Anyone move to Florida just to be close to WDW? We are considering moving (future).

[AmandaChan]

So we're a young family, with a 2 year old and a new baby. DH and I always danced around the idea of moving to Florida and working (he would, I'm an RN) at WDW and just being in Florida in general, we wanted a change. Now that we have young children I don't want to rip them from my family right now, as I want them to have cousins, etc. But I can't deny that I haven't been thinking heavily about moving in 5-6 or so years. We just bought a house two years ago, so we would have to sell our house. It probably would not be hard for me to find a job and DH would want to get a job at the world. He graduated with a bachelors Mass Communications and to be quite honest he hasn't even tried to look for a job (we mutally agreed he should be a stay at home dad when our son was born)... but his dream job is to work at WDW with his degree in promotions, or something like that.

I guess I was just wondering has anyone else moved to Florida to work or be around WDW? Or we just really big fans I guess?

[Christine]

Amanda this is exactly what my family did.

We lived in Texas and were vacationing to Florida 1-2-sometimes 4 times a year. One day we realized "why not work and play in the same place?"

So we started a plan. We followed the Dave Ramsey program and completely freed ourselves of all debt, minus the mortgage. This enabled us to feel more "free" to make the big move. The job market and cost of living are quite different in Florida than in Texas.

My husband started looking for jobs online- just shooting out resumes here and there. One asked him for an interview. He flew down (& figured worst case scenario he gets a weekend at Disney) and got offered the job on the spot!

Our dream was to live in celebration. We had toured the town and read about it and just completely fallen in love with it. He met with a realtor and found a condo for us. He was to begin his job in 3 weeks. So he called me and said to put the house on the market - we assumed we'd be living in 2 places which was scary! Two households to pay for would not be a good thing!
But our house sold to a cash buyer on day 2 and we closed in a week.
We packed up our house and made the trek across country.

Fast forward 3 years and here we are. In celebration Florida, "the town that Disney built",
living our dream. it was really nothing short of miraculous how it all played out and we are so grateful to be here. We worked hard and the rest was all blessings.

Was it easy? No. There are some cons:
-To leave good friends was TOUGH! Good thing is, they all come to Disney at some point! We see our close friends quite often!
-The job market here is harsh. But as an RN I think you'd have little trouble finding work (there's a hospital in celebration btw) :)
-people will ridicule you like crazy! We had friends and family who thought we were INSANE!!! And still do! I just said "well then you probably ought not do this too!" ;)
Life is too short to not try a new adventure IMHO
-there's SO much to do that it gets expensive! You hafta rein yourself in and realize you cant do It all (or shouldn't I guess I should say!) :secret:
-you may not be able to use next gen fast pass! (hahaha- had to throw that in there!!) :thedolls:


PROS-
-WDW!! we live 5 miles from the wdw gate. We can pop over for an ice cream after homework, ride pirates, & go home to put the wet clothes in the dryer!
Example- this morning my daughter will play lacrosse. Then it's off to star wars weekend and the flower power concert at Epcot. Our random Tuesday's or Saturday's are what our vacations used to be! What a treat is that?
-the weather is phenomenal! I've never spent so much time outside in my life. I've lost 25 pounds since living here. So much to do,I'm no couch potato anymore!
-being an hour away from the ocean. This is HUGE to us! (mind you, dcl is an hour away in cocoa and soon to be but a few hours away with an additional ship in miami!)
- universal, sea world, etc. there's more to explore than just Disney- buy ya hafta get on I-4 to do I so I don't do it often. :blush:
-PALM TREES! I loves me some palm trees!


My advice?
-Move before your kids finish elementary school . You won't want to pull them when they're in that tough cliquey hormone phase if possible. My daughter was in 3rd- it was still easy to "fit right in"
-really lose any debt before you come. That eliminated SO much stress!!!!
-get a place with a spare bedroom! Moving to Florida makes you very popular with friends and family!! You'll have lots of visitors! :)
-really research the crime stats and school ratings before you pick a place to live; you want to find the right fit for your family.

That's probably more than you wanted to know, but I wanted to share our story with someone who was where we were years ago- someone who went from playing with the idea to really pursuing it!
I can 100% say this experience has been everything I'd hoped it would be and then some! We love living here. I would do it all over again. And all the nay-Sayers who have been down to visit, including my dad, now say "oh yeah, I see it now" and are glad for us.

Work really hard and follow your dreams! if we can do it, anyone can! Good luck!!

[DizneyRox]

Florida schools in general would keep me away.

There are good ones for sure, but Florida is not known for their education. My better half is a Principal, so my opinion isn't entirely based on rumor.

We've thrown around the idea of an investment property that we could use for vacations and then ultimately retire to (maybe become a snowbird), but I wouldn't raise a family there...

[dnickels]

I can work from my computer so I do the snowbird thing and live in FL for most of the year. Having close proximity to Disney was certainly a factor in where I chose to buy a place. :thumbsup:

There's a million things to consider of course, but just a few that are worth thinking about.

1. Florida schools are generally considered to be a bit below the national mid-line, but that said, the gap isn't nearly as large as some claim (i.e. take the "we moved to Florida and my child was doing math she learned two years ago!!!" type of anecdotes with a big grain of salt). In the greater Orlando area, the Seminole county schools (Lake Mary, Oviedo) are generally considered the best, then there's a step down to Orange County with Polk & Osceola counties bringing up the bottom. (Again, this is just the widely held perception, but there's probably a reason that perception exists). Of course those Seminole county schools are on the northeast side of town so you're looking at a further distance to Disney up there.

2. While your hubby can easily get a job at Disney, it's probably going to be of the $9.00 per hour variety. If he puts in his 3-5 years of working late hours, weekends, holidays, etc. then he can probably move into a more stable salaried (but not an especially high salary) position. Disney has literally thousands of young people with all variety of degrees working for them already with proven track records of employment at the company they can turn to when they have a specific position to fill. Salaried positions do come up at Disney, but most people who move to the area expecting to get one of those higher paying positions end up disappointed. If it's his dream and your family can handle the low pay & odd hours for a few years then it may be worth toughing out. There's a reason Disney's workforce is largely comprised of college program kids / other young people (who often have to live with roommates to make ends meet) and retirees yet with very few middle-class-middle-aged people with families to support.

3. Some people can do without the nearby family support network and some just can't. If you lean heavily on your family now just keep in mind that you won't have that access when minor emergencies come up. When the car has to go into the shop or kids have doctor's appointments or you want someone to watch the kids or any of a million other things. It takes time to build a new network of friends and neighbors you can rely on for those things and it's never quite as easy as just calling a parent or sibling when you need the helping hand.

Whatever you do in the future, good luck and be sure to weigh out all the pros & cons.

[magicofdisney]

I didn't move to FL to be near Disney. I was born here. That's one of the main reasons I don't want to leave. We may have to and I will be oh-so-sad. :( You certainly won't hear me calling you crazy.

[darthmacho]

While I love New England, I'd really love to live close to WDW. If I could convince my wife...

[buzznwoodysmom]

My boys are 10 and 12 right now.

We've toyed with the idea of moving, not only to Florida to be closer to Disney, but we've considered other locations as well. Our reasoning for considering a move was just to experience living some place with more to do than what we have here in Louisiana. We've considered moving to be near the ocean, to be near the mountains, or to be closer to Disney. We've not gone through with it, and probably won't.

However, just wanted to throw in my two cents about moving with kids. Knowing what I know now, and the ages of my kiddos now, I wouldn't wait till the kids are older to move. Sure lots of kids have to move in their lifetime and most do very well with moves, but I wouldn't want to put my kids through it if I don't have to. We moved 30 minutes from our first home and it was tough switching the kids schools. They had to leave behind their friends and what they had always known. I always thought it would have been easier if we had moved before they started school. In the end it probably did make my kids a bit tougher, but it was still a huge adjustment for all of us.

If I could go back in time and make a huge move, I'd move while they were still toddlers. But then again, I'm not one to really depend on family help with the kids much. I know many people that wouldn't know how to function without the help of their parents and inlaws. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm just not one of those people, so that wouldn't bother me with a move.

[texas211]

One of the factors why I chose grad school in Orlando.

However, living in Orlando does have several drawbacks, some of which already named.

Cost of living is horrible, tourists all the time, etc, and dealing with the Orlando drivers... If you live a little further away, say Tampa or Lakeland. Disney can be weekend fun all the time.

[forever a child]

I can't comment on moving to Florida (but I can say it is something that I want and hope to do at some point in my life). I can share that although many people are concerned about moving with kids...it can be done.

I moved from MI to KY in 2006. I moved with my daughter just before her 12th birthday. We have been here for 6 years and both loved the experience. There have been difficulties and very trying times but there were in MI before we moved. The experience, IMHO, has taught my D to not fear change but to embrace it! My D insisted that she did NOT want to attend college in either KY nor MI. She wanted a new experience and she will be attending college in the fall in Cleveland, Ohio.

My point is that kids are very resilient, they will only think there is a problem with a major move or change it you teach them that it is a problem. I wanted a life of adventure and I think my daughter has learned that is it ok to leave the nest. She adjusted well when we moved away from all of our friends and family back in 2006, actually she probably adjusted faster than me! She will miss the friends we have made her but she is excited to make new friends at college too. And she keeps in contact with her MI friends on Facebook, so she will be able to do the same with her KY friends.

You only live once!:mickey:

[AmandaChan]

cangetenuff - thank you so much for your thoughtful reply! It gave me a lot to think about it, and honestly after reading it, got me really excited. Obviously there is a lot of things that we would need to do before we moved (eliminating debt being one of them : / ) and that is something I probably wouldn't have thought about so much so thank you! Having kids really changes everything. I kind of wish DH and I would have moved a few years before we had kids, just to get away and experience a different area for a while and live in an apartment before we had kids. We don't really rely on family members too much, our MIL is the only person that has baby sat my son and only for about 6 times in his whole two years of life. However when we had our daughter it was crucial for us to have them there to watch him at the house while we were in the hospital and I know that times like that it will be very important to have them nearby. If it wasn't for my husband's family and my aunt and cousins we would be gone... I've thought about trying to convince my BIL and his girlfriend and their kids to go with us... hah

thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses.... right now it is just a distant dream and if it's meant to be i hope it would go as smooth as it has for cantgetenuff :)

maybe when the kids grow up and graduate high school, I could see dh and I most definitely probably doing it then depending on where we are in life with our careers. While I know that there probably isn't a high chance of entering a high paying career in florida just like it's nothing, there really isn't much of an opportunity here in cincinnati, either. especially or someone with a mass communication degree. DH is very outgoing, very capable of performing (he isn't a professional, but trust me he would be the ideal employee for WDW b/c of how expressive he is and outgoing he is with people).... and he already is working a ****** schedule with not the best pay (the price we are paying ot have someone home with the kids at all times and not have to worry about having someone watch them)... it's not like he would be giving up some great career to make the move. another reason we have considered it... and perhaps he could find some connections down there, and make something for himself b/c he definitely has potential.

I do have a friend in florida (clearwater) who uprooted her family and moved a couple years ago. She seems happy, and she has a young child who is 3 and two children who are teens. I just wonder if there is more for us somewhere else...

[BrerGnat]

Cost of living is horrible

Compared to where? I find the cost of living index in Orlando to be ESPECIALLY appealing. I would move there in a heartbeat, if I didn't have school aged kids.

My uncle is a doctor in Orlando. He has three kids, my cousins (2 are in college, 1 in high school). The schools in Florida are godawful. They were in private school up until High School. The public school system is not set up to produce high achievers, let's just say that. My cousins are all smart kids, but they were just not challenged enough in school and have carried that over into college. My oldest cousin graduates from Ohio State (my uncle's alma mater) this year, because he didn't find any of the colleges in state to be worthwhile.

My uncle has said many times that he wishes they had never moved out of Ohio, because their kids would have gotten a better education overall up there. He moved there to be closer to his mother and sister, family pressures, and all that.

DH and I have talked about moving down there when we retire retire. He will retire from the military in 7 years, but our kids will still be school aged, so we think our "second" retirement will find us in Florida. I'd love to work for the parks part time as a CM in my old age. :mickey:

Every once in awhile I look at houses down there, and am SO tempted to just up and move. It's SOOOOO cheap (compared to where we've been living our whole marriage). The idea of owning a house for under $300,000 is just a dream to us and seems so in our reach, especially since DH could easily find work as a defense contractor in central FL. Orlando was recently named one of the top 10 cities for former military people to live and find work.

But the schools...UGH. They keep me FAR away.

[minnie04]

Flooriduh skools r knot that bad!!! Wow!! We are taking bashing aren’t we Florida... :( My kids are all in public schools and they are doing just fine. Yes! They need to make it better, but it also depends on the up bringing of the student. The work ethic they are taught at home. The importance of studying, making good decisions and being responsible. There are good & bad schools in almost every State.
As far as moving ages of children. I for one had to move many times when I was younger. It never had an effect on me, but that’s me. I really wish I would have moved our family further up the state of Florida. I am just sick of living in Miami. I love the state of Florida. DH works on Miami Beach so we are stuck here until he retires. I wouldn’t want to make him drive hours to get to work. As far as the kids FORGET it now, they are settled in school for the long haul. They have their friends and it would be very hard to make a move. The majority of family we have here would probably run with us if we said we were leaving Miami.
If I were you I would come down to Orlando for a few days (without DISNEY) on your mind and see the rest of Orlando. There are so many nice neighborhoods away from WDW that are beautiful. Orlando has come a long way in the last few years.
Florida takes a bashing, but everyone seems to move here!!! So I guess we aren’t that bad after all. There aren’t too many natives left. Everyone is from some other state….

[AgentC]

We moved to FL from MA in 2002 and will be here 10 years this July. My parents had moved to FL and we visited several times a year. My husband really wanted to move. Me, not so much. I really didn't see a lot of appeal in FL, but my dad had health issues so I agreed to the move.

For me, it was a hard transition. FL is very different to MA and I was homesick for months. My husband immediately felt at home. Now, I can't imagine going back.

My children (DD4 and DD6) were both born here and so far this has been a great place for them to grow up. We live about 45 minutes north of Tampa and a hour and a half west of Disney.

In addition to Disney, we have all the other theme parks to visit, a great aquarium and zoo in Tampa as well as children's museums, a science museum, a fine art museum and lots of festivals and outdoor activities. I do find there not to be as many theater events, but it is hard to compare what is available in Boston to many communities. We have talked about moving closer to Orlando but I like being near Tampa. It is a good mix for us.

Cost of living depends on where you are in FL. For the most part housing is much cheaper than many other parts of the country. After the housing bubble burst, houses are going for crazy low prices in my area. Property taxes tend to be reasonable.

Gas, food, clothes tend to be about the same as other areas. When we first moved here, it was cheaper, but that has changed. Pretty much everything but food is taxed. Sales tax is the major source of revenue for FL as we do not have income tax.

Job market- I agree with Christine. It is tough but it can be done. I was fortunate to work for an international company in MA and was able to transfer here. It would be a challenge to find something at the same salary/benefit level if I left especially since I work from home.

My husband struggle to find something and bounced around for a few years until he got into pest control. In FL pest control is very stable. :)

Schools- This is strict my opinion as a mother whose son is just completing kindergarten. I have a friend who was a former private and public school teacher in FL and a mother who still works in the local school system.

I think FL schools have improved quite a bit. I think there are still issues that need to be corrected(hello FCAT). FL is trying to improve. They have joined the Common Core State Standards with about 45 other states. My son's class was the first year to use this curriculum. The idea is that children in every state learn the same basics at the same time.

I have had a great experience with my son's first year. I think one factor is that even though he is in public school. He is in a magnet school. You have to apply to have your child go which means the parents tend to really care about their children's education. That makes a huge difference.

If I have one complaint about FL schools, it is that in general, education is not valued here as much as it was in MA. My city in MA had 40% of the residents with BAs or above. My county has 12%. That is changing but it is slow since so many areas have high retiree populations and we do tend to lose some of the younger residents to states with higher pay.

I strongly believe that if you are an involved child and your child wants to learn, they will. If a child doesn't want to learn and the parents do not support learning, the child will not learn.

There may be some bad parts to the system, but there are a lot of great teachers and school employees here who do not get enough credit.

I think Minnie04 gave you great advice. Doing a non Disney FL vacation will give you a great idea if this is the place for you. FL is not for everyone but neither is everywhere else. :)

[disneynarula]

I would probably not move just to be closer to WDW.

[disneydeb]

Let's NOT bash on anyone's chosen way of life PLEASE! A bit of respect for an individual's choice, honestly! :(

I'm just saying, if you want to say anything negative, please PM that to the inquirer. We want to maintain the reputation Intercot has as a friendly site.