It's not all Disney
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7/31/2014
I lived in Orlando for 10 years and was pretty happy for most of that time. The heat, especially in summer, is oppressive but, being single, I would just head to the beach or stay indoors. Once I had my daughter, I began to see things differently. Crime is horrific. We lived in a nice middle-upper middle class, gated neighborhood. One night a man who had stolen a vehicle and was evading police was shot and killed on our front lawn. Every night I could hear drag racing and what I believe were gun shots in the distance. A family owned convenience store around the corner from our neighborhood was robbed in the middle of the day by 4 men wielding sawed off shotguns...saw them speeding away shooting into the air. I was a high school teacher at one of the 'better' high schools in Orlando....it was a nightmare. The students were thugs - they wore ankle monitors to school, PO's visited them, they conducted business in class, more than one male student flashed the other students, one even assaulted another student with his penis. Downtown was overrun with homeless people. The downtown bars were awesome when I first lived there - they had some pretty cool, unique places to hang out (Go Lounge, Kit Kat Club, I Bar, Sapphire Supper Club) but all those unique spots were replaced by boring polished corporate-owned establishments. Boring. Aside from all this, there is no culture or entertainment to speak of. (Disney and the I drive area do not constitute entertainment imo). It's pretty much a cesspool. I knew as soon as our daughter was born that we would leave and we did when she was 16 months old. Best decision we ever made.
laura | McNair, VA