Finding the Right Neighborhood in Orlando

Now that we decided to move to Orlando it was time to narrow down a neighborhood! During our July trip, in addition to spending 5 days in the theme parks, we spent 2 and a half days driving around to get a feel for the local area. Neither of us had driven around the area before, and we wanted to see what it was like outside the Disney bubble. We then visited in September again to make our final decision.

Just for some background – if you haven’t visited Orange County, CA, there are some things you need to know about living there. First, the vast majority of new neighborhoods are master planned communities, meaning they are very “cookie cutter” and feature parks, walkways, and amenities. Some people don’t like it, and describe it as a little too plain or boring – but personally, it’s what we are used to and we like it a lot! Secondly, Orange County has a very high population density, with restaurants and shops not too far of a drive. From our old home, Walmart, Target, In N Out, Chick Fil A, and Chipotle were about a 5 minute drive. Starbucks, a sushi restaurant, a preschool, and a pizza joint were about a 2 minute drive or 10 minute walk from home. Lastly, shopping centers and restaurants are typically stylized based on local architecture – everything flows together and the building styles complement each other. One thing we noticed about the Orlando area was how spread out everything is, and I have a feeling it’s something we will need to get used to. Luckily, we found a neighborhood that felt similar to the neighborhoods we are used to at home!

Areas We Considered

• Kissimmee
• St. Cloud
• Davenport
• Winter Garden
• Clermont
• Windermere
• Apopka
• Celebration

What We Were Looking For

• Family friendly
• Good schools (private school isn’t completely out of the question, but we wanted to make sure that the public schools were good just in case we opt to go public)
• Not near a major road or highway
• Neighborhood amenities in walking distance – pool, parks, etc.
• Not too far from Walt Disney World
• Not too far from shopping, restaurants, etc.
• 5+ bedrooms, 3+ bathrooms
• Large yard
• 3 car garage

Our Thoughts

Kissimmee & St. Cloud
Although we found some floorplans that fit our needs, we weren’t super thrilled with the neighborhoods we came across. It didn’t feel like “home”, and some areas felt very rural – too rural for us. It didn’t feel right.

Winter Garden
This quickly became a favorite area of ours, due to its new/fresh feeling, good city layout, and variety of neighborhoods that offered what we were looking for. The challenge quickly became finding a neighborhood in Winter Garden that exactly fit our needs.

Clermont
Clermont was a close second behind Winter Garden. We loved the green rolling hills, but when we narrowed it down to two neighborhoods that we liked, they didn’t quite 100% fit what we were looking for.

Windermere
We also loved Windermere! Unfortunately, the new construction homes were mostly out of budget, so we would be looking at older homes. We really wanted new construction, so we had to cross this one off our list.

Apopka
Apopka looked good on paper, but similar to Kissimmee & St. Cloud, it felt a little too rural for us. We didn’t even look at the neighborhoods there – just driving through gave us our answer.

Celebration
We were mostly driving through Celebration to see what it was like. It felt very “Stepford Wives”-ish. You either love it, or hate it. I loved it. My husband did not. Even if we both agreed, we would have been looking at the very top of our budget, and we would have had to give something up (like number of bedrooms, large yard, etc.)

We ended up picking out a neighborhood in Winter Garden we really loved, and we are very happy with what we picked!

To read about the design studio experience, click here!
To skip ahead and find out what goes on during a walk-through, click here!