My visit to the Orlando area last week was obviously not under ideal circumstances. It was the first time I had been since January 2011, and I think the first time that I went with zero tourism intentions. I also remembered how much I like the area.
If you go back about a year, you'd find that in my chatter about moving back east, that Orlando was a serious contender for future residency. As I said back then, I fancy us as pool and palm tree people. (I know, a family of fair-skinned people, probably not ideal.) The housing down there is stupid cheap. Like mansion for $250k cheap. No state income tax, no snow.
Truth be told, I still mostly feel that way about Central Florida, but the more that I looked into it, the more I kept getting blocked by one serious issue: The schools generally suck. They doubly suck when you compare to the Seattle east side. This is not a condition that fits well with a kid who will be school age in another three years.
But I didn't realize how much this annoys me until I spent some time down there. Socially, we don't know all that many people down there, but I enjoyed being there, in the warm sun with occasional showers. I like palm trees. Of course, I like theme parks, too, but I don't know if those would get old after awhile. The school thing is a deal breaker though.
I'm kind of pissed off about that. I fancied myself as a resident at one point. I still do, but probably not until Simon is out on his own. I'd love to sell churros as an old retired guy at Disney World. Then I'd meet Diana when she was done working part-time at one of the shows. See? Doesn't that sound like a beautifully simple thing?
I'll have to get my fill when we do our grown up WDW trip in a few weeks.
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