Pros & Cons of Living in Orlando | Moving to Orlando | 06/10/20 

I moved 10 miles from Disneyland and Pete your right that the days of commando planning rope drop to closing are over. But it is fun when people who usually don't go to the parks often you still get to go commando touring with them and you get the joy of seeing Disney in their eyes, which is great. and i only moved from Palm Springs to Irvine, which is only 2 hours if that away from Disneyland so it wasn't much of a move. But man it was so convenient to live that close to Disneyland.

It can take 30 minutes to get from the west side (near the parks) of town to the east side, with no traffic. The 1 hr ride to the beach can be cut in half if you stay to the east, if that's important to you.

I'm originally from Southern California. I love it there, and I'd like to move back if I ever become a millionaire. That said, if your primary motivation is to be near the Disney parks, you'd be insane to move to Southern California over Central Florida. A house that costs $250k here would be well over $1 million anywhere near LA.

Great show!! I am an Orlando native (born and raised) and i think it’s important to inform ppl about living “in the magic” vs. living in “Orlando” lol like all places...Orlando has rough areas. Growing up, a lot of my friends never seen Disney world because it’s literally it’s own “city”. I was blessed to have parents who worked for Disney 😊 so i grew up in the parks. My family from out of town assumed that “orlando” was only Disney until i showed them “off property” ❤️ it also takes a lot of money to live near Disney world. Even if a family of 4 is well off, living expenses can be a bummer 😊 overall, i love my city!! So much to do! Just plan accordingly and please understand it’s not cheap lol it’s very diverse, the city is always growing, tons of job opportunities (not good pay, but tons of jobs lol)and i-4 will be your worse enemy 😭but i love it anyway 🤣

I hate the planning aspect of a disney holiday, so living in Orlando sounds like a dream! 😩

Fiasco wasn't exaggerating when he said places in Massachusetts close early during the Winter. It's true! I'm outside of Boston and when it's 4:30 p.m., pitch dark outside with a frigid temperature of 20 degrees, people just leave work to get home and hunker down. It's depressing but true for most people.

So glad you are back!!!

Great show guys . can you do a show on what the job opportunities are like. not just at WDW

The only thing that I think I would miss is the fall season. The leaves changing colors and pumpkin picking is so much fun.

Its not the heat that gets you...its hot everywhere in the south/southeast but the humidity is the thing you don't plan for or can't plan for. You can't adjust to it. It's smothering, suffocating, and never ever relenting. Anyone who lives in the southeast understands it. It's brutal. People pass out because of it. Its really hard to adjust to. It gets hot here in Virginia but its a whole different ballgame the further south you go. 92-95F with humidity in the range of 40% to 60%. It's unbearable. I would love to move to Massachusetts because after awhile this kind of oppressive heat gets to you.

Best decision I’ve ever made

Interesting conversation. Great to see you in the studio.

Great information about Orlando! I totally agree with you, Pete! I live in Chicago “The Windy City” and I don’t like winter so I can’t wait to move to Florida. I been searching places like Winter Park, Winter Garden, Lake Nona and Orlando. I want to be close to Disney. Can u avoid I4 coming from this places that I been looking for to going to Disney?

I LOVE lizards!!! They are so cute. I really want to move to Florida, preferably, within an hour’s drive of Disney. I am so sick of snow and ice

I have experienced the same issue with being a recent So Cal local. I can’t shake the GO GO GO mindset when I get there still! I’m still not used to being able to just go whenever I please. It’s such an odd thing to go through 😂

Sean stated that Orlando is one of the most affordable cities to live in. A little bit or research does not support that. According to U.S News & World Report Orlando is one of the 25 least affordable places to live when comparing median household income to the cost of living," "The biggest reason for Orlando’s drop in the Best Places to Live rankings from year to year is its fall in desirability - fewer U.S. residents selected Orlando as the place they’d like to live in a series of Google Consumer Surveys conducted to determine where people want to live most. In the list, Orlando fell from the top 25 most desirable places to No. 60 in 2018.” So i am wondering where you get your data to make that statement.

Being originally from Wayne, NJ - there is nothing like being in Florida. It's like paradise in comparison, at least for me.

Lived in Orlando all the 90's they can't seem to get traffic under control. They have been talking light rail for years with nothing to show for it. This city needs a big light rail system absolutely. Is the tech industry jobs big there now? Would love to consider moving back. When I was there the job market was not the greatest.

I think it was October of last year we were at Orlando airport going home and there were tornado warnings. We all had to move to the inner portion and away from the windows. I live in Vegas and we don’t get weather like that so it was pretty scary. Our relatives live in New York and New Jersey and we are not supposed to talk about our nice weather during the winter. They get more than pissed.

"Traffic." (Laughs in Atlantan)

Welcome back ❤️ I love this weeks videos.

Good info. As a New Yorker (Long Island), DVC Member and a person with a lot of family and friends in FL , my wife and I have thought about relocating. Maybe when we retire. Then we’ll work part-time for Disney driving the Disney Boat In between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Lol.

Great to see you all back in the studio💖

At some point, can you review crime statistics in the areas around Orlando? We're considering moving, but lower cost areas may be lower cost for the wrong reasons and it's hard to know what data to trust.

As a resident of Chicago you had me at 'I haven't had to shovel snow in 22 years'.

Bought our future retirement home in Winter Garden in 2017 and can not wait to fully retire and move down full time. My daughter lives in the house with her fiancé saving money to buy their own home and both of them, from Maine, absolutely love living in the area and will never move back to the northeast. I try to get down to Florida on a monthly basis because I love the area and there is always something to do. The job opportunity for young and old are bountiful. My daughter did the college program at Disney and that was the kick start she needed. She now works for a PR agency in Orlando, something she would have never found here in Maine. I highly encourage anyone thinking about moving to Florida to take that step. You will not regret it.

I’m not trying to be funny but how is the alligator situation in Orlando? Recently I keep seeing in the news people finding them in their porches in Florida. Two were fighting outside a woman’s home and another one just strolling through a Walmart parking both in Fort Myers a few days ago. Genuinely curious because what do you even do in these encounters?

Moving to the Magic on Sunday! Right next to Lake Buena Vista 😀

I go to the beach in my Connecticut winters, because I NEED beach time. I can’t swim until late summer, but i go no matter what! However...that’s another compelling reason to move to Florida, as if i need another

I live in Arizona, lizards eat the bugs we hate, we like them.

Unless your a Disney fanatic I just don’t see the appeal, sorry. Towns that are nothing but houses and strip malls are beyond ugly.

This was a great episode. I am a single empty nester who works for a Fortune 500 company that does not have a facility in Orlando that fits what I do. Been on the fence but now thinking, just go for it. You have given me a lot of confidence.

I visited Orlando in October for a con....It was so flat, and it all looks the same. and I LIVE in North Florida! I was so surprised. It's not quite for me, I'd rather live in NYC/Chicago with public transit.

Yay you’re back in the studio! The night before last we had a freak snowstorm in Wyoming and it knocked our power out and knocked trees down everywhere. We had thunder and lightening during the snowstorm. Yes, I would give a lot to be living in Orlando 😬😞 One thing that would be a benefit would be travel to other areas. We save for two years to go to Disney World and miss out on other destinations. If we lived there we could go all the time and save longer vacations for exploring the rest of the world ☺️

Welcome back! Great show! Thank you! I loved hearing all of the pros and cons. We are considering moving to the magic when we retire.

In Winter Haven we are 35-40 mins away and have a ton of local stuff to do without the traffic. The only issue is when the Holidays come it takes closer to an hour to get to the parks. Also I have not noticed any bug issues except love bugs and lizards. Mostly just tons of birds and squirrels.

Looking at moving to the Orlando area in three years. This vlog made me want to move sooner. Except for the part about the bugs. I’m currently in the Bay Area in Northern California. Thanks for the info!

My daughter went to school in Winter Park but she moved a year after she graduated. The lack of seasons and traffic were big reasons for her. Me I think it would also be the lack of a winter that keeps all kinds of creepy crawlers from becoming a big an issue would be hard for me. Not that I love winters but I tolerate them as I live in a DT area with skyways.

Can’t wait to move down once kids graduate HS. Soon!!! From Long Island NY and need to get outta here!

If you don’t mind for small job markets, hot and humid rainy summer 5 plus months out of the year, bad drivers and lots of bad chain restaurants. Then Orlando is for you

What a lovely show guys 😍 So great to hear Sean’s experiences & a really balanced perspective 👏👏😃

On our last day at WDW we got that tornado warning. We had no idea what to do since we don’t have tornadoes. The TV didn’t work because of the weather, the front desk was swamped. It was stressful 😅

Ten bucks an hour is big pay now thanks to all the people coming here. High rent is everywhere. Walmart parking lot is full of losers sleeping

Virginia doesn’t really have natural disasters. We have beaches, mountains, city and country. We have amazing schools, history and plenty of recreational options. Our economy (Northern Virginia) and job market are robust and consistent due to our proximity to DC and all the government jobs here. We experience all four seasons. VA and NC have that right balance

Great show. Coming from New York, I would miss mass transit, but still thinking of moving to Orlando. I would not miss the snow at all!

Have lived in New England my entire life and spent about 36 years of my life in Maine. On a side note, as a late comer to these videos, am I the only one that thinks Sean looks a lot like Rhino?

Happy to see you guys back in the studio together.

Not having to plan would be a major pro for me!

You would take a hurricane over a blizzard any day of the week??? I am just the opposite. In 2014, the week before Thanksgiving, six feet of lake effect snow was dropped on Western New York over three days. Schools were closed. Business closed. Roads closed. We hunkered down, snowblowed driveways every few hours to keep them open and then partied like it was 1999! I would take six feet of snow and below freezing temps over hurricanes, one foot of water in my house and 95 degree temps any day of the week!

Come on! It took you three minutes just to plug all of your different channels/website/groups... Nobody wants to hear all that! Just get to the video!

Living in Orlando from November to April and then So Cal from May to October would be nice. I love WDW, but I wish they would fix the layout of Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom. That is the one of the reasons why I think Anaheim’s “Magic Kingdom” is better.

Pros and Cons of not living in Orlando: Pro - None Con - Everything

Great show and great to see you back in the studio.... twenty yrs ago I said Orlando or California (I'm from Maine but had lived in Massachusetts for 16 yrs)... once I saw the Cali prices(and again the earthquake thing).... I decided on Vegas..... I don't like any days in Vegas from May 15th-ish to September 15th-ish but the rest is good.... the humidity in Florida is a tough one for me so I only get there in April, November or December.... thanks again !!!

I would think (depending on area of Orlando) the lack of community would be a thing for me. I'm guessing people move in and out of the area constantly and you never really get to know people

Would be good to have a pro and con of moving there from another country. Most of us get the impression it’s cool to live there, based on two weeks vacation every couple of years. I’d love to move there from the UK, but medical bills etc put me off. The NHS is so handy for us.

I wonder how many people move down there to be by the parks, but find out later they are bored and it gets routine. Then only end up going to the parks once or twice a year anyhow. I would hope if I moved down that it wouldn't be an issue, but I could see the possibility.

Nice to see you guys back! We will be moving to florida in about 3 summers from now. Hubby will retire and we are currently looking at areas we might want to move to down there.! Can't wait for the transition! Northern VA is not for us!😉😊

Would love to see more of what and how things change living in Orlando verses vacationing there. Part of what I love about my vacations there is being emerged in the “bubble” of magic. I have even not felt that magic staying off property - so we only stay in Disney resorts.

o

Do you still get the Disney magic when you live there and go to the parks often?

I will not miss shoveling snow... That will be glorious!!

I am still stuck in the Northeast! I am a homeowner, but not sure I want to own again. I might rather consider long term renting, so I wouldn’t have to worry about property upkeep. I could sure use lots of advice!

This would’ve been great as a love show idea, let the crowd chime in with their pros and cons. Either way, Great video as always

back in the studio!

I’d rather have snow at Christmas.

Great info. Hope to be moving in 2021.

My dream is to move to Orlando & work for Pete!! ❤the show, the vibe and sharing my passion for Disney planning.

Great episode, guys.

Good to see you!