dvc'rs moving to orlando area?

[queenof4hearts]

I am trying to find where a great place to raise a family of 6 in the Orlando area. We frequent the area w/ our points but never have really looked around the area as a place to live.

Which is a nice area? Kissimmi, Clermont, Orlando, Celebration?

Are the schools good in Florida? I always hear they are not, but I don't know.

Any dvcr's out there that moved close by? What are the pro's and con's.

I know these are very general questions, I am just looking for any opinions. Thanks!

 

[queenof4hearts]

I was wondering if anyone has moved to the WDW area and wondering where a great place to raise a family of six would be?

Kissimme, Orlando, Clermont, Celebration. I don't have much info on these places. Are the schools good in Florida?

We really want to move down and rent for a year or so. Any suggestions. Anyone else picked up and moved to be closer to their home?

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated! Anyone have a house to rent?

 

[Sherri]

I don't know, I think I would miss the change of seasons if we moved to Florida. Doesn't stop DH from talking about it though.
But a really pretty area was this area near the celebration hospital. It was like a whole little town that seemed to come out of a picture book. It was beautiful. I wish I could remember the name. It was a community that had its own school and post office and downtown and beautiful homes. Celebration village I think its called.

 

[MinMouse]

DH & I considered the move from the chilly Northeast about three years ago. I did a lot of research on the internet about the schools and found that Seminole County was a great place for schools. You'd be about 35 miles north of "home". Ironically this was the same location as his job offer. We decided to stay north for a variety of reasons . . . family, lots of vacation at current job, etc. It is tempting during those chilly January and February nights though. Now that the sun has comeout for Spring I feel better though!

 

[queenof4hearts]

Thanks for the input! We are pushing towards Clermont. Anymore tips would be greatly appreciated! We really miss Florida!

 

[twotoohappy]

Ocoee, Florida is very nice, but expensive. It has a great school system too!

 

[goofy4dvc]

I just received my first Florida Monthy magazine. I think they have one called Florida Living also. You can check out the website at floridamagazine.com. On one of our trips to Orlando, we made some day trips and liked the Mount Dora area. It's very hilly (for Florida). Anyway it was a neat place to visit. I didn't do enough research on it to know if I'd want to live there. Lots of antique and boutique shops, large lake, hills, quaint. A few years ago, it was ranked high in the Where To Retire magazine.

 

[byoung]

Good luck on your decision.

 

[byoung]

Can't help you, but wish you a lot of luck.

 

[laceemouse]

Well, when you hear "the schools in Florida are so bad" you need to remember that Florida has COUNTY-wide school systems. We lived in Jacksonville for many years and let me tell you there is a HUGE difference between schools in downtown and schools in the burbs yet they are ALL averaged together and therefore look pretty dismal on paper KWIM?? You HAVE to look at the indvidual schools. Basically anywhere in the US, and we have moved A LOT, where you have an upper middle class neighborhood, lots of educated and involved parents, ect. you will have fairly decent schools. People who live in the south understand this. We lived outside of Chicago for 5 years and they just could not comprehend. THEIR school system was ONE tiny little ritzy burb, and they were compairing their scores to LARGE cities in the south with ALL KINDS of people. That being said, my SIL and family live in Winter Park. It is a beautiful family area with lots of parks and such and pretty good test scores in the schools. They homeschool for other reasons, as do we now. Also be aware that no place in Florida is cheap anymore! Those days are long gone. It may still be better than NY, but expect to pay BIG BUCKS to be in a nice safe area with good schools. We would love to move back to Florida, but every job there that Dh investigates does not pay enough for us to move back there and get a house in a good area large enough for our family of six. We now have a HUGE house in Texas! It would take a lot to make me leave it!! There is no place else in the country where we could get so much for so little, and he was offered a decent salary here too .

 

[laceemouse]

Also, I would never want to live in Kissimmee or anyplace else too close to the theme parks. Too touristy for me. Also, the traffic in Orlando is awful! Will you or your spouse be working? The top consideration for us this last move was....short commute!!!! Dh now has a 4 mile one!!! Fantastic!!!

 

[BCV23]

Thanks for the input! We are pushing towards Clermont. Anymore tips would be greatly appreciated! We really miss Florida!

I would do your homework before picking Clermont. I know someone who lives there. The schools are so crowded according to her that she drives her children to a private academy about 1/2 hour away.

Celebration is supposed to have good schools.

Good luck in your search.

 

[queenof4hearts]

Thanks BCV23, I will look into the schools more. Our children go now to a private school, but you never know what lies ahead. It is a difficult decision!

 

[queenof4hearts]

Thank you, thank you for your opinions and experiences. My husband will be working and I may work some but not much. He could potentially make much more than where we are. We really love the Florida area and are sick of the cold. It is never an easy decision!. I am getting away from the Kissimmee location for the reasons you stated. Thanks again!

And, I apologize for kind of double posting. I hadn't been on in a while and things had changed. On that note, I love this group and I love DVC!!!

 

[Cruelladeville]

Keep us up-to-date on what you find out. I am interested in moving into an apartment/towne house/condo down there during the winter months once I retire, but haven't figured out how to research this yet. I figure my first year after retirement, my DVC points will get a work-out while I go searching.

 

[laceemouse]

Please let us know how things turn out! Gee, I would love it if my dh could make more money in Florida, I am jealous!!! Best of luck to you!

 

[laceemouse]

I have heard that the Celebration schools have not live up to the reputation they started with. We actually saw it in the paper during one of our trips. One complaint was no gifted program. That would be a biggy for us. We actually went to Celebration and looked at houses. It is beautiful, but to get something big enough would be about a million $$$$. Guess we should start buying lottery tickets . Northerners should also remember this....NO BASEMENTS. After 5 years in Chicagoland we missed ours terribly when we moved back south, but we got big square feet so that made up for it! I think weatherwise I would prefer the mid-south. Not so HOT, but not much snow to shovel either!

 

[CarolMN]

FYI - Merged duplicate threads -

 

[BCV23]

I have heard that the Celebration schools have not live up to the reputation they started with. We actually saw it in the paper during one of our trips. One complaint was no gifted program. That would be a biggy for us. We actually went to Celebration and looked at houses. It is beautiful, but to get something big enough would be about a million $$$$. Guess we should start buying lottery tickets . Northerners should also remember this....NO BASEMENTS. After 5 years in Chicagoland we missed ours terribly when we moved back south, but we got big square feet so that made up for it! I think weatherwise I would prefer the mid-south. Not so HOT, but not much snow to shovel either!

laceemouse, did you read this in the Orlando Sentinel? If so, I would take it with a big grain of salt as Disney and the Sentinel seem like oil and water. I have seen some grossly unfair reports in that paper over the years about Disney. Even the gifted program or lack thereof could be misleading. Our high schools have no gifted programs as such but cater to many gifted students with AP and honors courses. Our grade and middle schools do have them though.

Do you remember roughly when you read it? I would be interested in reading it if I could find it somehow.

After a lifetime of having basements, I sure would miss that. On the other hand, maybe it would discourage us from keeping so much STUFF!

Good luck, queenof4hearts!

 

[Cruelladeville]

Maybe there are no basements in Florida because of the BUGS! Can you imagine what you would find when you went down there? I have seen Florida's centipedes--they are big enough to carry off fully grown men! They'd eat small children whole Mmmm!