Living near the Magic-good vs. bad cities??

[Princess_Nikki]

We are thinking of relocating to the Orlando area and I was hoping you DISers can give me your advice on what cities are good and which ones I should stay away from.

I should also mention, we don't want to be too far, like 45 minutes or so. My cousin lives in Altamonte Springs, which seems quite nice, but it is too far of a commute to Orlando. (DH will be getting a job near there, I might be working at Disney)

I looked on rent.com for areas, and I've seen a few that look o.k. but I don't have much time to go driving around different areas. I will only have 5 days to find a place! We would like to start off renting in an apartment complex until we learn our way around and decide if we will stay.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

TIA!

 

[suzannews]

Alot depends on where your husband will be working in Orlando, its a big place and I'd personally want to avoid alot of travel time on I4. Places I would stay away from include most of Kissimmee, parts of Metro West near Universal Studios, parts of downtown Orlando and the Pine Hills/Rosemont area.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Oh you live in Clermont! How long does it take you to get to Downtown Orlando and WDW?

Yeah, we found a really awesome apartment in Kissimmee...we don't know anything about it, but one of my friends told me to stay far away from there!!

I heard Clermont is nice...if you aren't too far away, maybe I can look there...

Thank you!!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Bump

 

[Feralpeg]

You might look into, Winter Garden, Ocoee, Dr. Phillips, Gotha and Windermere. Try to stay south of Hwy 50 and west of Hiawassee.

 

[Disneycrazy!!]

I have a dear friend who lives in Apopka. I think it is 30 mins away maybe a little longer, but I love her town. I would love to move there!

 

[ladycollector]

I love Oviedo. If I were staying here after college, that's where I would live.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Winter Garden south of 50 is a wonderful area. The 429, turnpike and 408 are all "right there" (depending of course, on where you finally choose). You can be at WDW in under 15 minutes.

Altamonte Springs really isn't that bad, it's just the traffic flow. Apopka, if you are west enough to have easy access to the 429 is good. A friend of mine just bought a house at the "end" of 429 and it was a smart move.

Avoid: Pine Hills, Orlo Vista! Metro West area is ok, if you stay more toward Conway... (south).

Windemere is ok, if you like dirt roads! LOL. Pricey, and not much to recommend it.

I personally dislike the Clermont area (Lake county) for any number of reasons. I'd not want to live in Lake County.

27 south of the 192 west intersection has some good possibilities, but then you are running into an ever increasing traffic flow again. There really are only a couple of main arteries out of and into that area, and that is what you want to avoid.

Kissimmee... whew. There are a couple of decent areas, but really, REALLY know what you are getting into before signing on the dotted line.

St. Cloud is ok, but now you are starting to get pretty far east.

Oviedo as mentioned isn't bad at all, and if you choose carefully, you'll have easy access to the 417. However, that is getting pretty congested during rush hour anymore.

Winter Park is too expensive and too congested. Williamsburg has some decent potential and so does Taft, but again, visit to be sure.

You really do need to do your own visiting, drive throughs, day and night to be sure. Look at the cars in the area. Are they newer, well kept, etc. Look at the windows. Broken blinds? Sheets instead of curtains? That sort of stuff will help...

Good luck. Be sure it's what you want. Orlando is NOT the Mecca some folks think it is.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Thank you all SO much for your advice, I really appreciate it.

I am going to look into all of those cities.

 

[OrlandoMike]

I love the Hunters Creek area. On the 417 right between Disney and the airport. You can get to downtown in 20 minutes via the turnpike, Disney and the airport are both 10 away via the 417.

Safe area with lots of shopping and dining options.

 

[Art 1]

I live and like the Winter Park Maitland area. Winter Park is not congested as one has said, it is a well established area that maintains value well. I often go into town in the morning from Maitland on I-4 and don't have problems. Oviedo is too far out and hard to get into the city area. Winter Park area to me is one of the nicer areas of Orlando.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

DVC~OKW~96 thank you for all of your detailed listings!

I can't remember which one it was...but my cousin told me to stay away from one of the Winter areas...Winter Garden or Winter Park. She said one was in a not so great area.

I'm searching some places now...

Funny, Kissimmee looked o.k. to me when I went to look at the apartment, but SO many people have told me to stay away from there, so I'm very hesitant now to bother!

 

[donaldduck352]

Kissimmee has good areas and bad,anything west of I-4 is ok.

Clermont is about 25 min to DW depending on traffic on 192.There may be A easyer way but I don't know the roads that well there.

Another town thats nice and not A bad commute is Ocoee.Its NW of Orlando.

The more you can avoid I-4 commuting the better!

 

[Art 1]

DVC~OKW~96 thank you for all of your detailed listings!

I can't remember which one it was...but my cousin told me to stay away from one of the Winter areas...Winter Garden or Winter Park. She said one was in a not so great area.

I'm searching some places now...

Funny, Kissimmee looked o.k. to me when I went to look at the apartment, but SO many people have told me to stay away from there, so I'm very hesitant now to bother!

Winter Park is one of the nicest areas in Central Florida.