Considering a move to Orlando area.

[Accident]

I didn't see a better forum to post in. My apologies if this is in the wrong place.

The last year I've been seriously considering a move to the Orlando Area. My upcoming WDW trip in a few weeks is partially to decide and take a look around for where I might want to live. I don't plan to actually make the move until next spring after an additional trip to apartment hunt.

A big reason for picking orlando is actually my daughter. She has had a lifelong struggle with anxiety, the type that makes you shut down, not want to leave the house, go to school and hard to keep a job. To explain how bad, she would qualify for disability if she applied but doesn't want to go that direction unless it's absolutely needed. While at disney last year, she perked up with the idea that "you can work here". We took a second trip shortly after and it was more and more about wanting to work there. She is still talking about it. I can't think of a better way to help her in life than to move down there so she can pursue a career with disney and hopefully get over the next major hurdle with her anxiety.

We currently live in NYC and I have the luxury of not needing to find a job. As long as I have internet, I can work anywhere. Nothing was shocking about the cost of living, if anything I'm extremely excited about how much cheaper the cost of living down there is. I also need to buy my first car It's funny what you don't need in NYC. At first I don't want invest into a home while I get my barrings on the area and learn about where I want to live longer term. Even what appeared to be the overpriced apartments is a fraction of what I pay now so I'm not seeing anything in the way in that area either.

Now the big question, where should we be considering to move too? We're down there in a few weeks so we plan to "check out the neighbors" and see what makes sense for us. We don't need to live on top of WDW but a reasonable commute for my daugher is desired. My commute is going to remain the distance between my coffee pot and the laptop.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BWVSue]

I know you said you don't need to live on top of WDW but Celebration would be a great place to look. There are apartments right at the end of World Drive. The homes are, in my opinion, overpriced for the Orlando area. But it is such an easy commute to most of the Disney parks. If you do visit Celebration, just make sure to obey speed limits and make full stops at stop signs.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would also check out City Data (the forums) on the Orlando forum

Good luck with the move! How great that your DD gets some relief from her anxiety there and see herself working there

 

[Grumpy92]

Dr Phillips, Celebration, Lake Nona, Hunters Creek, Winter Park are some good areas of Orlando.
Think about her commute if she decides to work for Disney. From Downtown the commute can be atleast an hour to the attractions area. A car is a must to get around.
You didn't list her age but a great experience for her to strive for is the College Program. They recruit from universities & colleges across the US. You come for a semester live, learn and work at Disney. The roles are varied and there other internships opportunities after that. This is the major portion of the employees of WDW. You can find DIS Unplugged youtube videos about CP and living in Orlando. There are several on these topics.
http://www.disunplugged.com/2013/08/06/dis-unplugged-podcast-080613-orlando-show/

 

[Accident]

Dr Phillips, Celebration, Lake Nona, Hunters Creek, Winter Park are some good areas of Orlando.
Think about her commute if she decides to work for Disney. From Downtown the commute can be atleast an hour to the attractions area. A car is a must to get around.
You didn't list her age but a great experience for her to strive for is the College Program. They recruit from universities & colleges across the US. You come for a semester live, learn and work at Disney. The roles are varied and there other internships opportunities after that. This is the major portion of the employees of WDW. You can find DIS Unplugged youtube videos about CP and living in Orlando. There are several on these topics.
http://www.disunplugged.com/2013/08/06/dis-unplugged-podcast-080613-orlando-show/

Great info, I'm seeing some places that look promising. She wouldn't qualify for the college program.

 

[BWVSue]

Another nice town would be Windermere. Lots of new building there and should be an easy drive to work at Disney. I personally would avoid having my daughter drive on I4 on a daily basis. The traffic can be brutal. Hunter's Creek is nice and there are different ways to get to Disney if one road has an issue.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It might be worth investigating west of WDW and out that way too.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Definitely look at Dr. Phillips and Windermere. Both are really lovely areas and very close to Disney; you wouldn't need to take any highways if you didn't want to.

Also I wanted to share a word to the wise: for someone with intense anxiety, a job at Disney may not be ideal. It depends on the job, of course, but if she's looking at the in-park, hourly roles (attractions, food and beverage, merchandise etc.), in can be extremely stress-inducing. I've experienced working in a theme park (though not Disney), and I have had near panic attacks/been reduced to tears because of angry guests. I've known other people who work in service-based industries, like retail or restaurants, but their bad experiences pale in comparison to what theme park employees go through.

If you'd like to PM me I'd be happy to explain more. Best of luck; Orlando is a truly wonderful place to live in my opinion. I actually lived in NYC for a while and ended up moving back to Orlando because I missed it so much!

 

[Accident]

Also I wanted to share a word to the wise: for someone with intense anxiety, a job at Disney may not be ideal. It depends on the job, of course, but if she's looking at the in-park, hourly roles (attractions, food and beverage, merchandise etc.), in can be extremely stress-inducing. I've experienced working in a theme park (though not Disney), and I have had near panic attacks/been reduced to tears because of angry guests. I've known other people who work in service-based industries, like retail or restaurants, but their bad experiences pale in comparison to what theme park employees go through.

It's in the back of my mind that it might do the opposite and kill the dream or her favorite place in the world. We're ramping up our "would be nice" to serious do we want to do this research now to make an informed choice. Her doctors have been really great in determining if this is a dream that should be kept alive for the future or jump in and go for it. It's hard to describe but she is different about this idea and desire and it wasn't just a fade while we were there a lot last year. We'll see what happens when we take a look around "town" in 2 weeks when we arrive. We're doing 2 weeks in the area so we can comfortably look around. We both have experience in entertainment industry but it was touring. In some ways different anxiety because your always on the road but she did well in that situation. A lot better than anything else she tried lately.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I just moved down here from NYC in June and I live in Winter Garden. It's an easy commute to Disney and the other theme parks, and it's a nice area with typical suburb amenities. It's not NYC by a long shot and adjusting was sort of a culture shock.

I also have disability-level anxiety, panic disorders, and major depression. I depend heavily on a cocktail of medications to make it through the day at work - I work main entrance at both Disney and Universal. It's incredibly stressful and if I had other options I would be taking advantage of them, but I was unable to work for 3+ years in NYC and the fact that I got these jobs at all is why I moved here.

 

[joannjoe]

Good Luck finding a place!! I hope you find something you want

 

[ArwenMarie]

Good luck Accident! I hope you have a great two weeks and she gets a chance to sort out her feelings a bit more.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

We recently made the move to the Orlando area back in November of last year. Got tired of spending money to visit on holidays so we just moved down.

We live in Dr. Phillips and love the area. We are very close to Disney property, about five miles to be exact on the distance. Where we live we do not have to get on the freeway which is nice so we can avoid all that awful traffic in the mornings, afternoon and evenings.

The condo community we live in is gated and lucked out on finding one that was privately owned and pay a very good rate for rent. Walking distance to what is known as restaurant row here in Dr. Phillips with pretty much every style of food you could ask for. We chose this area over living closer to Orlando proper as there really isn't much near downtown we want to do and wanted to live close to the parks.

Enjoy your trip and good luck on finding a place that you want to live. There are a lot of options in this area, just make sure to do your homework on the places you find and don't settle. It took us nearly three weeks to find what we wanted here in this area.

 

[Accident]

I appreciate everyone's insight into the Orlando area. We're looking forward to checking out the area and seeing where we might want to call home. We arrive the morning of the 29th so not too late if anyone has anything to add but we have a pretty good idea of what areas we want to spend some time in and see how we like them.

 

[amyfish2]

Check out an area before getting a place you could be paying 1,000 a month for really nice place in gate community and walk outside the gate and into a bad neighborhood .Orlando is funny that way .Picking a 600 or 700 dollar place can be a problem lots of places full of drugs and violence .It gets very hot here it can feel like 110 to 120 degrees at times just walking from your apartment to your car can make you sweat so bad you feel like you just took a shower .Make sure you pick a place that maintains the air conditioners I would even ask how much they maintain them some places don't and have old units if they go out it can take weeks or months for them to be fixed and your sitting in 90 degree heat with no air conditioning some places don't care because they don't want to replace the units .Make sure they have regular pest control some places try and not spray and no matter how much they spray don't be surprised to bugs around .This is Florida we get pests .

 

[Accident]

this trip is neighborhood checking, spring trip would be the search for a place to live if we decide to move forward (we're about 90% sure we're moving down). I appreciate the insight and what to look out for.

 

[bamacmac]

I am planning to move down next summer. During my trip last month I did some exploring beyond the Disney bubble to check out some areas. It was a lot of fun! Like you, I wouldn't be seriously looking for an actual place until next year. And I also want to try to work for Disney!

Best of luck to you both!

 

[Accident]

I am planning to move down next summer.

I had this odd feeling your switch to ap and a lot of little trips might be a lead up to that I will hopefully be down there in april. We're definitely moving somewhere and already started the whole purge and packing thing.

Best of luck to you both!

Best of luck to you also!

 

[bamacmac]

I had this odd feeling your switch to ap and a lot of little trips might be a lead up to that I will hopefully be down there in april. We're definitely moving somewhere and already started the whole purge and packing thing.

Best of luck to you also!

Oh ha...yes. And now having the AP makes me want to go ALL the time.

A big boo to purging and packing. That has begun for me as well. It's the worst.

 

[dixiegirl]

DH and I will be making the move to the Orlando area sometime in the mid to latter part of 2016. We are going to upgrade to APs on our Oct trip in preparation. We have also decided to rent initially until we get a better feel of where we would like to buy/build. I spent two summers down in Deerfield Beach when I was much younger and fell in love with Florida. I cannot wait to be a resident. The winters here in PA are too much for me. Thanks for all of the info people have shared thus far regarding possible neighborhoods, etc.