Live near
Disneyland:
With 25 million of my closest friends; jam packed 8 lane interstates running through almost every yard; California taxes coming out the wazoo; Nancy Pelosi.
I'll one up you: Rick Scott. Enough said.
Anyways, as someone who has lived in Florida (Palm Beach County) for 17 years, I will say that there are certainly aspects I like and dislike. First and foremost, you need a car and you'll find yourself spending more money on gasoline than you would in most other areas. If you want to get to the mall, the beach (unless you can afford the $1 mill+ oceanfront condos), work, school, etc..., you need a car and you'll be using it a lot. Similar to WDW, there are not a lot of walkways, but I can only wish Florida could get a public transit system similar to WDW's but the ones we have are lackluster at best and are mostly dependent on busses. The few train systems we have (Tri-Rail down here and soon-to-open SunRail in Orlando) are not very reliable and what do you do once you've arrived at your destination? With the dearth of walkways and other forms of transit, you need a car to get around making the trains useless. In fact, I've never ridden Amtrak in Florida for the same reason. If you are a person who does not like to drive, Florida is not the place for you. Of course, my area of Florida is also not the most umm... "cultured" as you won't find many museums or shows (that aren't incredibly loud concerts), so if you want the New York-ish vibe you might be able to find a bit (and I mean a tiny bit) in Miami, and let's not get started about the schools.
Of course, Florida is a beautiful state and there are some incredible advantages. First and foremost, we are 2 to 2.5 hours away from WDW via car meaning we can still frequently enjoy WDW (w/ FL Resident discounts) while also getting to experience the hotels and "Disney bubble" just like out-of-staters do. In fact, often, we just park our car at the hotel and use Disney Transport the entire time to further immerse ourselves. I think it's fair to say that the majority of people in our area have been to Disney and you will frequently see those "WDW AP" car magnets on people's cars.
Beyond Disney, there are financial benefits to living in Florida as others have mentioned, there are the beaches and weather (you will get used to the heat though it may seem impossible at first) is great, and you'll find a real "boat/aquatic culture" if you choose to live near the shore. It seems that there are more people here than anywhere else that just spend their weekends fishing or diving. I'd argue it's much easier to live in Florida than most other places in the world. It's slower, warmer, and more relaxed. There's also a weird sense of community for such a large area: it's not uncommon to see the local news anchors at the movie theaters or bump into friends at random places. You just don't have that in other places
Quickly in regard to hurricanes, though infrequent, they do happen. The last major one was 2005 and that was part of a string of three or four that hit back to back in 2004/05. I remember having a fair amount of warning and damage wasn't too nasty. My tip for those would be evacuate. Even if they're saying it's going to be Cat. 1, go. It can be very scary. Having ridden out a Cat 1., I can attest to the fear one feels, so evacuate. For us, one way we turned the negative into a positive was going to the DoubleTree Naples with our neighbors (good friends of ours) and turned it into a reunion-type trip with friends. It was a lot of fun and we remember it fondly. I'd take hurricanes over blizzards, earthquakes, or heaven forbid twisters any day.
Overall, Florida's not for everybody. If you want a New York-type experience with active nightlife, shows, art, culture, awesome schools, and effective and highly utilized mass transit, Florida's not for you. If you're okay with driving and heat and the occasional severe thunderstorm, you'll get a slower, relaxed lifestyle (great place for kids growing up by the way) with more outdoor activity, a communal feel, closeness to Disney, beaches, and other attractions. The food is pretty good and fresh too.