Who has made the move to FL?

[Lynn CC]

Aren’t y’all afraid of alligators? One just dragged that woman into the water when she was walking her dogs. I read there are over a million alligators in Florida and that every non-pool body of water has them.

How do you handle seeing a pond and not get freaked out?

I am afraid. I had no idea there were alligators. I took my 5 year old son down to the edge of a body of water at a hotel in Orlando... a man was yelling to get away, run. I almost fell on top of my son when he yelled alligator. I didn't see the sign posted.
We are moving there but I'll never go near water again in Florida.

 

[Bamaclan4]

Bigotry and stupidity are not just reserved for the South. Ask any "true Southener" and you will find out that Florida is not a Southern State. It is a state that is located in the South and there is a very big difference. As for the strict gun laws, anyone that wants to get their hands on a gun can and will do so in any state. I've lived my entire life in the South and traveled all over our wonderful country and I can assure you that you will encounter bigotry, liberals and conservitives, and gun owners just as you will anywhere in America.

 

[Southernmiss]

Bigotry and stupidity are not just reserved for the South. Ask any "true Southener" and you will find out that Florida is not a Southern State. It is a state that is located in the South and there is a very big difference. As for the strict gun laws, anyone that wants to get their hands on a gun can and will do so in any state. I've lived my entire life in the South and traveled all over our wonderful country and I can assure you that you will encounter bigotry, liberals and conservitives, and gun owners just as you will anywhere in America.

I can not like this enough.

 

[Southernmiss]

Thank you for the advice! And I didn't know we're not allowed to talk about politics here. I will discuss elsewhere.

Pinned at the top of the Community forum

https://www.disboards.com/threads/important-new-policy-regarding-politics-and-religion.2125870/

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Aren’t y’all afraid of alligators? One just dragged that woman into the water when she was walking her dogs. I read there are over a million alligators in Florida and that every non-pool body of water has them.

How do you handle seeing a pond and not get freaked out?

Are you afraid of alligators when you visit Disney? A boy was killed by a gator on disney property. Alligators are, like any wild animal, a small threat. When an attack happens, it is scary and sad, but hardly a reason to live in fear. I've been swimming in those lakes I don't know how many times, have seen some alligators, but obviously it has never been a problem. As an adult, I do avoid swimming in the lakes now, but I'm not going to avoid the entire state.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

OP- We moved here almost 3 years ago. After tons and tons of research, we decided on Clermont. It's the area to the west of Orlando you didn't visit Winter Garden and Clermont (north) are wonderful areas; very family oriented and homeschool friendly as well. We are part of a large homeschool co-op here. There's something for just about everyone. Clermont is growing liked crazy. You might look into the "Horizon West" area of Winter Garden. This is off the 429 where new homes are shooting up. You have access to a major toll, yet you're out far enough to feel a sense of community (not to mention you'd probably see Disney fireworks nightly). Anyway, I just wanted to add my 2 cents since we did the same thing several years ago. Have fun!

Would you mind PMing the name of the co-op? We are likely relocating to Ocoee of Winter Garden soon.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Pinned at the top of the Community forum

https://www.disboards.com/threads/important-new-policy-regarding-politics-and-religion.2125870/

You know this should really be posted on the main page. I've never once gone in the Community forum. And we're in the Budget Board forum now. It feels unfair that a moderator has punished me for my post. So I'm done posting in this thread. I have another group where I can ask my question.

 

[Southernmiss]

You know this should really be posted on the main page. I've never once gone in the Community forum. And we're in the Budget Board forum now. It feels unfair that a moderator has punished me for my post. So I'm done posting in this thread. I have another group where I can ask my question.

Also on the main page
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Also on the main page
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

That's not really on the forum though. When I look on the main forum page that shows all the forums I can't find that. It should be pinned to the top.

 

[FQLover]

How do I contact the Moderator of this Board? The private email she sent me told me not to respond to that post but to a link. The link just led to a listing of all the Forums on the Dis. I looked at that page carefully but did not see anything to click on. There was something for "Technical Support," but I don't think the description seems to be the right place for me to find her.

Thanks for any help with this.

 

[jen7233]

Aren’t y’all afraid of alligators? One just dragged that woman into the water when she was walking her dogs. I read there are over a million alligators in Florida and that every non-pool body of water has them.

No. I don't swim in any lakes no matter where in the country they are. I'm not afraid of ponds either. The lady that was killed went up to the pond, and according to the article I read regularly let her pit bulls swim in them. Now, I don't know if a pit bull can swim or whether that is true, this is just the article I read. I've lived in other areas of the country that scared me a lot more with the presence of moose, wolves, brown bear, and mountain lion. Alligators, no, they just don't really scare me.

 

[Moramoon]

I wanted to thank everyone who's given input so far on this. I've been stalking this thread for a few weeks now. DH will be graduating in 2 semesters with his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. As an anniversary present I made a reservation for Dine with an Imagineer for him at Brown Derby and since then he's been dead set on working for Disney when he graduates. We have some family there, but they're up in the panhandle. Since we have 2 children (6 and a soon to be 3 year old) we really want to make sure they get into a good school. We've made a list of potential places close to Disney and have been looking into them. Right now Lakeland seems to be our top choice with Clermont as our 2nd. I still have quite a few more to look into so that could change. We figure we'll check out a few of our top choices when we're down in December for a Christmas party. It'll definitely be a big change for us since we've lived in the same 20 square miles our whole lives.

 

[MillauFr]

Aren’t y’all afraid of alligators? One just dragged that woman into the water when she was walking her dogs. I read there are over a million alligators in Florida and that every non-pool body of water has them.

How do you handle seeing a pond and not get freaked out?

i handle it the same way I am able to drive on the freeway. Sure 40,000 get killed every year in the US and millions more get injured. I just take precautions and chose to live in an area where we don't have to drive a car too much.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Aren’t y’all afraid of alligators? One just dragged that woman into the water when she was walking her dogs. I read there are over a million alligators in Florida and that every non-pool body of water has them.

How do you handle seeing a pond and not get freaked out?

I'm from Fl, so y'all be nice. There are gators all over Fl. There is one a block away from my house. Just don't let small children or pets go wandering alone near bodies of water like retention ponds and lakes. The woman that was attacked was warned not to go near the waters edge. The gators ( not the ones in Gainesville, well maybe) are most active at dawn and dusk when they feed. Just be careful out there and enjoy the Sunshine State...and leave our politics alone...please.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I wanted to thank everyone who's given input so far on this. I've been stalking this thread for a few weeks now. DH will be graduating in 2 semesters with his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. As an anniversary present I made a reservation for Dine with an Imagineer for him at Brown Derby and since then he's been dead set on working for Disney when he graduates. We have some family there, but they're up in the panhandle. Since we have 2 children (6 and a soon to be 3 year old) we really want to make sure they get into a good school. We've made a list of potential places close to Disney and have been looking into them. Right now Lakeland seems to be our top choice with Clermont as our 2nd. I still have quite a few more to look into so that could change. We figure we'll check out a few of our top choices when we're down in December for a Christmas party. It'll definitely be a big change for us since we've lived in the same 20 square miles our whole lives.

Make sure you plan on getting a job, too, if he goes to work for Disney. He may wind up working for a contractor first (and that means no perks like tickets and other stuff) and getting on as a young engineer with Disney is tough. If he can get an internship, even that won't guarantee a full time job afterwards. My son's best friend did two internships, plus the college program and worked for a contractor first before she was finally hired on by Disney. And they let people go all the time, too.

 

[Moramoon]

Thanks for the advice. We figured it wouldn't be easy. Currently I work for a community college. I know there are at least 4 colleges down there that use the same system I use at my current job. I'm hoping with that plus my 9 years experience in that setting will be enough to find something easily.

 

[MouseLover]

We have been considering a move as well. Housing costs have increased a lot in the past year. We toured a few new construction houses on our recent visit. One was in the 260's six months ago, and increased to over 300 now. It's more $$$ than we would spend anyway, but it's depressing to see comparable houses nearly double the price they are in my area, while wages are no more (and possibly less).

 

[JLoinDisney]

We will be moving to Lake Mary at the end of August. we are a bit nervous of the heat too however, we have have been to the parks a million times in the super hot heat. so we are just hoping for some good AC and not a terrible hurricane season. we are coming from mass and like you we had talked about it before but we werent set on one spot in fl. it just happened to work out where my husbands job moved us. from what i have heard from a lot of people is just like us getting use to the snow during the winter, you get use to the heat and just work with it! im sure i wont feel that way this summer but fingers crossed to next! hahaha good luck and hope to see you down there!

 

[JKalai]

This thread is awesome!

Me and the GF have been having thoughts of moving from Vegas as we don't really like it here anymore. The summers are burning hot (we actually love the humidity and miss seeing greenery), rent is skyrocketing, it's VERY hard to make friends here, and we don't party or gamble so we have lost interest. We've been talking about it more and more often, and central Florida keeps popping up. Not only because we both love theme parks, but I love being by the water and hate cold weather.

The only thing that's keeping us away from actually moving is the consensus that jobs are hard to find and pay is low. I don't have the opportunity to transfer since I work for a casino/resort here that's independently owned and the GF is a dental assistant in a local office. Our resort was just acquired by a big brand, so I plan on staying for a bit just to see what changes take place and if there would be any opportunities I could take from there.

We're both in our late 20's, and would rent if we were going to move as we live really simple. We plan on taking a trip over there and NOT going to Disney (although that's hard to resist) to drive around and sight-see.

Thanks again for all the great replies on here!

 

[FLmomof2]

We moved to St. John's FL (NE FL) from NH/MA about a month ago with 2 teenage daughters. Beautiful area thats growing like crazy.