Moving From Orlando (Greenville, Taylors, Greer: theatres, schools, college)

[darcie912]

I would really love to talk to anyone who has moved from Orlando to the Greenville area. Thanks

[RestedTraveler]

That'd be me (directly) and vwsam (in a round-about sort of way). What do you want to know?

[Brasstec]

How long did you live in Orlando?
What advantages (not just $$) did you find in moving to SC?
What problems/challenges/adjustments did you face in making this move?

Visiting there was great (my wife's a native SC), but that was vacation.
Would love to hear your opinions as a resident.
Thanks!

[RestedTraveler]

I lived in Central Florida (Ocala, Winter Park, Orlando) from 1985 through 2001, so that would be 16 years plus a couple of months. My wife was born and raised in Orlando (College Park and Windremere). We came up in 2000 to visit my in-laws for our first visit after our first child was born and then spent vacation time here again in 2001. We fell in love with the area and moved here at the end of September, 2001 and have watched Greenville blossom into an amazing, vibrant, culturally diverse city...granted we've only caught the tail end of the show.

Advantages (keep in mind, these are relative to the individual):

• A more mild climate
• Great regional cuisine
• Very friendly people (it really took us back at first)
• Less traffic (oh yea!)
• An awesome park system
• More family-oriented activities (theme parks aside, central florida lacked this big-time)
• All brand new or recently re-modeled schools
• Good quality of education (locally, at least)
• Festivals throughout the year
• Museums, Symphony Orchestra, Performing Arts Center, Many Small Theatres, The SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Local Artists and their galleries, Art Festivals - this place loves the arts
• An awesome minor league ballpark with the exact same field dimensions as Fenway Park
• International Airport that is easy to get into and out of
• Lower property taxes
• Proximity to Atlanta, Charlotte, and Asheville
• Proximity to the mountains
• Just far enough inland from the coast that tropical systems aren't a huge threat
• Lower housing costs
• Better quality of life
• Rails-to-Trails is just now starting to convert old rail lines into trails for walking/cycling/jogging throughout the county

Problems/Challenges/Adjustments (as before, these are relative to the individual):

• All of the roads are winding/curving - very few are "straight shots"
• Until recently, there has been only one of each major retailer - that's changing
• Getting used to the local/southern colloquialisms
• Getting used to having sweet tea at restaraunts
• Paying personal property taxes each year on vehicles (it's to your advantage to have older vehicles here)
• Mass Transit rather sucks at the moment, but that will hopefully improve and (fingers crossed) include light rail
• No Bob Opshal or Marla Weech, but we do have Michael Cogdill and Carol Goldsmith :-)

[vwsam]

HAHAHA

I lived in Orlando forever (77-02) - sooooooo glad I am out of there. I even dread going back to visit friends/family. I have lived east side (UCF area), west side (Windermere), north side (Altamonte), south (Kissimmee), downtown - just about everywhere in the Orlando area. RT made a great list up there. Good grief - how did I ever put up with that heat?

I just want to stress the traffic part - traffic here is a joke compared to what I used to deal w/ down there. The lack of traffic and the mild temps are my favorite things about being here. Oh and friendly people - everyone seems more relaxed - not so hostile and angry. People actually let you merge on the interstate instead of speeding up.

Adjustments - I didn't have any - I love smaller towns, the mountains and that sort of stuff. Now my wife - she misses the abundant shopping, and the proximity of the beach.

Any questions - feel free to message me...

[darcie912]

Well former Orlandoans,
The adjustments you have listed do not seem so bad I am a native Floridian and even Orlandoan so for some reason I am chicken to leave. I have several friends that have moved to the area and none of them would even dream of coming back. I have 3 small children and I really know this move will be the best thing for them. I am not a big shopper and I only go to the beach every once in a while so I think I will be okay. My main thing will be meeting people but it really sounds like its not too hard up there. I really don't know what I need to ask at this time but glad to know you guys are here when I do. We are coming up in a couple of weeks to narrow down our area choice. I have a feeling I am gonna want to move sooner than originally planned.

[BuddyDog]

Thank you darcie912 for sharing your thoughts and concerns about leaving your comfort zone of Orlando. You are not alone! I have lived in Orlando (Seminole county) since I was a teen (no saying how long ago that was!) and we ARE moving to Greer/Taylors area this summer. It was not a planned move. Last fall we took a trip to visit the original owners of our beloved dog Buddy who is now 2.5 years old. We had a great trip and absolutely fell in love with the area and people! It's funny...we came across something very appealing and then we started reevaluating all the things in life that we had come to accept instead of finding better alternatives ie, traffic - a real bear here; increased crime, a transient population, everyone too busy, heat. We have taken many more trips to the area to find where we wanted to land. We couldn't be more excited about our move! I'd be less than honest to say I wasn't alittle scared, scared to give up the familiar for the unknown (even though we've done a lot of homework!) and think sometimes 'oh, its not so bad here' because we do have some, although very few, great friends. But, we really believe we are being led to the Greenville area and we have faith that everything will end up just fine! Good luck to you!

[doggiebus]

Need some help from the Ex Floridians. We are looking at moving from Miami, as it has just gotten crazy here. Being from Miami a diverse hispanic community, we want to live in a place that is diverse in culture. We are white non hispanic but when we visited Raleigh a year ago we felt there was not enough mix of cultures for us, so we decided against Raliegh. Is Greenville similiar to Raliegh in ethnic diversity (black and white only), this is my question? Also what about religion? Is it a huge thing in Greenville, as we don't go to church and don't ant to feel out of place if we don't attend church.

[Skyliner]

From my experience here, I would say there is no place in SC more internationally or culturally diverse than Greenville. Please visit the city sometime and witness what I mean firsthand. This diversity is clearly evident just walking up and down Main Street. It has become a source of pride for locals and source of envy for other cities. Many people in Greenville choose to worship in whatever style of tradition they prefer, but you should not feel out of place if you choose not to go to a place of worship - there are many like you living here, so there is no need to fear lonliness in that regard.

[doggiebus]

Skyliner - I think we might make a trip up, I am curious to see what Greenville is like. Good to hear that we will not be out of place if we don't go to church.