One of the huge perks of relocating to Florida is the ability to visit Walt Disney World at a moment’s notice. Residents of Florida now have the flexibility of paying for annual passes on a monthly basis, and it makes it easier for individuals to immediately experience the magic of the parks.
If this is your intent, one of the first things you will want to do after establishing a residence is to obtain your driver’s license. Walt Disney World does require your driver’s license to prove residency in order to issue annual passes. Prior to your move, set up your DMV appointment: this can be done online. Approximately 1,000 people move to Florida in one day, and the wait could prove to be extremely lengthy without an appointment. Please visit Florida DMV to identify which documents you will need to present to convert your out-of-state license to a Florida driver’s license. Florida recognizes most out-of-states licenses as a primary form of identification: this means you will not need to provide a birth certificate or passport as proof of identity. If you live in one of twenty states that Florida considers a driver’s license only as a secondary form of identification, you will need to provide a birth certificate or passport to prove your identity.
Florida law requires each individual to present identification to prove primary identification, secondary identification (your social security card), and two documents proving your address, such as a current utility bill or mortgage/lease agreement. The fee per person is $48 for an eight year license. Florida law states that you must obtain your driver’s license within thirty days of becoming a resident of Florida.
Please keep an eye out for our next post which entails what is necessary to obtain your new Florida license plate!
Relocation to a new state requires perseverance, determination and courage. When you decide to follow your dream, you are also agreeing to take along your “friends” doubt, discouragement and fear. We have friends who intend to follow in our footsteps and recently asked us about the different range of emotions we have undergone. We gave a brief answer, but after taking time to think about it, we thought it might be appropriate to address it here for all to see.
So what does moving feel like? You can do all the research in the world but nothing can really prepare you for what you will be feeling. When we made the decision to move, we knew that our oldest son would not be coming with us. His life is in Wisconsin, and he had no desire to leave his world behind. As a parent, it is a hard choice to make: by leaving, we knew that essentially he had no home to come back to. Of course he is welcome to come to Florida at any time, but with the separation of 1, 287 miles between us, it does not make it an easy endeavor. But on the opposite side of the equation, how long do we put our own lives on hold? This, of course, is a personal decision dependent on your child’s maturity level and your own comfort zone. We felt our son had the maturity level that would enable him to live on his own and be successful. We want to make it clear that if we felt he was not able to handle it, we would not have moved. Our children have always been, and will always be, our first priority in our lives.
After we crossed the state line and left the Florida Welcome Center, we cranked up The Princess and The Frog soundtrack and we were really on cloud nine. We don’t believe we’ve felt as much joy as a family as those couple of hours driving through the state of Florida. The children were screaming with excitement when they saw the Clermont city limits sign, and again when we reached the apartment complex. After years of dreaming and months of planning, we really were on an emotional high to see our dreams being realized.
At first we felt like we were on vacation, and do we really need to laundry already?! It was also overwhelming to walk into Target that first afternoon–without a list–and try to determine what needs to be bought for the first couple of days. We highly recommend making lists of things you decide not to move, so that you know what it is you will need to buy. Even if the list seems long and you think you will never be able to buy it all back, it will prove invaluable to you those first few days.
We have been blessed by having the opportunity to meet Facebook friends at the Disney Parks, and discover that they are just as wonderful face to face as they are in the internet world. We are looking forward to developing these relationships and meeting more friends as the opportunity arises.
We are slowly learning how to navigate our way around Clermont. It is kind of unsettling moving to a new area and not knowing where anything is, and having to rely on GPS. We find ourselves comparing Clermont to Fond du Lac a lot, and noticing the differences; liking some of them, and not liking others at all. (We suspect there is a hidden sensor in our license plate that alerts all the traffic signals to turn red as we approach).
We have discovered that at first, we liked to spend time at Disney; not only because it was Disney, but because it was familiar, and wonderful, and it provided an escape away from the huge changes our lives were undergoing. It’s part of the reason we went to the Magic Kingdom today– both kids started school on Monday and they needed to experience the magic of Disney, to help ease the transition of summer vacation to a new school year.
Moving to a new city and state requires a huge leap of faith; but if you plan for it and try to anticipate potential roadblocks, it will help the transition to progress smoothly. It’s a huge part of why we started our blog, to help other families in their process of relocation. If we help only one family in achieving their goals and dreams of relocating to Florida, then we consider our blog a success. Its not about attracting a huge readership but helping out those who do find us. We firmly believe that Disney is a huge part of what made it work for us. As much as we dislike Wisconsin winters, we would not have moved on that reason alone. Yes, it’s a very nice perk that we will love come December, but it’s also a huge undertaking to uproot your family, and you really need to have a motivating reason besides weather conditions. For us, (and for many other people, no doubt) Walt Disney World is that reason.
What does it mean to be 24 miles away from Walt Disney World? We thought we would share our perspective here. Just a side note: our blog focus has been and will always be the issues surrounding relocation. If you are searching for the latest merchandise displayed at the parks, or the latest news regarding refurbishments, this is not the blog to read. There are several Disney blogs out there that provide that information, and we feel what we have to offer would only duplicate previously published news, and it is not worth our time to write about it nor your time to read it. What keeps us unique is our primary focus on the issues surrounding relocation.
There is something magical about living here as a resident with the knowledge that we can go to Walt Disney World any time we can fit it into our life. We don’t feel the urgency to go to the parks every day, and when at the parks, we are able to stroll about leisurely and not feel harried to fit every single attraction in. As our son noted, he never has to feel sad about leaving Walt Disney World again, and he gets to see “his buddy” (Mickey Mouse) any time he wants.
We chose to purchase premium annual passes to Walt Disney World using the monthly payment plan that is offered to Florida residents. The premium annual pass allows unlimited admission to all four theme parks, complimentary parking ($14 value per visit), 20% discount on merchandise purchased, special offers in regards to resort stays and dining, unlimited access to Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney Quest, and the Water Parks. Disney requires a down payment equal to the admission price of a one day ticket, and then monthly payments of $37.63 per person. Click here for more information.
We keep a box in the laundry room that is dedicated for items that we need when we travel to Disney. We purchased insulated water bottles with a carrying strap from CVS for five dollars each, and it has been the best investment for us. We fill up the bottles with ice water when we leave the house, then place them in a soft sided cooler filled with ice for the drive to Disney, and they really do stay cool for quite awhile once we are in the parks, which is impressive in the Florida heat. The SuperTarget located in Kissimmee (4795 W Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy) does sell them as well, with Mickey Mouse imprinted on the insulated carrier, for $8.99. This store has an impressive selection of Disney merchandise, and if you have access to a vehicle, we recommend a stop here to check it all out.
As noted in our last post, it takes us approximately an hour to travel to WDW, given the waiting time at traffic lights and traffic in general. Once in the parking lot, it is necessary to board a tram to take us to the front gates, or in the instance of the Magic Kingdom, to the Transportation & Ticket Center, where we will need to board a monorail or a ferry to arrive at the Magic Kingdom.
The Florida heat does not lessen as a resident, unfortunately. We have been told by several people that it does get better, but after chatting with a CM about it, he told us that we will learn to not go to the parks in the summer! Well we certainly doubt that will happen! Though, on that note, we have not yet been to Animal Kingdom park due to the excessive heat. We may brave a trip in the next couple of weeks, but we look forward to being able to explore the park at length when the weather is less blistering.
We typically try not to spend an entire day at any one park. One of our goals while going to Walt Disney World is to try to avoid purchasing food or merchandise items unless it is planned in advance. It is so tempting to stop for lunch or wanting to purchase that unique souvenir, but these items add up very quickly. We have discovered that we really miss the dining plan; not only for the delicious food but also as a way to relax, escape the heat and refresh for the rest of the day’s activities.
However, as a resident we are able to take in a meal at any time of the year. We plan to purchase Tables in Wonderland, which offers a 20% discount on all food and beverage purchases at participating Walt Disney World locations. Annual passholders receive $25 off the purchase price of $100, and we anticipate that it will more than pay for itself over the course of a year. For example, this Friday we have reservations at the Crystal Palace for our daughter’s birthday lunch. The cost is $30.88 per adult, which equals $123.52 before tax and gratuity. Twenty percent off would equal $24.70, bringing the balance down to $98.82: one meal results in recouping a third of the cost! If you mail in an application, it takes approximately two weeks to receive your card, but you may also visit Guest Services at any of the parks or Downtown Disney for immediate purchase.
Does the Disney magic lessen for us because we have continual access to it? No, not at all. If anything, it leads to a deeper appreciation of the vision Walt Disney had, a desire to discover more about the man behind the mouse, and it allows us the ability to experience as much Disney magic as possible.
Today marks the three-week anniversary of our family arriving in Clermont, and we thought we would take the time to just make some observations about what we’ve experienced so far, the good and the not-so-good.
We had certain expectations before we moved here regarding the size of the city. We knew the population to be roughly 28,000, we knew the area to be hilly, and we knew Clermont was located 22 miles west of Orlando. In our home in Wisconsin, we lived in a city of approximately 48,000; we were able to travel from one end of the city to the other in ten minutes–everything was very centrally located. We assumed Clermont would be similar, only smaller. (Our friends who live in Clermont or know the area–you can stop laughing now. LOL)
We didn’t realize how encompassing Clermont is! Wow. We will say the views are absolutely amazing:
When we were looking at apartments, we knew that Cagans Crossing was further away and not as centrally located. What we didn’t realize was that Cagans Crossing was thirteen miles and twenty three minutes away! For our Wisconsin friends, it takes us just as long to drive from our apartment to Cagans Crossing, as it does to travel from Fond du Lac to Oshkosh. It amazes us that we can travel from our apartment, past houses, businesses, and even a state park, arrive at Cagans Crossing, and STILL be in Clermont!
When we were going to the Disney Parks the first couple of days we were here, we always seemed to lose track of time, and couldn’t understand it, as we estimated our travel time would be around 35 minutes. When we finally tracked our time last week, we realized that it actually takes us a lot longer: 23 minutes to Cagans Crossing, 28 minutes from CC to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, and for that particular day we took the ferry over, and it was an hour later that we were finally on Main Street USA. It was an unusually busy day, however, and we’re sure the monorail would have been a lot faster. But it’s still almost an hour drive to the parking lot, which is a lot more than we estimated.
One observation we’ve noticed is that we use a lot of gas here, because everything is so spread out, and because the traffic lights take absolutely forever to change. It’s going to be an adjustment in getting used to that. We are starting to get acclimated to where everything is, but we still use the GPS on occasion.
We picked up a membership at BJs, not so much because the club prices are spectacular, but for the discounted gas. The gas at BJs is five cents cheaper than anywhere else, and we estimate that we should at least get our money’s worth on the membership fee over the course of the year in gas savings. And, it’s really not fair for us to comment on the club prices, because everything here in terms of grocery and Walmart type items is more expensive than in Wisconsin, and right now we’re fairly bad judges at what is a good or not-so-good price. To us it’s all bad….LOL! One feature that attracted us to BJs is that they send out their store coupons, and you can also apply a manufacturer’s coupon to it as well.
Our apartment is slowly coming together. We only have a handful of boxes to unpack, and most of those are boxes that contain books, and are just waiting on a bookcase to put them into. The living room is a lot smaller than we’d like, but we’ll make the best of it. It really is an exercise in making the best use of what available space there is. Right now the storage closet is totally unorganized–we’re thinking some shelving units in there will help, so that we don’t need to pull everything out to get to an item in back, but it’s not a priority at the moment.
Would we change anything, if we could go back in time? We really wished we lived closer to Disney, but we would still choose Clermont as our home city and would still choose not to live at Cagans Crossing. The only three bedroom apartments in that complex are on the third floor, and we really like the convenience of first floor living. We love the area we are in, and we love the management team with the apartment complex. Even though Cagans Crossing is closer to Disney, we would probably use just as much gas (or more) coming back into the main area of Clermont to do shopping or run errands. We feel the trade-off of having to travel farther to Disney is worth it in exchange for the area we live in.
While the kids are enjoying some pool time, we thought it would be a perfect time to put up a new post. This is one of the moments that kept inspiring us forward during the not-so-fun packing moments of the past several months: sitting underneath palm trees using the computer while the kids enjoy swimming in the pool. Yea, life is good.
One of the questions we’ve been asked is how much money do you need to relocate to Florida. This is a decision your family will need to make, depending upon your circumstances, but we’ll share what our expenses have been for our relocation.
Boxes. Whether you use a professional moving company or plan to move yourself, you will need boxes. We were fortunate enough to have Mayflower give us a stash of free boxes, Nick brought home several from work, as well as obtaining a few on Freecycle. We ended up only spending $10 on boxes, but this could well have cost us hundreds. Our advice is to start collecting boxes now, because you will underestimate how many you need, and better to have too many than have to pay for them as your move gets closer. We ended up having 288 items packed on to the moving truck, and most of those were boxes.
Paper to stuff the boxes. We opted to purchase end rolls of paper from our local newspaper company, for $2 a roll. We estimate we’ve spent $90 for this. You can elect to use newspaper to stuff boxes, but you risk the newsprint transferring to your items. We had no problem using newsprint for local moves, but felt for a week on a moving truck it might be best not to use that option.
Packing tape. We didn’t keep track of how much packing tape we used, but it was a lot. It easily surpassed one hundred dollars, as towards the end we were using four rolls a week, and at $5 per roll, it adds up quickly.
Moving Truck. We chose to use professional movers for a long distance move. We have always used U-Haul in the past, and it was always totally exhausting and always took hours and hours longer than we expected. That is not the experience we wanted this time. We wanted to go with a reputable company, as some moving companies will under quote and then hold your goods until you pay what they demand. We paid $3400, all based on weight, so the more you dispose of, the cheaper your move will be.
Housing Costs. Our experience is based on apartment living costs. We paid a $149 non-refundable fee to apply for residence living as well as $100 deposit fee which was applied to our security deposit, which was $554 total. Upon move-in, we wrote a check for $1233, which covered the first month’s rent plus a pro-rated amount for the week of July 25-July 31.
We recommend doing an internet search on apartments in the area and narrowing down your search to one or two options. We originally were going to put in applications at two or three different complexes, and then tour when we moved down here, but the application fees were too prohibitive for that to happen.
If you plan to travel down before you move to check out the area, be sure to factor in that expense as well. Airplane tickets, rental cars or cab fares, and incidental expenses add up quickly.
If you are looking at renting or purchasing a home, factor in the expenses of pest control and pool maintenance, as these are necessary items that must be done regularly, and if renting, are usually not included in the price of rent. We can tell you how nice it is not to have to worry about those two things. We don’t pay any more in rent for our apartment than we would if we rented a house; in fact less if you factor in the expenses of these two items, and it simply is awesome to be able to walk to the pool and not worry about cleaning it.
Car Maintenance. This is necessary if you are driving across several states, as we did. You definitely do not want to break down in the middle of nowhere needing extensive repairs. We paid over two thousand dollars to get our vehicle ready for the trip; we definitely did not account for so high a cost, so please be sure to over-estimate your possible expenses in this area.
AAA. We highly recommend AAA coverage. This cost us $82 for the year, and gave us a personalized Trip Tix, state guidebooks, maps, and peace of mind if the unthinkable would occur. (It didn’t). We are now covered through next June, and this is something we always renew.
The Next Exit. This book is very helpful if you are traveling interstates; it allows you to see at what upcoming exits there are food, gas and hotel stops. We used this book to guide us to what exit to take, and then used our GPS navigator on our phones to determine the exact location.
Tolls. We paid $2.50 in Illinois, $5.60 in Indiana and $1.00 in Florida using our SunPass. The SunPass unit plus ten dollars worth of toll money cost $36.50, and the unit was mailed directly to our house in Wisconsin We still have a balance of $6.75, as we find that we do not need to take the Turnpike to go to Disney World, and most everything else we could need is located in Clermont.
Iphone or Android. While not a necessity, we highly recommend having a phone with GPS functionality. It helped us find various things while en route, and it literally has been a life saver in finding locations in Clermont. If you’re into social media as we are, it also allows you to post status updates and tweet endlessly 🙂
Gas. This of course is dependent on gas prices in the various cities you travel through, and you really have no control over this expense. We paid $225 for gas from Wisconsin to Florida.
Hotels. We found it interesting that as we traveled towards Florida, the cost of our hotel stays kept decreasing. We took four days/three nights to reach our destination, and our total cost for hotel stays was $249.
Food/Meals. Our original intent was to eat home-cooked meals through the Wednesday night before we left, but things really got way hectic and we wanted to have meals at our favorite places one last time, so this was an added expense the week of the move that we hadn’t anticipated. We also experienced a similar experience once in Clermont: even though our intent was to eat in the apartment, the lack of cookware and with everything going on, we ate out a lot more than anticipated.
Shopping. If you are donating or selling items that you plan to purchase again once you arrive, be sure to keep a list and tally those costs. They really do add up. This includes everything from furniture to kitchen utensils to groceries.
Disney Passes. For us, this was one of the main reasons for relocating to Florida, so we factored in the cost of annual passes. We chose to purchase premium annual passes, which required a down payment of $362.12 for the four of us and monthly payment amount of $150.52. Disney does not charge any fees for this option, and you may pay extra to bring your balance/monthly payment down or pay it off at any time.
Car/Renter’s Insurance. Renter’s insurance is a prerequisite for living here, but it proved to be an additional expense for us as our insurance carrier in Florida does not offer renter’s insurance and needs to underwrite it through a different company, so we were not able to add it on to our monthly payment plan as we did in Wisconsin. This required a $157 deposit, plus quarterly payments. Our car insurance rates should stay about the same, but with less coverage (we dropped collision and comprehensive) and minus the renter’s insurance.
Driver’s Licenses. We will blog about our experience later, but in terms of costs it runs $48 per person to convert an out-of-state license to a Florida license.
Car Registration. We had estimated this expense to be $180.35 based on the information available on the website. Our actual expense was $408, so we were way off in our estimation. Again, we will blog later on this experience.
Utilities. If you rent a house, you may be required to pay a deposit for water to be turned on. Because we live in an apartment, the entire complex is billed at once, and management just sends each resident a bill that we just add on to our rent. Progress Energy may also require a deposit payment, depending on your credit history, up to two months service at your new address, based on prior usage.
We’re sure there are expenses that we are forgetting to mention but we wanted to hit on the highlights. We hope this proves helpful to those of you who are considering a move to the beautiful state of Florida 🙂 We absolutely love it here! We keep hearing from our friends here that we will get used to the heat, and really the only times we find it overbearing is when we do hours at Disney 🙂
Wishes And Pixie Dust 