Thinking about moving east....

[Deb & Bill]

While your at Disney you could visit a 55 plus place about 10 min. from Disney called K. Hovnanian
Google k. Hovnanian Four Seasons Orlando.
It looks beautiful!...

Except both the poster and her daughter would not be eligible to live there with the mother. Neither are 55 nor close to it.

 

[Christine]

Except both the poster and her daughter would not be eligible to live there with the mother. Neither are 55 nor close to it.

I think if the homeowner is over 55 it's not a problem. As long as non of the dependents are under 18, most of those over 55 communities realize that some of the residents may be younger. We have a Four Seasons about 3 miles from me and that is allowed. My coworker lives there at 58, his wife is 50, and their son is about 22.

 

[okeydokey]

Your daughter won't make enough money to support herself in an entry level job at Disney so you would be working to support both of you. You need to figure your finances to account for that. Will you be buying a house or renting? You need to research rents and home prices in the area compared to where you are now in WA. Consider health insurance for all of you as well.

 

[princesspiglet]

My DD16 is planning on attending college (hopefully at CalArts) to study character animation. From all the research she has done, the jobs for animation are all in Burbank and you can't "work your way up" through the Disney company to get them. You need to have an animation degree of some sort. Working at the parks is not going to get her there.

 

[Antaniasmom]

I haven't moved as much as some other posters but I've done it twice-- MN to CT and CT to NC. Both times I did not have a job. 1st time was easier, I was 25, in love and was driven to make my move successful--I got a job within a week...there were many jobs to follow lol. We gave up on CT last year after 14 years(too expensive) and came to NC. DH took a transfer but I was left without a job. In 7 months I have worked 8 weeks, but now I have finished training and am starting a job with USPS. We feel our move was a good decision, our DD loves it here and so do we, but I don't quite feel successful yet. Do not move to Orlando, as other posters said, it's expensive, it's also a dangerous city. We looked into it, no no. If you all feel this is right and you're not just doing it for your DD's sake...then I say go for it. There are plenty of neighboring cities to look into. Do your research, look online at places that interest you and take a day or 2 while you're in FL on your trip to look at the places in person. Start your job search, even if you say this move is a little far in the future it's a good idea to be informed before you get in a time crunch. Most importantly, make a plan find deals on moving expenses (USHIP is fantastic!) And make sure you have plenty of money saved. Plus you never know, the move could come sooner than you think. Best Wishes and Good Luck to you and your family!!!

 

[barkley]

I guess I am looking for thoughts from folks that may have done a long-distance move and how they did it

i did one-from california to washington state.

i did ALLOT of research for over a year ahead of time. i looked to what the cost of living was going to be like where i lived vs. where we were considering (and we were considering other places in the u.s.). people tend to look at things like housing costs primarily, i looked additionally at-

property taxes (wildly higher in many places as compared to washington just so you're aware),
car reg fees
car/homeowners/renters insurance
utilities (sure, i pay more in the winter here than i paid in california but over the course of a year it's MUCH less than i paid b/c of heavy a/c use for months on end)
food (we read grocery ads online for the areas we were looking at, visited a couple of the places and wandered stores to get the real picture).

i looked to the cost of higher education for my kids-granted, we knew we had enough time to establish residency here before my kids became college age but i still ran the numbers (something that your dd will need to look at b/c absent any kind of higher education she is not just going to get plucked from behind a snow cone booth at wdw and get an animator's job-and i suspect flordia requires what most states do, at least 1 or 2 years of residency to get whatever their lowest rate tuition runs).

if your mom gets any kind of retiree/survivor health insurance see if it's even available to her out of state. i was an early retiree (disabled) and my health insurance followed but at TRIPLE the cost (my former employer like many others only offers one plan to those that move from the region the employer was located in). so make sure mom will have sufficient coverage available and affordable to her.

WAGES-granted you would be trading one no state income tax state for another but does your dd realize that an entry level minimum wage job in florida pays 3.25 an hour LESS than here? yup, $8.25 vs. $11.50 (and in 1/19 $12.00). that's pushing 30% less.

when we had a couple of places narrowed down we traveled to them for a week minimum each-NOT to any of the tourist attractions, to lodging that afforded us the ability to get out and walk around the town/city, some neighborhoods and businesses. we wanted to see what day to day life was like-how much it would cost to make meals we were used to eating, how much going to movies ran, read the local papers/watched the local news...it gave us a good feel for what each area was like.

all that said-we only did it knowing we had MORE than enough continuing income (pension) to cover our needs until dh got employment and on top of that a LARGE emergency fund.


i get that you want to support your dd's dreams, but i strongly suggest that she AND YOU research what the type of jobs she wants entail education and experience wise. my kiddo just graduated with a degree in film. several of her fellow program grads are interested in animation careers and are thrilled to have gotten internships w/companies across the u.s. (so far as i know-none in florida) but they applied for these positions with the hopes of proving themselves for an entry level job only after years of getting their degreeS-that's right, double majors in film along with art and computer science related to art and animation and with an existing portfolio in hand.

 

[Antaniasmom]

i did ALLOT of research for over a year ahead of time. i looked to what the cost of living was going to be like where i lived vs. where we were considering (and we were considering other places in the u.s.). people tend to look at things like housing costs primarily, i looked additionally at-

property taxes (wildly higher in many places as compared to washington just so you're aware),
car reg fees
car/homeowners/renters insurance
utilities (sure, i pay more in the winter here than i paid in california but over the course of a year it's MUCH less than i paid b/c of heavy a/c use for months on end)
food (we read grocery ads online for the areas we were looking at, visited a couple of the places and wandered stores to get the real picture).

This...for us our #1 research was finding a good school for our DD, once we found it we centered our apt search around the school but looked at the town, taxes, etc. And found how much money we would be saving vs. Staying in CT with no real hope for a good future.

 

[tcufrog]

As someone who used to work with college students at a variety of colleges my biggest piece of advice for you is for your daughter to meet with a career counselor. It sounds like she doesn't know realistically what she wants to do with her life career-wise. As many others have pointed out, this a plan that's doomed for failure. A career counselor will be able to administer a career aptitude test, explain the careers she has potential to be successful at, and then explain to her what she needs to do to get there. Good luck. I understand wanting to make a change but this plan will lead to financial ruin.

 

[barkley]

This...for us our #1 research was finding a good school for our DD, once we found it we centered our apt search around the school but looked at the town, taxes, etc. And found how much money we would be saving vs. Staying in CT with no real hope for a good future.

if i were the op my concern w/be with the cost of higher education. i know that here in washington tuition is about $17K per school year more for a non resident. a quick google search just showed me that some florida colleges charge about $23K more per year for a non resident.

before i would be quitting a long term job and uprooting an elderly mother to follow my adult child's seemingly unresearched dream across the county i would suggest that the adult child take steps to research what the m.q.'s for the job she desires entails-and then if college is part of it and she is still insistent that flordia is the end all/be all of her career destinations, adult child would move there and initiate getting the job, training.....

then the situation could be looked at in a year to see if it's desired or viable to move myself/an elderly family member.

 

[michellelovesthemous]

Me again my daughter has wanted to to be an animator since she could hold a crayon that is all she has ever wanted to do and has always been used as an example of for someone who “just knows” what she will do in life. She also wants to work for Disney and is aware of the low income. The houses Mum is looking at is at is about half of what the house could be sold for. Also we would be living with her to help take care and support her. School has been put on hold since graduation due to some bad life experiences and she is looking at starting back up ap at community college Winter quarter. If we move forward again it is 18-24 months out. I am looking for ideas if expenses I hadn’t thought of and advice, to which I thank all of you who have already responded for your thoughts!

 

[princesspiglet]

Me again my daughter has wanted to to be an animator since she could hold a crayon that is all she has ever wanted to do and has always been used as an example of for someone who “just knows” what she will do in life. She also wants to work for Disney and is aware of the low income. The houses Mum is looking at is at is about half of what the house could be sold for. Also we would be living with her to help take care and support her. School has been put on hold since graduation due to some bad life experiences and she is looking at starting back up ap at community college Winter quarter. If we move forward again it is 18-24 months out. I am looking for ideas if expenses I hadn’t thought of and advice, to which I thank all of you who have already responded for your thoughts!

Not trying to be rude, but if your DD really wants to be an Animator, then she needs a degree in Animation. Most of the colleges that offer those degrees are based in California. There are a few colleges in Florida that offer animation degrees- the two main ones are Full Sail and Ringling College of Art and Design. These colleges are not your typical liberal art colleges where you take the basic courses of history, math, etc before taking courses in your major. You actually start out in your major courses and do those classes for 4 years. Starting at a community college is not going to help her at all in animation- those credits won't transfer and they will be worthless at an art school.

My DD16 has also wanted to be an animator since she was 5 years old. Her and her guidance counselor have done extensive research into what is required to become an animator. Her goal is to attend an art school in California and eventually stay there and get a job in the animation field in Burbank. That is where ALL the animation studios are located.

 

[Southernmiss]

Op, based on your last post, I really think you and your DD need to see a career counselor at your local 4 year college.

I think your DD has a youthful naivete. She needs to hear from those who help kids prepare for college what it really takes these days to "break into" one's chosen field.

I've got 2 in college now. Lots of their ideas are wonderful dreams, but we have to help them see reality. My 2 in college did a lot of college investigation in high school with their school counselor and college visits. They are on a career path and with successful college completion and a year of scheduled internships through their college program should be able to find a job in their field. However, they still have to do the work to get there.

Kids at 4 year colleges going into animation will have a huge advantage over your daughter and she needs to understand that that is the route it takes to get where she wants to go.

Your dd needs a 4 year university reality check for her dream of being animator. If that is not possible right now, look into technical schools. She just might find her passion somewhere else.

But she does need to get moving personally on getting herself together and finding a career/degree.

Me again my daughter has wanted to to be an animator since she could hold a crayon that is all she has ever wanted to do and has always been used as an example of for someone who “just knows” what she will do in life. She also wants to work for Disney and is aware of the low income. The houses Mum is looking at is at is about half of what the house could be sold for. Also we would be living with her to help take care and support her. School has been put on hold since graduation due to some bad life experiences and she is looking at starting back up ap at community college Winter quarter. If we move forward again it is 18-24 months out. I am looking for ideas if expenses I hadn’t thought of and advice, to which I thank all of you who have already responded for your thoughts!

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Do not move to Orlando, as other posters said, it's expensive, it's also a dangerous city. We looked into it, no no. If you all feel this is right and you're not just doing it for your DD's sake...then I say go for it. There are plenty of neighboring cities to look into.

I've lived in Orlando for most of my life and it bothers me to see the entire city labeled as dangerous. I've never felt that I was in danger here. There are bad areas for sure (like any city), but there are plenty of beautiful and safe neighborhoods.

The houses Mum is looking at is at is about half of what the house could be sold for. Also we would be living with her to help take care and support her. School has been put on hold since graduation due to some bad life experiences and she is looking at starting back up ap at community college Winter quarter. If we move forward again it is 18-24 months out. I am looking for ideas if expenses I hadn’t thought of and advice, to which I thank all of you who have already responded for your thoughts!

What areas is she looking at housing in? I can help you avoid any undesirable locations.

I'll echo what a dozen other posters have said: I would seriously talk to your DD about what her plan is. Working at WDW will not get her to Walt Disney Animation, but a solid college education in animation, internships, and work experience might. It is far too technical of a field to just work one's way into, especially working an entry-level job at the theme parks. That would be like working at Universal Orlando to get a job working on films at the actual studios in CA... sure they're the same company, but completely separate divisions. One of my high school friends had always known he'd be an animator and worked his butt off to do it: he went to one of the top animation schools (Ringling, which is in FL) and interned at various studios, including Disney. He now works in the industry in CA. The local college in Orlando, the University of Central Florida, does offer an animation degree.

 

[RangerPooh]

Agreed, she will need a college background in animation or some aspect of it. A childhood friend of mine has a degree in animation and has spent years participating in animation workshops (many with Pixar) just to get her foot in the door. She'd love to join Disney or Pixar, but the jobs are competitive. After year of trying to get her foot in the door she was hired with Sony for Hotel Transylvania 3 and is now with another studio based out of Vancouver BC. But, she was already based out of California and able to travel to conferences and workshops around the state.

Since you appear to be heavily leaning towards relocating to Florida, you need to look into then is what animation programs the schools on the Orlando area have, and the percentage of it's graduates getting hired into the field. While I'm all for encouraging my child's dream I think that I would hold off on uprooting our lives and relocating until a job in the industry has been found. If she wants to work for Disney, then the College Program is a great opportunity to do so. Have her do that to get a taste for the company. Also reinforce that people are not going to just get plucked from the parks and placed into animator positions. That's rare and probably doesn't happen these days like it did in the company's infancy. She might work at the parks while paying/attending college, but to firmly believe that she'll work her way up isn't realistic.

Now the long distance relocation. We moved from CA to WA and did some homework before our move, but not enough. We moved just out of college and were open to going just about anywhere. We landed on the WA coast and immediately regretted it as it was so far from everything that we needed. Eventually we sold the property that we purchased and moved across the state to attend graduate school and lived there for almost 10 years. Three years ago DH accepted a faculty position in Tennessee, so we moved cross country. The move was NOT paid for. The move did put us in a financial bind for a while, as I had to leave my job behind and experienced difficulty getting one locally for a while. We also rented our home site unseen as we could not afford to make multiple trips here while saving for a quick turnaround move. Thankfully it worked out, but it meant that we had to do a lot of online research as we didn't have anyone locally who could ground truth for us. I would not recommend going this route. If you are determined to relocate to Florida, then do your homework. Look at neighborhoods, read reviews, find local online groups to inquire about their thoughts/feelings about an area. Is an area going in a great direction or is going downhill fast? Pictures like realtors are not always honest.

 

[Southernmiss]

If your DD is serious about the Disney college program, have her visit the college program board and really look into it. My son has friends who did the college program. While it was cool to work at Disney, and they got entrance perks, etc. It was not a dream job. It was a semester of work and substandard living and pay, okay for a college kid who wants to work a Disney for the experience of it, but not something leading to a long-term dream fullfilment.

 

[Micca]

I would love to live in Florida and the closer to WDW, the better. But my sense is that quality of life in most of WA is probably much better than it is in most of FL. Also what everyone else said about getting into Disney via Burbank is correct (AKAIK.) That's not to say that someone couldn't work WDW for a while and find it beneficial, but it's most likely no place to get noticed for animation skills.

 

[wgeo]

I'm not going to address the college daughter job choices, I feel like that's been well covered and agree with what's been said about proper career planning.

But you specifically asked for moves and expensives. We've moved across country 3 times as a family. Each time my husband had a job waiting and I did not. Unexpected expenses - the weeks before during and immediately after the move you often end up having many hotel nights and eating out a lot. I think someone mentioned how quickly it can add up when you get to a new place and you need to refurnish it or get new things that have broke in transit. The actual cost of moving your household goods of course is very large. The cost of renting for awhile and then moving again locally can add up if you're not able to purchase a house from across the country and move right into it (which is possible of course but not easy at all) And if you do purchase from across the country, it likely means that you have flown to the area and house hunted at least once - so add in the cost of those travels as well. Then there is the cost of getting new driver's license/new tags for cars etc. Those ran us close to $1000 when we moved to FL blew my mind. There is also an opportunity/time cost. At each move the husband has seen a significant pay increase, I have not. The time it has taken me to find a new job etc hasn't always been good or fun. There is the time it takes to find new doctors, and extra visits to get established with new doctors etc.

I find our moves to be exhilirating but exhausting and will be very happy if we don't have to make another one anytime soon.

 

[Nancyg56]

Not trying to be rude, but if your DD really wants to be an Animator, then she needs a degree in Animation. Most of the colleges that offer those degrees are based in California. There are a few colleges in Florida that offer animation degrees- the two main ones are Full Sail and Ringling College of Art and Design. These colleges are not your typical liberal art colleges where you take the basic courses of history, math, etc before taking courses in your major. You actually start out in your major courses and do those classes for 4 years. Starting at a community college is not going to help her at all in animation- those credits won't transfer and they will be worthless at an art school.

My DD16 has also wanted to be an animator since she was 5 years old. Her and her guidance counselor have done extensive research into what is required to become an animator. Her goal is to attend an art school in California and eventually stay there and get a job in the animation field in Burbank. That is where ALL the animation studios are located.

This time 100!!!

 

[GreatLakes]

I've seen a lot of terribly thought out moves to Orlando to "find magic" but this one might be the worst yet. Don't move anywhere unless you already have a job lined up, and a job you are willing to move for. If you daughter wants to move to Orlando to draw for Disney that is her dream to follow. I've moved across the country twice for a job and at no point did I expect or ask my mom or grandma to make the move with me.

 

[Deb & Bill]

My son's friend did two College Program stints with WDW while she was attending college and two internships once she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. Once she completed her second internship, she was offered a job with a Disney contractor, not Disney. She was told Disney might hire her after a while as long as they had work and the contractor would recommend her. She was ultimately hired directly by Disney after working for the Contractor for about a year on one of the current projects. She is extremely driven and has been working 80 hour weeks for about the last two months. Since she is salaried, there is no overtime for the extra 40 hours per week. She is hoping for a bonus of some sort once the project is completed. This is extremely stressful and she does have a lot of drive. OP, if your daughter is not as driven and not prepared for the hard work, she will not make it. Community college is not going to make it. Move from Washington if you must, but don't move to Florida for a minimum wage job that she can easily be fired from because of bad life experiences.