Thoughts on moving to Orlando? I need your help please. (Kissimmee: 2015, mortgage)

[JaredSD]

First off, a HUGE thanks to anyone who helps me out here. I don't know much about the Orlando area. I will frame it up by where I am now, my situation, and the potential move.

I currently live and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas where the local economy is absolute gold. Walmart and Tyson HQ is here, which means all vendors have an office here such as Nestle, Kraft Foods, Starbucks, P&G; you name it, it is here. It is absolutely beautiful here. There are tons of hiking trails, mountains, a good lake, camping, and several rivers to float. Not to mention we have a great local bar scene, which has a good mix of fine dining, dive bars, and chain restaurants (blah). In addition, we have Crystal Bridges museum which is awesome. Always something going on here. Btw, farther down South is the bad part of Arkansas. We don't go there. I live in the downtown area and it is a 7 minute walk to the bars, and the local jog/bike trail is across the street from me. My mortgage on a 1,000 sq ft house with a good yard is $580 a month. Dirt cheap.

My girlfriend has worked at Disney for the past 10 years, mostly singing on stage as Ariel. She grew up where I did in Fayetteville. She moved back here for the past year, took a desk job, and ended up hating it. She now wants to move back to Orlando and do the same damn job. She wants me to go with her and live in her house in Kissimmee. I have never moved away from my area because my family is here and I have always loved it here. I have not read the best things about Orlando, but I could be convinced otherwise. Perhaps some information below will help you answer any questions, which I am very grateful to you for.

I am 36 and she is 33. We both like to go out for drinks and have a good time (I love the local dive bars here for that). We are both in shape and like to exercise. I have no idea what the hell I would do for a job yet (marketing/business). I recently finished my MBA at the Walton College of Business, so I think that help would my search a little bit. How is the job market there for business btw? Perhaps some opps for my background? Other than that, life is life. We work, hang out with some friends out and about, go watch movies, and watch Netflix at home. Most of that can be done anywhere.

Are there any benefits to being in Orlando? For example, easy access to cruises and cheaper flights to islands than what I would probably pay here here?

To sum it up...is Orlando fun? Seriously, is it cool there? Yeah, I get it there are theme parks but let's be honest, there is only so much you can take of that junk and those crowds. What about the local scene? That is what I am interested in. Is there a unique vibe there anywhere? Any cool local bars? Are they grouped into a good area such as a downtown? Are there good trails to jog on that are accessible? Are there are any fun festivals across the city? Here we have festivals for cheese dip, beer, spring fest, block parties, pup crawl (bar crawl where you bring your dog) and many others. For reference, cities that I think are a blast are Kansas City, Austin, Dallas sometimes, and Chicago is awesome when it is warm.

Let me know anything you feel that would be good for someone of my age to know such as jobs, local area, stuff like that. I know you probably don't know what it is like where I live now (a small Austin TX feel of a town, funky), but try to think about someone coming in that has never lived there. I am open to whatever you have to offer me. Thank you so much!

Jared

[kyle19125]

Ugh, that's a tough situation. It sounds like you really like your life where you are and I'm afraid you're probably going to do a lot of comparing to there once here which won't match up and ultimately be not too happy. The only area that replicates anywhere near what you describe here is probably the Thornton Park area but I don't think it's going to have the vibe you speak of in Fayetteville, Austin, Dallas or Chicago. The job market isn't the best for professional level jobs and is fairly well-documented along with fairly low salaries comparatively speaking. If you're really committed to the move my only advice would be to completely attempt to throw out any comparison points to where you are now and look for the positives you'll find here, just bearing in mind they'll be different and maybe not as prevalent.

[EditorJul]

I'm not much of a bar person, but for jogging trails, the West Orange Trail is wonderful.
https://www.ocfl.net/Portals/0/Libra...ure1_15Out.pdf

There's almost always a festival of some kind or another going on each weekend. Here's a few lists to give an idea of the diversity, but most weekends there's at least 2-3 festivals going on in local towns in the area.
Sunny Central Florida by Visit Central Florida » Blog Archive » 30 Central Florida Events to Attend in 2015
Community Calendar | News and Events | Things to do in Orlando
44 Central Florida events to look forward to in 2015 | On the Town - WESH Home

If you like just food stuff in general, the farmer's markets, food truck events, and things of that nature always bring out people and are held every weekend in different locations.

Florida resident discounts are quite a benefit here if you like doing stay-cations or cruises. The other benefit is the whole no state income tax bit.

There's plenty of quirky restaurants in the area, and if your girlfriend gets back in the CM set, she'll probably know where the local hangouts are. (Where have CMs gone since the Big Bamboo burned down??) Each community around here has its own little weird eccentricities. In the side of town where I'm at, these are some examples:
Yellow Dog Eats | Restaurant, Cafe & Bar in Gotha, FL
Plant Street Market in downtown Winter Garden - Orlando Sentinel
My French Cafe
Pharmacy Orlando

The big challenge is that when you move from one place to another, a lot of comparisons will occur. If you're happy where you are right now, it will be very easy to fall in the trap of "back where I used to live, X was so much better".

The other challenge is that your girlfriend's age means that any character performance jobs that she has won't last forever. In fact, at her age right now, it is iffy if they would even let her continue on. (I'm not sure what the max age is for a face character princess, but my guess is that she's pushing the upper limit.) If she wouldn't be happy moving into some other role in the company, then she'd be in the same situation that she is in Arkansas.

[PDF]

I for one am pumped about moving to Orlando soon. Everything I've seen so far indicates fun.

[JaredSD]

Ha, you are most certainly right about the age thing being a factor for her. I explained that to her, but noooo. She is blessed with being 5 foot 2, weighing 110 pounds, and generally looking young. But yes, the gig is up at some point and I would hate to be there for it when it goes down. She is a performer in general, and office jobs don't do it for her. It will be tough for her when the gigs get less and less.

Thanks for the advice on the job stuff Kyle. That is certainly a huge factor for me as I did not pay for school to let it go to waste. In fact, my career will have more earning potential that hers ever will, which is another reason to be a little wary of this situation.

I do like my life here, a lot. It is so nice here, cheap to live, and careers can be great with high pay due to all the large companies having satellite offices here.

[Iris14]

Uhhhh....How much do you love your girlfriend? A lot, I hope....

I'm kidding, but from what you're telling us about where you live and your life there - that would be the only reason for you to move here. First, you will not be happy living in Kissimmee. As a location, it offers none of the things that you say you enjoy (dining, trails, festivals, etc.) and is also kind of far from the downtown/business areas as well. Additionally, the areas that you would enjoy living in are generally pricey, especially compared to your current mortgage. For you to be able to walk to any trendy area, expect to pay at least double or triple what you are now.

Career-wise; while there are plenty of both educated professionals and businesses in Orlando, they are not really concentrated in any one area. From what you wrote, Fayetteville seems to have a better corner on this area as well. I'm not saying that you couldn't potentially find a job here, but it seems like you would be moving from an area with a good business economy into a more tourist/lower paying area.

There are some positives here...ummm...(kidding again). No, some people here like it well enough - the theme parks, the weather, closeness to beaches, etc. You can find decent things here to do, just like anywhere; however, I would not begin to compare it to more sophisticated, progressive cities like Austin or Chicago. It is more laid back and family orientated, so you should take that into account.

I respect that you are considering this move based on your relationship (she's pretty lucky in that account), but yeah, I have to agree with Kyle on this - If you move here, don't expect it to be comparative to where you are now.

[bmw335xi]

OP:

You'll be fine, don't worry. The world is a big place and there are many wonderful cities out there. Orlando is one of them, I hope you enjoy!

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

OP:

You'll be fine, don't worry. The world is a big place and there are many wonderful cities out there. Orlando is one of them, I hope you enjoy!

This.

Plus, with an MBA, you have lots of opportunities here.

[JaredSD]

I see there are some larger companies there. What types of companies/jobs are there for someone with an MBA, that is perhaps not tourist type of stuff? I am not into banking.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

This.

Plus, with an MBA, you have lots of opportunities here.

Huhhh??? Where exactly? Orlando isn't a big MBA kind of place (ranked at #83) unless that's just happened in the past few months.

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