There is such a thing as too much... around me (and this is suburbs, not city)
My cholesterol just shot up just by seeing this incredible list of places but mine is under control through diet and exercise.
In terms of WDW quick service, I might place Satu'li Canteen above Polite Pig (the salad bowls are more my style - it's probably my favorite thing in Pandora), but they're both so good. Satu'li is also pretty close to fast casual, given its "build your bowl" model and lighter choices.
East End Market near Downtown Orlando but it is nowhere like to the scale of NYC, LA, SF food halls and quality. CA transplants moving to Central Florida will probably be disappointed but Orlando is at least trying.
Unsure. The people I know that have been reached out to are all professionals with advanced degrees and years of relevant experience.
It's not totally false, having driven around Orlando pretty frequently (including up to Winter Park). There are absolutely neighborhoods with an interesting collection of places, then there are large pockets where the gems are more sparse.
Yes, the suburbs of Orlando look like a lot of other suburbs that I have driven through including Chicago's northern side with a lot of chain restaurants but those are places I just don't go to unless I have to. Living in Orlando, there are a lot of places where you can take day trips that also have their gems (ie. Mount Dora, Downtown Deland, Downtown Sanford, New Smyrna Beach, Downtown Ormond Beach, Cocoa historic downtown, and the places already mentioned). In your other post, you asked about food halls. Winter Garden probably has the best food hall in the city on Plant Street and Lake Nona has a good one as well (although not technically a food hall) in Boxi Park. Audubon Park has one where Gideon's (sister restaurant to the one at Disney Springs) is at and Lake Ivanhoe is getting one in a few months and Downtown Orlando in 2022 on Church Street. If I were moving to Orlando to work around Disney-proper, I would definitely check out Winter Garden and their historic downtown on Plant Street. For working in Lake Nona, you can live around the 417 highway around Winter Park and get to Lake Nona in about 20 minutes (tolls) while living close enough to be near Winter Park as well (Tuskawilla Road in Oviedo). The area immediately around here is chains I'll admit but a short drive to Winter Park. Lake Nona is exploding right now and will only continue to do so in the next few years so that is going to make a lot of sense for Work/Live/Play. There is also Avalon Park nearby Lake Nona that has a similar look and feel to Celebration and everyone I know that has lived there for several years likes it there.
Several of the Californians I've met that have moved to Miami - Florida's most cosmopolitan city in a metro area of over 6 million - have complained about the lack of offerings in this city.
Miami is very different than Orlando in a lot of ways and most of the people that I know that have moved to Orlando from Miami have said that they like it a lot better in Orlando and they would never move back. Traffic is their biggest gripe with Miami. I grew up in Tampa and like it in Orlando a lot better as well. I wouldn't automatically assume that they'll hate Orlando because they don't like Miami. The one area of concern that I've heard from people that I've known from California that compares to what they would miss the most would be how close that they are to the beach in California and that they can head out to the beach in the afternoon and go surfing. It's going to be an hours drive from Lake Nona to reach the nearest beach (Cocoa Beach) so that is something to think about.
Thai Thani on I-Drive a few miles from Dr Phillips while fancy has very small portion offerings. The pad Thai was OK, but Miami Thai options are better. TT in the past has been written up numerous times in the Orlando papers for health code violations rat droppings in kitchen, roaches, improper food temps etc. Bosphorous for Turkish food is OK but nothing like NYC quality. Downtown Orlando is nice but can get seedy at night including the many homeless in the area . The " NY Style Pizza " advertised in downtown O-Town is trash.
You have chains in your list.
Sure, but isn't something like WDI fairly specialised? People often talk about employees as more or less interchangeable, but I do think in this case there is some risk moving a creative/entertainment division from one of the world's biggest creative and entertainment hubs that they'll lose some of that talent. Of course, maybe this will be part of a process in which those who work on theme park entertainment are increasingly (and somewhat logically) located in the city that is the world's biggest theme park hub. To the extent it happens anymore, though, it could make cross pollination between different creative fields more difficult.
If you've ever been Lake Nona is just a few miles from the airport runways at MCO. Need to get used to the jet engines day and night .
Orlando isn’t without an established themed entertainment design industry. There is already the Walt Disney Imagineering Field Office at Epcot that has grown in recent years. Universal Creative has been based in Orlando for awhile now and people relocated to work on Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe. Companies like ITEC Entertainment, Nassal, Birket Engineering and Oceaneering Entertainment are based in Orlando and others have offices there as well. IAAPA moved their headquarters to Orlando not long ago. Southern California is definitely a larger talent pool but a lot of that was driven by Disney, so it’ll be interesting to see how many companies follow Disney by at least opening an office.
