[LadyJEM]

I grew up in Jacksonville (a Navy brat), but have lived in Mississippi for almost 15 years now. Ironically my husband spent the his youth in the Panhandle area before also moving to Mississippi. We want to move out of Mississippi in hopes that the asthma I developed after moving here will go away. We are both familiar with the weather in FL, we have visited Jacksonville once and Orlando twice, each time during the spring/summer times. What we need help with is deciding between the north Florida area and Central Florida area. The cities we have researched are: Clay County (surrounded Jacksonville area but not inside Jacksonville), Gainsville, Ocala, or the Winter Garden area. We have two children, 6 and 2. My husband does IT tech/security type work for a bank. We would like someplace like most people looking, good schools, low crime.
We also have to consider someplace that my parents might have stuff to do b/c we are very certain that they will most likely follow us to FL from MS. So, someplace that has stuff for young families while having stuff for the older generations (50-60) of our family. Museums, parks, any sort of trains.

Thanks for any input.

[TD*]

Choose Tallahassee. Trust me.

[kyle19125]

Of your list I would say Clay County, near Jacksonville. Jacksonville has more to do than Orlando in my opinion as it's not all about tourism and amusement parks. The schools are good in Clay County (#12 in the state) and neighboring St John's County has the #1 school district in the state which is where I would urge you to focus.

[LadyJEM]

Thanks Kyle. I found a website that lists the schools rankings by county. I will admit that both of our little ones are "Disney children", so we would probably be at Disney a LOT if we lived in the Orlando area. At the same time if we move closer to J'ville (is it still called that, that's what we called it when I was living there), we'd be close to people that I've kept in touch with since moving. It's a hard decision that we are making. I've actually threatened to print out a map, highlight the areas we are interested in then throw a dart; the location of interest closest to the dart would be our primary focus. We have talked of the St Augustine area in the past, I love the history there, but I think we want someplace closer to a big city while not in the city.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by LadyJEM

Thanks Kyle. I found a website that lists the schools rankings by county. I will admit that both of our little ones are "Disney children", so we would probably be at Disney a LOT if we lived in the Orlando area. At the same time if we move closer to J'ville (is it still called that, that's what we called it when I was living there), we'd be close to people that I've kept in touch with since moving. It's a hard decision that we are making. I've actually threatened to print out a map, highlight the areas we are interested in then throw a dart; the location of interest closest to the dart would be our primary focus. We have talked of the St Augustine area in the past, I love the history there, but I think we want someplace closer to a big city while not in the city.

I would seriously consider your time spent at Disney against other quality of life factors, bearing in mind the window of "Disney love" doesn't last too long into childhood.

[OptimusPrime69]

I dont feel like the weather in Mississippi could be all that different than Jacksonville's?? I guess it depends on where in Mississippi you live. Meaning will ur allergies be any better in FL?

Anyway, if it were up to me I'd choose Orlando area. There's plenty to do for both young families and retirees alike.
Also, being that Orlando is a bit more southerly than other areas you'll have warmer winters too and the schools in Orlando are good as well. Especially in the area you're looking.

Good luck with the move.

[LadyJEM]

Optimus, I actually grew up in Jacksonville and never had any serious allergies or even asthma until I moved from there to Ridgeland (which is right across the street from Jackson MS). Roughly a year after moving here I was diagnosed with asthma, something I had never experienced. My doctor actually told me once that if he was in my shoes he'd move back.
My husband really wants to focus on the Orlando area, we've started just glancing around in the Winter Garden area. We have about a year before we are able to finally move, so we aren't jumping in. Hoping to plan a trip to Jacksonville later this year, especially since I just got a message on Facebook for a class reunion!

[LadyJEM]

Thanks for the input everyone. We've narrowed it down to either Clay County, St John's Country or Winter Garden. I'm thinking my husband might find more IT type jobs closer to Jacksonville, plus we'd have the added bonus of being near friends I've kept in touch with since moving. Where in Clay County would you suggest to focus? I've friends in J'ville itself plus Fleming Island and Middleburg, each says to look at their specific area.

[runswithscissors]

Well wouldn't it depend on the job location? Commuting in/around Jax is a BEAR. I don't think he'd want to travel from Middleburg 30 miles one way or Fleming Island to downtown daily. You are guaranteed drama on every major highway every day of the week around Jax. And even if there's no traffic incident, the drivers are SUPER STRESSFUL. And I say that coming from NY/NY/Phila!!! OMG just being a pet sitter in the car all day drove me nuts when I had to use my car to go to jobs.

Yes there are some IT jobs in Jax. I had a pet sitting business living on the South Bank and several of my clients relocated there for IT work. Like Stein Mart which was 1 block away.

I would stick closer to downtown. There are many nice suburban areas only 15 minutes from there.

There may be more IT jobs in Orlando. Even with Disney they may be outsourcing all their work by now, I don't know. But we had several IT staff quit AT&T for Disney back in the day. I hope you were kidding about Disney being a daily part of your kid's lives. I don't know about the costs but my kid did almost free sports for recreation! No way would I put up with the aggravation of being around thousands of tourists on the regular. We lived near Sesame Street water park in Philly and he got to go about twice a year LOL.

[HarryWho?]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

I would seriously consider your time spent at Disney against other quality of life factors, bearing in mind the window of "Disney love" doesn't last too long into childhood.

That's a rather general statement. I have 2 kids that go to disney at the drop of a hat and they're in their 30's. I had a friend that lived in NJ and had season passes to Disney. He was in his 70's and went with his 45 yr. old daughter. I myself can take it or leave it, but some are mesmerized.