We moved to Tampa area 3 years ago this summer, my job transferred me here (were in IA/Omaha NE area before). We have annual passes to Disney as well as the other area parks (Uni, SW, BG). For us, living approx 1 hr away has definitely NOT taken away the magic or the fun. It has, however, changed the way we are in the parks. Before, we tended to be pretty commando, wanting to cram in the fun. Now, we go for weekends and we still may spend all day at the parks, but we may spend a couple hours in the Innoventions buildings at Epcot, for example. Our pace is somewhat more relaxed, we don't feel the need to buy a bunch of souvenirs so we are now choosier (we still buy them but not every time, now we largely buy the costlier souvenir items that we would not have bought before but only one costlier item per trip or that kind of thing). And we ADORE the weather. We have been here long enough that the 50's of the past couple days were something to dislike, but at the same time, we've watched the news footage of the rest of the country, including the ice this week in GA/SC, etc and we are SO thankful not to be dealing with any of that! I can't speak to the Sanford area, sorry, but I think living in the motor home and/or renting a place for an extended time before buying is a great idea. We are still renting and may never buy, as there are a lot of great rentals (also motor home parks are everywhere here).
