to Orlando but the cost of living is pretty high there (at least from where we live now). Our rent would double a month for the same kind of rental we have now (yes we've looked). My DH was offered a job doing a truck route from Orlando to Miami but the pay was just enough to cover bills, rent, food, ect with little to almost nothing left over. If it had paid just a little more I would be there right now.

 

[d1gitman]

id rather move to SoCal and be near DisneyLand. DLCA is a perfect locals park and you just can't beat SoCal weather...

 

[justskip70003]

if you are thinking about moving, i would suggest researching orlando. its HUGE, the crime is outragious and the job market is horrible. i made the huge mistake of moving with out researching it and i was shocked. i moved to tampa 3 months later and have never been happier. i am close enough to disney, but far away from orlando. disney is disney and orlando is completely 100% different.

 

[Colleen27]

id rather move to SoCal and be near DisneyLand. DLCA is a perfect locals park and you just can't beat SoCal weather...

Yeah, but we'd have to win the lottery just to afford a shack in SoCal!

 

[Tink60]

Moved here 10 months ago, just to be closer to Disney and family...... even though I visited here several times a year (from Texas), have family that has worked for Disney for 15 plus years, I did not think I would be looking forward to moving away (to Colorado) in two months.
Orlando is just not the place for me to live. We live off 27, just north of I-4. Not really in Orlando but still too close. The other posters are right about the crime, horrible job market, and the exhausting heat that has started in mid-march and will go on through early November. ( and I thought the 100 degree heat in Texas would have prepared me ) Impossible to go shopping at a mall or just get around town during busy seasons. To add in another observation, the parks have been so very crowded most of the time. I never dreamed that some of the magic would disappear.....but it is soooooo different than when I visited on vacation.
Am I glad I did it? Oh yeah! I can now move on to other dreams and experiences without looking over my shoulder wishing I could be Mickey's next door neighbor. Will I still visit every chance I get? You Bet, but as a tourist.

 

[justskip70003]

i am happy i am not the only one who feels this way.

what you have to remember and i say this all the time. disney is disney and orlando is its evil brother(or sister) everything that is great and magical about disney. orlando takes it and kills it. again please research the crime rates in the surrounding areas. orlando is a very nasty place. does it have very nice places to live. yes but it is also a very expensive place to live. i will always say this. noone is a bigger disney fan than i... and all of yall. but living there ruined it for me.

that being said, now that i live in tampa. i have never been to disney more. sometimes when you get to close to the one you love it really takes all the "magic" away...

 

[Lights_Out]

Yeah, but we'd have to win the lottery just to afford a shack in SoCal!

Not with the current economy/house prices.

 

[pdxJolene]

I agree with the PP's, I wouldn't want to live too close (to the world or land actually) Disney is a special place to me and being able to pop over for dinner or an afternoon just wouldn't be the same. Not sure if this will make sense to anyone, but its almost like a fantasy or dream place. When I go to disney on vacation I automatically check my "real life" at the door. I don't think about work, things that need to be done around the house, upcoming events, etc. Its a total break! For some reason, this doesn't happen on any other vacation. Maybe because I'm still "in the real world" everywhere else? Disney is my ultimate happy place, I wouldn't want to compromise any of that just to be able to go more often.

That's totally just me though, DBF and I were actually talking about where we would want to move if we ever left Portland. He suggested SoCal & Orlando just so I could be close to disney all the time lovestruc I know, luckiest girl alive) and was shocked when I said no way.
I'm sure this was way longer than necessary but I just wanted to share my thoughts

 

[GATORinaZ28]

Sort of. We live in NW Florida now and have good jobs, so we do not have any "real" plans on going South. However, I have already made thorough plans on moving to Celebration after we hit the Powerball.

 

[Metro West]

i have never been to disney more. sometimes when you get to close to the one you love it really takes all the "magic" away...

I agree to a point but living here for the past eight years has only done one "bad" thing in the way I look at Disney...not waiting in long lines. The parks are much busier than they were eight years ago and now I won't wait in line over 20 minutes for anything. Over the years I've done everything I've wanted to do multiple times so unless I'm going with friends/family, I just won't wait in lines. Why? Because I can always go back and that has spoiled me. It's nice to be able to go over whenever I want and have a good time w/o having to plan everything like lots of posters on the DIS do. I know some people enjoy that but heck...I couldn't plan a meal 180 days ahead if I had to...and wouldn't want to...but that's the difference between being a tourist and being a local.

I've never been caught up in all the "magic" at WDW...sorry...I just haven't. I enjoyed coming to Disney when I was a kid but I wasn't a huge Disney fan. Now...I enjoy going and spending a few hours at Epcot doing nothing more than walking around...it's a great way to exercise.

 

[mhconley]

Not with the current economy/house prices.

Not true.

We moved last summer. I would have loved to move ANYWHERE in SoCal but we could not afford it.

Rents in SoCal start at $2400 for anywhere I'd want to live. We have a 4 BR pool home 15 minutes from the beach that rent's for $1200. Buying the home we're renting would cost about $145,000. Try finding that anywhere in SoCal.

We moved here for the cost of living, weather and the schools - being near WDW is a bonus.

Martin

 

[chskover]

My favorite line is that I am retiring to Disney. I would love to retire in 10 years from my current job and then move to Disney. I would just need something to supplement my retirement.

 

[PoohsFan1]

You might want to check on the Community Board where you'll probably get more responses.

I moved here in 2004 but it had nothing to do with Disney or Universal and with the state of the economy and jobs being so scarce in this area, unless you have something lined up it may be a huge mistake to move here just because of Disney.

I agree, my DH and I have been talking about this for quite some time now. We both would love to work for Disney some day and in WDW. I want to work with guests while DH wants to work behind the scenes (he is a telephone repairman and would love to work with Disney's own telephone company). However, he makes very good money where he is right now, and a pay cut is just not in our budget this point in our life. So unless he could find something equal or close to what he is making right now, we will just have to wait to move....I'm good with working at Disney after I retire

 

[Birdman1511]

I moved here four years ago to be closer to Disney and don't regret it at all... i know the whole "losing the magic" topic comes up for a lot of people when talking about moving to Orlando, but to me it actually got much stronger. I'm much more of a Disney fan now than I was before I moved here. Not only that I think a lot of people fail to realize just how much Orlando has to offer other than WDW and Universal. And you're really close to a lot of different places. You're less than an hour and a half from Tampa, a little further is Clearwater Beach, you're two hours away from St. Augustine(which is a really cool town, you're 45 minutes from Cocoa Beach... if i were you i'd definitely do it

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

We're considering it within the next 5 years. We've been doing research, both of our jobs are transferrable. We're not in love with where we live and it's rather expensive where we are. I'll miss staying in the resorts the most. We eat out most of the time, so we would probably have dinner there at least once per week. Plus if we have a child... I need to get as far away from my future-MIL as possible

 

[IcedMudd]

We just did it a little over a month ago! DH actually got a raise to move here and our cost of living is only $50 more than what we were paying in E. TN. I think everyone's situation is different, and if that's where you're heart is leading you, then jump! If you don't, then you may miss out on something great, but if you do, be prepared that it's not always going to be hunky-dory.
I feel the magic MORE now than I did before and we go often, um, very often. I don't have to rush to get the "must-do's" done, if a line is long and we don't want to wait, we dont. If we want to stand in a standby for 45 minutes for one ride and then go home, we can. We almost always try to get a fastpass to a popular ride and give to someone before leaving

 

[Lights_Out]

Not true.

We moved from NorCal to SWFL last summer. I am LA born and a San Diegan in my heart. (My wife and I met while I was living on the beach in Oceanside.) I would have loved to move ANYWHERE in SoCal but we could not afford it.

Rents in SoCal start at $2400 for anywhere I'd want to live. We have a 4 BR pool home in SWFL 15 minutes from the beach that rent's for $1200. Buying the home we're renting would cost about $145,000. Try finding that anywhere in SoCal.

We moved here for the cost of living, weather and the schools - being a 3-1/2 drive from WDW is a bonus.

Martin

Did you mean only the urban cities in SoCal? (LA, OC, San Diego)?
There are tons of houses around (about 1-2 hours east of OC, LA) where houses are $100,000~$160,000 (for now, hopefully)

I would know. I live here.

 

[ars0525]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I have pondered the last 10 years moving to Venice, FL (I am 32 & single) from the Chicago area. My gram has had a place in Venice for about 30 years & I really like that area. Except I could never make the move without a job lined up. I was unexpectedly unemployed last year for about 9 months & no way could I just quit my job to move where I have no clue if I could find work easily (administrative assistant, office, customer service, medical/insurance, municipal experience).

When we were at Disney last fall I did chat with a very nice CM & he said the biggest change with moving to FL is it's getting used to only about $10/hour pay. Is that true state wide or just in Orlando or maybe just Disney area?

Being within a 2 hour drive of Disney would be a great bonus, but for me it's not something to base a whole move on. I am more concerned about the cost of living (compared to Chicago area), affordable housing & employment/salary comparisions. Where can I find that info?? I have tried a little looking on-line, but I don't find clear answers.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[hookedonears]

Have thought about it many times, but that little voice of reason always says that's not a good idea. There are numerous reasons why it's a bad idea for us, but one major one for me is that I'm afraid that a small piece of the magic will be gone. WDW is a special place to go. It's like going to the camp, the beach or other special places. If we move there, I'm affraid that some portion of the specialness will be gone.

 

[mhconley]

Did you mean only the urban cities in SoCal? (LA, OC, San Diego)?
There are tons of houses around (about 1-2 hours east of OC, LA) where houses are $100,000~$160,000 (for now, hopefully)

I would know. I live here.

Well I did qualify my post with "anywhere I'd want to live."

We looked in Temecula & south down the I-15 corridor all the way out to the coast, the LA basin, the San Fernando Valley, and west all the way to Gaviota and up 101 all the way to Paso Robles.

We were not interested in living in anywhere east of downtown LA, Riverside Co. (except Temecula), San Bernardino Co., Simi Valley, or the deserts including Lancaster & Palmdale.

Now if we ever strike it rich we may be back on the beach in San Diego county.

Martin