Relocating to WDW?

[dznyacct]

Just thought I'd say hi! I'm currently a junior at Purdue myself! It's cool to see someone from the same area! (And he should come to Purdue, I couldn't be happier here!)

Holy cow, I must have posted that quite a while ago ! My DS is graduating next month from Purdue (a Physics major and an Astronomy minor). I still have my dream of one day moving to the Central Florida area . BTW, I tried the yellow VW Bug here in Indiana....NOT a good idea for our winters . It will still be my Florida car someday .

 

[jarrdisney]

Since this seems to be one of the more active threads that was resurrected, I thought I would give you some insight on our move.

It will be One year in July that we moved to Orlando. We lived in the newer section of Windermere (behind MK) until March and now we rent in the Dr. Phillips area because we're considering buying here. We don't have any kids yet and we're in our early 30's. My wife was finally able to get a teaching job prior to moving, and while different from NOVA, she has gotten used to the school system here. I am self employed so we have plenty of time that we spend together.

I used the city data forums quite a bit prior to moving here, and they were a wealth of information, despite the negative comments. There is quite a bit of validity to some of the negativity however, and I urge anyone that is SERIOUSLY considering the move, to take the advice to heart. The biggest thing that I would impart to those looking to move is, secure jobs before coming. It costs money to do fun things here and we take advantage of it almost every day. If we were not able to do these things, I know we would be less happy. The job market here is awful and the pay scale coincides. Don't think that since you don't have state tax that you will be making all this extra money. There are people with masters degrees applying to be cashiers at Publix and Target.

All that being said, if you can secure a decent paying job and can live within your means while having fun, it's an amazing place to live. The parks have not gotten old to us and we just look at them from a different perspective. It was unreal to be able to go to Halloween Horror Nights 12 times, and we were in WDW nearly everyday once the Christmas decoration went up.

We also love everything else that central FL has to offer including downtown Orlando and beautiful Winter Park. If anyone has any questions or if I could be of any assistance feel free to PM me.

here's the link to the thread I started when moving here was just wishful thinking. I updated it a couple months ago
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2680414&highlight=move+orlando

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I think about moving closer to Disney World a lot. I am always at my happiest there.

 

[mommykds]

Anyone have any thoights on Celebration? We took a drive over there & it looked nice but I know nothing about living there.

Our hope is to move down when the last one goes to college.

 

[Metro West]

All that being said, if you can secure a decent paying job and can live within your means while having fun, it's an amazing place to live. The parks have not gotten old to us and we just look at them from a different perspective. It was unreal to be able to go to Halloween Horror Nights 12 times, and we were in WDW nearly everyday once the Christmas decoration went up.

Now you're catching on.

Now that you're not a tourist any longer, you can forget about making ADRs eight and half years in advance and you can always take your time touring.

There are definite advantages to living in the area.

 

[boxer]

We actually put an offer down on a Short Sale house on our last visit in November. While waiting on the short sale approval I started looking for jobs (construction management) THINKING I would get an offer immediately, LOL. What I came to find out was there were upwards of 300 people applying for ONE position, and there was no way they were taking a PA-resident over a FL resident! I literally spent 2 solid months applying for any-and-all construction management jobs, and you want to know how many call backs I got? NONE, as in zero!

Luckily the short sale approval took longer than anticipated, and our contract expired. I LOVED the house, and we were really looking forward to relocating to enjoy all the activities mentioned on this thread. How cool would that be to have a Saturday off work, and have to decide between the beach, Universal, or Magic Kingdom for the day!!!!!

You cannot beat the real estate prices right now (we offered $215 on a 4/3 with a great pool and 2700sqft), but it is near impossible to find a job. We may try again when the job market is better, but I've come to realize how tough it is to find work in FL. It makes it tougher since I have a great job up here in PA.

 

[Monny2AE]

It's my dream to relocate further south- NC, GA or FL someday. I hate cold weather and would love to be further south in the sunshine. Right now the job market is too terrible to even think about it. Even if the job market were better I don't think it will happen until my two kids are out of school because I've never heard anything positive about the public schools in FL. Are there any public school districts in FL that are good?

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Anyone have any thoights on Celebration? We took a drive over there & it looked nice but I know nothing about living there.

Our hope is to move down when the last one goes to college.

Celebration is 'the town that Disney built.' I think there is even a book by that name. There are many sites & discussions about Celebration online. But in brief, it was created & designed as a 'DISNEY' town...kind of the original Walt Disney vision of an 'Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow.' They built schools, parks, a shopping area, etc. The several original builders of the homes had great reputations. Unfortunately (IMHO) the Disney company pulled out several years AFTER so many people moved there BECAUSE it was a model Disney town. Many original families left.

We visit every year because it was once my dream to live there. Now it does not seem very different from some other communities in the area. There are still higher HOA fees than most other places though.

 

[momfeez]

We loved the thread 'do you get depressed when you have to leave WDW' and reading all the similar thoughts.

We always talk about just staying (not coming back) while we are there. Very common for us to add onto the end of our vacation. Just wondering how many actually relocate to the Disney-area. From other thread seems a number do this.

Looking forward to your reply

Thanks

Our plan is to buy a condo so DD can live it during her last year or two at UCF then when DH retires we move down there. We have a few years to go, but that is the plan

 

[Traveliz]

Our plan is to buy a condo so DD can live it during her last year or two at UCF then when DH retires we move down there. We have a few years to go, but that is the plan

That is sort of what we did. Actually my daughter lived on campus (Rosen) and then when she graduated we bought a condo that she lives in and maintains (pays most of the bills) and we of course are there as much as we can. My husband is hoping to be able to be there full time in a couple of years...just depends on whether that will work out.

Liz

 

[IcedMudd]

We moved here last February. DH transferred from his original job to an opening in Orlando (he was a diesel tech). Since then, Mickey came calling and he now works in Engineering for the mouse. We are now discussing purchasing a home somewhere in the near future. We love it here.

 

[thedonduck]

We have been here about 6 weeks, we live about 15 mins from WDW (just South of the airport!). It has been an adjustment to life in WI (we have no family/friends here!), but we are definitely enjoying ourselves. It's been nice to visit the Mouse whenever we want though.

I need to start learning new things to do though. As much as I love WDW, I know there is so much more that this area has to offer. I need ideas of place to go/things to do!

 

[Figment43]

The biggest thing that I would impart to those looking to move is, secure jobs before coming. ... The job market here is awful and the pay scale coincides. Don't think that since you don't have state tax that you will be making all this extra money. There are people with masters degrees applying to be cashiers at Publix and Target.

All that being said, if you can secure a decent paying job and can live within your means while having fun, it's an amazing place to live.

This is the best advice! I made the mistake of moving to the area before securing a job. I had money saved from before, but was unable to enjoy Disney as much as I wanted because I had no income to replace the money I spent.

I ended up finding a job in Miami. Got laid off after 11 months. It took me a year and a half to find a new job making only $10/hr. Didn't even come close to paying the bills. I had things shut off a few times because, believe it or not, I made too much to be eligible for assistance.

The job market in Florida is terrible, so definitely don't come here unless you have a job lined up already. There's almost no manufacturing here. Agricultural, warehouse, and port jobs pay extremely low wages. There does seem to be plenty of tourism and service industry jobs, but good luck finding one for more than minimum wage and you need at least 2 yrs experience to start. For anything else, you need at least a Bachelor's degree to apply for most jobs. Associate's degrees? Useful as extra toilet paper when you're too broke to buy any because you couldn't find a job after a year and a half of searching.

 

[illi]

I live about 2 hours West of Orlando. I was born & raised in central FL and it's always been a dream of mine to live in Orlando & work at Disney.

But, with the job market being what it is it will probably be a few more years before I can even begin to explore that option. At this point, I'm fortunate to be as close to WDW as I am.

 

[katibosch]

I did the college program in '99 and seriously thought about staying but I found that things were just too expensive there. I wouldn't trade my DH and DD for anything (and wouldn't have them if I'd stayed there until now obviously) but I do sometimes regret not at least giving it a try. DH and I always kinda "scope things out" (doing some basic research on cost of housing, etc.) when we go on vacation, so I imagine we'll do that this time too. Orlando isn't our top destination by any means (that honor belongs to Chincoteague, VA ) but it would probably be on at least our top 10 or so. I say if you have the means go for it!

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

I've wanted to be a Cast Member since first trip-1972! Life kept getting in the way. Later, I was married and DH was NOT convinced we should give up our (then) secure jobs. But I could never surrender my dream.

On one trip 20 yrs ago, I finally asked a senior citizen Cast Member-who was from my home state- about making the move. She said "Honey, this is a VERY hard area to make a living in. Go home, enjoy your life, watch your son grow up & come here to live when you are retired." I was SO disheartened. I thought "20 YEARS???? I CAN'T WAIT 20 MORE YEARS!!!"

Fast forward. It went by in a heartbeat. And here we are planning our retirement to the Disney area. DS is grown, DH is finally ready to make the move - just to have me stop whining, I think and that Cast Member was so right. The stars are aligned now. Maybe she was MY Fairy Godmother?

 

[jarrdisney]

Anyone have any thoights on Celebration? We took a drive over there & it looked nice but I know nothing about living there.

Our hope is to move down when the last one goes to college.

Celebration is not all that it's cracked up to be. It was our dream neighborhood when we first started talking about moving down years ago. The town itself is very nice and if I were retired I would consider living there. It's right off of 192 in Kissimmee which is tourist central and also a crappy area to boot. If you stay within the actual community you will be fine, but heading to anything on 192 tarnishes the feel completely IMO. The only saving grace is being able to leave via 417. It's also one of the most expensive areas as well, with an HOA and CDD fee that's through the roof.

 

[Okh]

I'm a total disney lover... and I always say I want to live there! But on the other hand, I think that if I did, it would take away that magic feeling of "going on vacation" to my favorite place in the world!
It's like here... I live in Staten Island... A hop skip and jump from Manhattan (Actually just a hop really) and we NEVER go to Manhattan. If we didn't live here, we'd probably always wanna go... I don't know.. hmmm.
As long as I get to go to DW every year, I'll be sorta happy

There's a reason us Staten Islanders don't go to Manhattan a lot - we're smart.

 

[blainekyle]

My family has been going to WDW for 20 years. My wife got a great job offer from a company in Orlando last summer. She wasn't looking for a job in Orlando it just happened to work that way. I think our enjoyment of WDW made a difference in her deciding to take the job. It's not why she took the job, but it was one of the factors. No offense to anyone in, say, Birmingham, AL, but I doubt she would have taken the same job there.
Phrank

Haha. I live in Birmingham, and no offense taken. My wife is actually in the market for a tenure track position, and I've been watching out for openings in the Orlando area because I so want to live there. She has what is probably a much more rational idea about it though: She wants to find a job near the beach somewhere in Florida so that we can get the Florida resident discounts, and then buy annual passes and take advantage of the shorter distance to the parks. Makes sense, because that really opens up the possibilities.

So, if anybody here gets word that a university in Florida (preferably somewhere near the ocean) is seeking a new professor or asst. professor of photography, I'd really appreciate a PM with the details.

 

[dickyrader]

I was looking at Windermere. Does anyone have any thoughts on that area? It seems like a great place with some pretty affordable homes.