Tampa vs. Orlando?? (Miami, St. Petersburg, Clearwater: fit in, spring break, real estate)

[mickey mouse is dead]

Tampa....the best theme park, Busch Gardens (better than anything in Orlando), the best beaches in Florida (I'm talking about the Tampa Bay area), MLB, NFL, and NHL teams, Ybor city, Salvador Dali Museum, St. Pete and Clearwater within the metro area....enough said, Tampa is the best city in Florida....

[PamT726]

Originally Posted by antxav

Hi my name is Anthony X., my wife and I are planning to move to Orlando in the very near future, we are debating on the following areas; Ocoee, Claracona Ocoee area, Apopka or Clermont. We are considering Condo's or town houses. We were planning on purchasing a home but the prices are out rageous. Ant help in choosing an area would be appreciated.Crime is an issue and also schools.

I live in the Claracona Ocoee area - Rosemont. Just be careful you go below Pine Hills Road, closer to Lake Orlando Parkway. One is in the county (Pine Hills) the other is considered the city. I'd have to say that Pine Hills area has a reputation for being "criminally-challenged" -- deserved or not. We just moved here from Chicago a year ago, and we are trying to sell our home now to relocate from Orlando. If you have younger kids, Orlando can be wonderful. We have found it to be entertainment challenged for our particular age group: we haven't found any good blues or jazz clubs, and the food has been a major disappointment. Other than that, you couldn't ask for better weather. When I watch TV and see the blizzards in New York and Chicago, I almost want to stay.

Hope you have success in your relocation. Orlando is what you can make of it -- we just don't feel there are enough "tools' to work with.

[Prichard]

Tampa....the best theme park, Busch Gardens (better than anything in Orlando),

Nothing against Tampa, I lived and worked in the Bay area for three years, but this statment just can't be alowed to stand!

Busch Gardens was a great theme park over 20 years ago. Unfortunately, it was quite dissapointing when I went there 2 years ago. Very "ghetto". The wild animal safari them has gone to hell. It has a couple of good roller coaster rides, and an ok log flume, but other than those rides, it doesn't have much at all to offer.

[AJ67]

Last time i went to the Magic Kingdom,( feb 06) i was shocked at how "ghetto" it had become...it seems that no one cares that works there anymore...the streets were dirty.. which shocked me and so were the bathrooms...
I have to say i prefer the likes of Cypress Gardens..its calm and nice..unlike disney with wall to wall RUDE people!

[ricarv2009]

Depends what you looking for. Orlando sucks in some ways. There is lots of night clubs in downtown but is not the best place to meet people. Most people just wont even talk to you. In a club they just stick with whom they came with. Unless you are a lesbian is probably heaven for you, girls here are 80% lesbian or confused. The place is so police that even if you cough they are watching you. The music the same every weekend and day. About work, the pay is low, transportation, bus ok but it only cover mayor roads. Malls, 4 mayor ones, all the same. Rent average like tampa. The beach to far. Lakes full of alligators. Traffic average. Colleges ok. Tampa is a slow city to me.

[Wilshire81182]

I am seeing the general trend where more people are stating that Orlando is better and this may be because it is in the Orlando Forum, but I also agree. Tampa has a lot of worthwhile qualities that make it worth looking into: it is the better of the two in the area of sports, beach access, feels more like a traditional city with the skyline and grid street layout. It is also debatable, but dependent on the type of job, Tampa has higher paying jobs for the most part. Tampa also seems to be less dominated by the overwhelming demographics of Orlando (young people, students, etc) and have more middle age, elderly and a mixture of families. My biggest complaint about Tampa is the actual city areas do not seem as nice or clean to me. Event South Tampa which is among the nicest areas of Tampa (equivalent to our WInter Park), the streets were kind of dirty and have weeds in the cracks of the sidewalks etc. I would definitely describe it as more gritty.

I think Orlando has more going on with the sway of the theme parks and Hard Rock Live and House of Blues for shows. Our theme parks are better IMO plus there are 6 parks and 4 water parks, plus several smaller attractions. We will have a brand new concert/NBA arena 2010. There is a lot of nightlife in the form of small clubs and several dive bars because of the large student population. There are also a lot of great ethnic restaurants. We are usually first in Florida (besides South Florida) to get new chain restaurants or stores of the normal and upscale variety. Orlando has some of the best outlets in the world, many dinner theaters, and is easily accessible to Tampa and the other cities and beaches with its central position. Crime was really bad here in 2006-2008 but it is going down dramatically this year.

Winter Park is an older inner ring suburb that has a beautiful liberal arts college and strip of sidewalk cafes and boutique shops. It is IMO the most beautiful and charming part of Florida and that includes all parts of Tampa, Jax, and South Florida that I have seen. Not all of Orlando is that charming, but it is a great area.

I think the positives that we get from having the theme parks here too, is that Orlando is very coifed most of the time. They are big on landscaping and cleaning up older areas. They replace storefronts and pressure wash often. Overall for these reasons Orlando has a much fresher and cleaner feeling than Tampa, though there are definitely exceptions. You could wind up in a very nice area of Tampa or a very dirty area of Orlando because they also exist.

Sorry this was so long, but I would not rule either city out. The best thing is if you decide on one you can always visit the other (60-90 minute drive) and get a better feel of which may suit you better. I know living in Orlando, I have gone to Tampa for 3 separate concerts and made a weekend out of it. I have gone countless times to the beaches of St Pete or Clearwater, so it is a great getaway. If you lived in Tampa, Orlando would also be a great getaway for the more touristy things.

[doom1001]

Busch Gardens isn't ghetto,it's a nice park,but it does get a some ghetto visitors.Luckily it does get a fair share of tourists and decent people and at least people have their shirts on,why do I say that,because I visited Adventure Island this year(the waterpark across from Busch) and when people take their shirts off the ghetto pops out,tattoos,gold teeth as far as the eye could see.With that said I love Busch Gardens and I've visited Adventure Island when it wasn't as bad as my last visit.Between Orlando and Tampa I prefer Orlando but you have to be selective in the areas you pick,the same can be said for Tampa.

[DavieJ89]

Originally Posted by rperreta

Ok,

So I'm moving down and I don't know where to go... I've been researching Tampa and haven't given any time to the home of Mickey Mouse! In comparision to work, cost of living, home owners insurance and taxes. Should I continue looking in the Tampa area or does Orlando have more to offer. I'm a Sr. Web Developer and I would still have to work even though I'm going to sell my house here in NY. Some guidence from the people of Tampa or Orlando would be awesome...

thanks
-rich

Im a bit biased here but I would pick Orlando over Tampa.

Orlando isn't quite as big as Tampa is, not as crowded either. The standard of living here is higher and the cost of living is about the same. The radio stations suck in both cities

Orlando's downtown area is still very small to me though its growing as time goes on, but I hate the narrow brick roads they have in the residential parts of downtown, great way to destroy a cars struts, those orads are so old and uneven its ridiculous

Tampa's downtown makes it look more like a true major city, Orlando's downtown has grown a lot but the skyline only looks impressive from a distance when your coming into downtown on I-4 from Seminole County, or at night when all the lights come on, gorgeous. Otherwise the skyline is a disappointment

Both cities seem to have a problem with urban sprawl, Orlando especially. You can drive 30 miles and not even leave Orlando at all, sometimes it seems like the city just goes on forever

But as for good things about Orlando, the downtown area has a lot of great pizza places, restaurants, nightclubs are so-so, and the houses immediately surrounding the east side of downtown seem to have a sense of establishment, a lot of them were built in the 1920s-1940s and have lots of giant oak trees like neighborhoods do up north

You'll most likely never run out of things to do (even if you completely avoid the theme parks like I do) there's always new places to check out and the shopping and restaurant choices are virtually endless

On the contrary to what a lot of people believe Orlando is also very safe. If you avoid most areas west of I-4 you will be ok. With the exception of Pine Hills, Washington Shores, Mercy Drive, and Semoran Blvd which is actually in East Orlando, there's not 1 part of Orlando I woudlnt feel safe in

Orlando is also a lot cleaner then Tampa

I cant think of anythign else

[Pete C]

Downtown Orlando is far prettier than downtown Tampa. Tampa's skyline can be considered taller and more impressive from a distance, but Orlando has more and prettier condo buildings. We just don't have the height due to restrictions. Tampa has a few little districts here and there, but downtown Orlando has a lot of walkable, pedestrian filled area that Tampa does not. Everyone that I have talked to that have lived in both places say that Orlando has better nightlife and overall more to do. Orlando seems to be on the rise development-wise...downtown focus, new arena, new performing arts center, SunRail, etc...Tampa is standing still. Same goes for Jacksonville.

[GLS2010]

I live in Orlando and I've been to Tampa countless times. I would pick Orlando too, it's looks cleaner/modern/nicer. You always have something to do even without going to the attractions. I would say the quality of life is much higher in Orlando