We too are from the far northeast and are ready to leave too. Yes, 4 months of life here per year is not enough. We too have been researching all that the rest of you have; Celebration, Kissimmee, Clermont, crime,housing prices, quality of life, weather, snakes and bugs, mold and housing rot, and the list goes on.......
Housing here is certainly not what Ma and Ny are, but it too has gone up to almost double in the last 5 years. Since I will say real estate is cheap by comparison to the rest of you, we can still buy a better house in a lot of areas in Fl. for less than ours cost. The big thing for us is our house is on 1+1/4 acres in a nice development. That will be hard to match as it appears most lots, esp. in developments are 1/4 acre +-. Also, we have found that unless you have a marketable profession, wages are very low in Fl. Dh has been in the same job for 28 years and I decided to "find myself" last year so after 22 years I am back on the bottom of the ladder in a new job. We are afraid, both of us don't need to be starting over.
We do not have children so schools are not our priority but since most of you do/will I will share a story. A friend of mine who has lived in Fla. since we graduated from high school just recently landed a teaching job in the greater Orlando area. She does have a 4 year degree in something(not teaching), was a SAHM for all these years, and yes, because of the shortage, she passed a test and is now teaching. She is very smart, loves kids and I'm sure can handle herself well. My Sister in Michigan also entertained the idea as they have a shortage too and were hiring just about anyone willing. This is a nationwide problem not just Fl. IMHO, I have worked with people with degrees and people w/o degrees and education of one is not indicative of anything, hence the term educated idiots. There are lots of very smart self taught people in this world who have not been afforded educational opportunities for one reason or another. Most of the colleges with night classes are all taught by people in the work force who know something about what they are teaching who are not teachers with teaching degrees.
We had found the celebration chat web site and after reading for a while became less and less interested in this community. We have toured twice and spent a lot of time riding around at different times of the day even, to get a real feel for it. Colleen, you are so right, it does not look lived in. It does however look very Disney like, picture perfect We saw VERY few children and pets. We have a dog and a cat(our kids) and we would have to move in no time, we would never ALLOW someone to take them away from us and they would be in so much trouble, they are used to being free. Thanks for the tip on this, that alone sealed our fate. And talk about cabin fever in the north, those lots are laughable. Who could live in that? Then, we read a thread about the David Weekley homes and all the rot around the windows and other problems people are having with their new homes(some maybe 2 years old). UNBELIEVABLE! And until they banded together were getting poor service at best. This has got us thinking about homes down south in general. Wood down south is a HUGH problem we northerners don't think about. The wood rot, the mold, then there's termites, scorpions, snakes, and other critters. All things we know nothing about.
We too are afraid that there will be a bandwagon we will miss and by the time we get there housing will be outrageous and then we won't be able to go. But it's a big move and we want to be sure of the right decision.
As others have asked, where are the best areas to live? Are the communities like Celebration some of which are gated, as nice yet have fewer resrtictions with the same sense of unity in values? And the construction of homes? How do you avoid getting a "lemon"? I know there are building inspectors who have to certify for occupancy but they don't see every detail, they see a finished product. We have found other sites that talk about this whole subject on housing and have learned that there is such a shortage of qualified builders that the companies are hiring very unskilled labor and the foreman cannot keep his eye on all the help, hence bad workmanship.
Another thing we hear a lot is the traffic. Even in rural areas? Any opinions? We have heard of lots of morning traffic jams.
FLeisure-what part of Kissimmee are you in? We have also been reading about newer communites just off I-92 like on Pleasant Hill Rd. where there are homes of Celebration size and features w/o the price. You say you have a large home that cost so much less by comparison to Celebration. Are you in a gated community and can you share your experiences so far, based on some of my concerns? TIA!
I've always wanted to find a great public school system for my future children because of this 
We can't afford that here in MA, though. Heck, we're lucky to afford a house in a not-great town here
Utilities were actually a little more expensive in Florida because everything is electric vs. gas up here. I remember getting our first bill from Florida Power and Light and my jaw dropped to the floor.
and the drug scene is only there if you go looking for it.
We had some real winners teaching at my school 
