Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Orlando
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-15-2012, 02:41 PM
 
Location: New Yawk
56 posts, read 92,440 times
Reputation: 16

Advertisements

Hello. We are a family of 3 looking to relocate to Florida. We would like to be close to Disney, but not to close. I was looking at the Winter Garden area or Ocoee. Does anyone have any info on these areas like how far is it from Orlando/Disney area. How is it comparable to suburban living. I am a New Yorker, but I a live in a suburb of NY. So I like access to the busy area, but not living in it. Just don't want to be to rural. We would like to be close to malls, movies, parks for kids that kind of stuff. Thanks for any help.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-15-2012, 06:12 PM
 
626 posts, read 977,195 times
Reputation: 374
Windermere along 535 is just about 6 miles north of Disneyworld. they call it Disney's backyard. The new Winter Garden Village shopping center is just a couple miles away and Mall of Millenia is about a 10 to 15 minute ride.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-15-2012, 07:45 PM
 
Location: NYC/Orlando
2,129 posts, read 4,514,701 times
Reputation: 1281
Winter Garden is an older suburb of Orlando.. it has an older historic downtown, new subdivision sprawl and semi-rural communities with farms. I would recommend looking at neighborhoods south of Colonial Drive, closer to the Winter Garden Village. The part of Winter Garden surrounding the downtown area is iffy. I would also recommend looking at nearby Windermere, which is overall much more upscale and desirable than Winter Garden and also has better schools.

Unfortunately the closest mall and major movie theater near Winter Garden is the West Oaks Mall which has had a lot of crime issues in recent years. If you want to live closer to the major malls, restaurants and entertainment in the area you should look into Dr. Phillips, which is close to The Mall at Millenia (fantastic mall), as well as Universal which has its own huge cinema complex. Dr. Phillips, like Windermere, is upscale suburban living with great schools.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2012, 09:05 AM
 
Location: Lake Mary, Florida
793 posts, read 2,525,911 times
Reputation: 272
I agree with the area 'Disney's back yard', its zoned 'urban living' with required town centers, alleyways, no more gated communities.

Local shopping is Winter Garden Village an outdoor style mall but if you want to shop indoors Mall of Millenia and Florida Mall are a quick drive.

The area has a mix of resale homes and new construction but lately I'm seeing buyers I help in this area focus more on new construction based on monthly energy cost to heat/cool the home which is drastically reduced over an existing home.

Hope this helps,
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2012, 10:19 AM
 
4,167 posts, read 9,346,116 times
Reputation: 2446
Well you're on the right track as far as what you're looking for. Winter Garden is certainly centrally located to all your needs. With the Winter Garden Village you will not need to go to West Oaks Mall and if you really want to get to a good Mall, Millenia, Fl Mall and Premium Outlets are a reasonable drive. Seems like this would be a good area for your family, please however consider what others have posted about the bad areas of Winter Garden, those areas should defenitly be avoided. Other areas to consider are Dr. Phillips and Windermere.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2012, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Orlando
8,176 posts, read 18,544,451 times
Reputation: 49865
Yeah....what they said!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-17-2012, 10:19 PM
 
Location: New Yawk
56 posts, read 92,440 times
Reputation: 16
So Windmere and Dr. Phillips are closer that Winter Garden? Does anyone have any Idea what the school districts are like.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2012, 07:24 AM
 
Location: SoCal
3,877 posts, read 3,900,406 times
Reputation: 3263
Its all one school district, and all of the elementary schools are excellent! The middle and high schools are pretty positive just not excellent. Overall the school district is great and you should not have problems.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2012, 12:59 PM
 
Location: NYC/Orlando
2,129 posts, read 4,514,701 times
Reputation: 1281
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearyjoy View Post
So Windmere and Dr. Phillips are closer that Winter Garden? Does anyone have any Idea what the school districts are like.
Closer to what- Disney? Just look it up on Google Maps.. some parts of Dr. Phillips are 5-10 minutes away from Disney's main entrance, while the 535/Windermere area is closer to the backside of Disney. Winter Garden is farther north than Windermere, so it's a little further away.

The best school zones are found in Dr. Phillips and Windermere. For any home you find, find out what schools they are zoned for, and you can find every school's overall standardized testing grade here: Orange County School Grades
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2012, 09:55 PM
 
Location: New Yawk
56 posts, read 92,440 times
Reputation: 16
This info is really helpful. I did look at the map and it seems Windmere is closer to Disney than Winter Garden. We are looking to live not far from the "touristy" Area. Hubby is a Chef looking for work and we figured he could possibly get work at any of the restaurants/hotel restarants in that area. Did not want the commute to be too long. Windmere seems to be surrounded by a lot of lakes. Does that meant there is a problem with snakes and gators?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2022 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Orlando

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top