We lived on the eastern side of Orlando, near UCF and Waterford Lakes. I taught at an elementary school in Winter Park, just off I-4. I'll admit that a HUGE portion of my distaste for Orlando was the state of the school system. It's horribly mismanaged and teachers are treated like secondhand citizens. I've taught for 10 years and never been disrespected by so many children, parents, and administrators. On the topic of work and commuting, the traffic is HORRIBLE. I've lived in both Baltimore/DC and Dallas/Fort Worth, but the traffic in Orlando is a whole different level of maddening. The roads are ALWAYS packed and drivers are openly rude and unsafe. It actually got to a point where I made a game of counting the number of times I was honked at, flipped off, or cut off each day. Also beware the toll roads. Despite the fact that the bulk of my commute was on I-4, I was paying more in tolls each week than gas.
Now let's talk about the people. Living in TX, I'm admittedly spoiled by the warmth and hospitality of folks here. Let it be known that "southern hospitality" stops at the Florida panhandle. The bulk of the people we met in Florida were hostile and unfriendly. I love shopping, but not in Orlando. The stores were always swamped with people. Strangely the tourists never bothered me, it was the "Floridiots" (the most perfect term in the world) who didn't know how to say "excuse me" or acknowledge when someone was trying to pass them in an aisle. I was privy to many nasty arguments between customers and cashiers, I watched large families let their children run amok, and I rarely received any sort of customer service. One day I witnessed a woman get robbed at the Florida Mall. Every other week there were cop cars swarming around our local gas station. Our apartment complex was filled with loud, angry folks who thought it was okay to blast music from their balconies at 11PM. (And at almost $1200/month in rent, this was not exactly a lower class apartment community.)
Speaking of housing, be prepared for roaches and other pests. I am a cleanly person and in all my years of renting have not once had a pest problem. In Florida, it was a weekly occurrence to find roaches, frogs, mice, etc. in and around our apartment. Anytime one of our friends would visit, I'd have to warn them in advance of our pest problem. Embarrassing!
Disney is truly a magic little bubble. The service and cleanliness is unparalleled and we'd find ourselves paying the nearly $20 in tolls just to get our "fix" several times a week. We weren't completely disillusioned in moving to Orlando (my grandparents live there and every summer I'd visit and explore the city) but we also weren't expecting it to be so trashy and inhospitable. The areas north of the city (Ocala and so on) are a bit more rural and friendly, but I cannot recommend Orlando as a whole. We're much happier and financially well-off living in Texas and taking a few Disney trips each year. If you have any other questions about my experience in Orlando, please let me know!
