Wishes And Pixie Dust

Follow the journey of a Wisconsin family of 4 who relocated to the Walt Disney World area in July 2011

Category Archives: Florida


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Four Parks, One Weekend

When we were first planning our move to the beautiful state of Florida, one recurring theme that kept surfacing was the anticipation of being able to visit the parks at a moment’s notice.  As we’ve mentioned before, what we envisioned as a short drive to Walt Disney World can actually take us anywhere from 35-55 minutes to arrive, depending on traffic.  We try to schedule our Disney trips in on Wednesday afternoons/early evenings (kids have early release from school) and the weekends.  School and homework commitments always take priority over our fun time at the parks, and there really isn’t sufficient time on a normal school day to drive over two hours round trip for an hour in the park.  This past weekend was a three-day weekend (end of the first grading period for the kids), so we were able to squeeze in an extra day at Walt Disney World.  It was not our intention to visit all four parks this weekend; just happened to work out that way!

We rely on the WDW Lines app (downloaded to our smartphones) when we decide which park to visit.  (Please see touringplans.com for more information).  It is an excellent resource and well worth the small investment:  it rates the individual parks based on how crowded they are expected to be, list show times, and estimated wait times for all the attractions.

We decided Saturday to visit the Animal Kingdom.  Believe it or not, this was our first visit to AK since our move in July, mainly because we didn’t feel a need to roast ourselves in the hot Florida sun.  For us, Animal Kingdom is by far the hottest park.  We know others may disagree, but we knew there would be plenty of cooler temperatures in the upcoming months, and we were fine with delaying our visit.  We were thrilled to see how close the parking lot tram brought us to the entrance, as we were used to quite the hike when we stayed on property and used Disney transportation.

[As a side note, one of our ‘wants’ is to stay on Disney property at each of the resort hotels.  We have decided that when this happens, we will use our own vehicle and not the Disney bus transportation service.  We much prefer using the parking lot and trams:  it is more convenient and less stressful.]

Ben faced his fear of Expedition Everest:  he first tried it in 2007 and quickly placed it on his list (of things he was afraid of!).  It is now a must-do attraction at Animal Kingdom!  He absolutely loved it!  Yay Ben!

Sunday was a Magic Kingdom and Epcot Day:  Epcot, because of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, MK closes at 7:00.  We chose to take the monorail over to Epcot for a couple of hours.  Magic Kingdom is by far our favorite park, and while it can be an inconvenience to have to take a ferry boat or monorail from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, most days we enjoy the magical approach as the way Walt Disney wanted it to be.

Naturally, this left Disney’s  Hollywood Studios for Monday; this is our second favorite park:  Rock N Roller Coaster, the Tower of Terror and Star Tours are absolute must-dos. We went into the 5 & 10 store on  Hollywood Boulevard for the first time ever, and discovered a lot of things that we would love to have for Christmas…:=)  Thought you might want to take a look too!

Toy Story Mania is also one of our favorites:  we always joke with Ben that he so needs to stop coloring on the walls, and that we’re going to have to take his crayons away :=)

We have been asked:  what is the best thing about going to the parks now that we live here?  We would say the ability to enjoy the parks and really take in the theming of the attractions and surroundings, without feeling the need to rush around and do it all.   Walt Disney World isn’t going anywhere, and neither are we–we have plenty of time to explore and enjoy everything it has to offer.

 

 

 


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Fall & Halloween Doings

Welcome Fall!  I love this picture, because it reminds me so much of the season of Fall in Wisconsin.   At one of our houses we had huge trees just like this in our front yard, and when I say there were leaves to rake……..we had piles of leaves four feet high!  I miss the smell of crunching leaves underfoot as you walk along, and the distinct fall aromas:  the leaves, the cool crisp air, the bonfires at night, that if close enough, fills your house with a smoky smell.  We always went to The Little Farmer at this time of year to pick out our pumpkins, apple butter, muffins and pies, and go on a hayride.  I will definitely miss the hayrides through the woods, even though it seriously messed up my allergies.  There is nothing like a fall forest hayride in Wisconsin.

This picture was taken last fall, before we knew we were moving.  Little did we know it would be our last trip there:

If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where you can witness the fall colors, enjoy it a little extra for me 🙂

There are several different farms/orchards in Lake County that appear somewhat similar to The Little Farmer, which I’ll list here:

Long & Scott Farms in Mount Dora

Santa’s Christmas Tree Forest in Eustis

Stanley Pond Adventure Pond in Astatula

Uncle Donald’s Farm in Lady Lake

Right now Santa’s Christmas Tree Forest in Eustis seems to be the best option to try.

We’re not sure what we plan to do for the day of Halloween this year, even though it is only a couple of weeks away.  We’ll do the traditional pumpkins, of course, but I’m not sure if we’ll participate in trick-or-treating.  We have discovered that there is no set time or day for trick or treating in Clermont.  In Wisconsin, we always had trick or treating the Sunday before Halloween, from 3:30 to 5:30, followed by pizza and hot chocolate (because it was always invariably cold outside).  We will buy a couple of bags of candy to give out to our neighbors’ children, but I think this year we’re going to be winging it.  Our original plan was to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, but due to unforeseen circumstances, our budget will not allow for that extra expense this year.   I did win an Event Party Music CD from the Disney Planning Blog, so at least we’ll have the music to listen to!  Walt Disney World is not going anywhere, and neither are we; while we would have liked to attend, there also isn’t an urgency to do everything as soon as we possibly can.  There’s always next year, and we’re fine with that.

As always, thank you for following us.  We do plan to put out an update post soon describing what Florida life looks like to us three months after the move.

~♥~ Jen~♥~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Living Life In Florida

When we were planning our move to Florida, we were excited at the possibility of our expenses being lower than in Wisconsin.  Now that we’ve been here for over six weeks, we thought we would take a look at our actual expenses and share them with our readers. For a reference point, our apartment is 1,389 sq feet.

  • Our monthly rent increased by $186; however, we are no longer responsible for lawn care.
  • Our monthly cable bill for phone, internet and television decreased by $5.
  • No more gas bill (averaged $35-45 in summer; $300 in winter)
  • Our electric bill is $220, which is not bad considering we haven’t been careful about our usage, we had many pool days which means more towels to wash, and it’s summer 🙂  We expected it to be less, but it’s less than it would be in Wisconsin.
  • Our income increased because there are no withholdings for state income tax.
  • The biggest change is our water bill.  In Wisconsin we were paying $135 monthly. In Florida we paid $8.64.  We do expect the bill to go up for September, as the meter was read August 5 for the water, which resulted in only 12 days of water, but we don’t expect it to be a significant amount.
  • Our gasoline usage has increased significantly, due to the fact we are approximately 40-50 minutes away from Disney (one way), Clermont is much more spread out than Fond du Lac was, and approximately an hour’s worth of gas is used daily for bringing the kids to and from school.
  • Groceries are approximately 15-20% more expensive here than in Wisconsin, and significantly lacking in a variety of dairy products 🙂  We find that we shop at four different grocery stores:  Winn-Dixie, Publix, Sweetbay and Target, which is an extremely different routine for us.  (We’re used to shopping at one, and we’ve really been missing it lately).
New bills for Florida:
  • Disney annual passes are $150 per month
  • Pest control fee is $1 per month
  • Valet trash fee is $15 per month
  • Sunpass:  this varies on how often we go into Orlando, but in six weeks since we’ve been here we’ve spent $17.50 in tolls.  It will go down considerably from here on because we’re not using the Turnpike as much now.
So are we paying less in expenses than Wisconsin?  No, but we’re not paying more, either. It all seems to equal out in the end.  We do acknowledge the fact that if we were renting a house, we would be paying more in expenses; in terms of lawn care, pool upkeep and a higher bill for pest control.  We’re quite satisfied with the apartment complex and love not having the responsibilities that renting or owning a home entails.  We recognize that apartment living is not for everyone, but it suits us perfectly.  


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Car Registration

After you obtain your driver’s license, the next step in the process is to register your vehicle with the state of Florida and receive your license plate.  Florida state law requires that your car be registered within ten days of enrolling a child in school or obtaining employment.  However, before this can be accomplished you will need to provide proof of vehicle insurance, from a company licensed in Florida.  You will also need your original title. In Wisconsin we had a policy with State Farm and decided to continue coverage with State Farm in Florida, more for ease of convenience than anything else. Our previous agent helped us find a Florida agent close to home, and they worked together in transferring our account from Wisconsin to Florida.  We were able to make an appointment over a month in advance, and we recommend using the same insurer if at all possible, because it really does ease the process.

In Wisconsin we carried auto insurance, renter’s insurance and an umbrella policy.  In Florida, we have the same policies; however, State Farm in Florida does not provide renter’s insurance, so we needed to underwrite the policy to a different company, which of course required an additional $157 payment that we were not expecting to pay upfront (we are billed monthly on the State Farm payment plan and it comes directly out of our checking account).  We will be billed quarterly for the renter’s policy from this point forward.  This means our State Farm policy will remain approximately the same as what we paid in Wisconsin, but without renter’s insurance, and with less coverage (we opted to drop full coverage on our vehicle).  Vehicle insurance in Florida is considered one of the highest rates in the United States (and after the way we see people drive we so understand why), so please be prepared financially with that realization before you move.

Our appointment with State Farm was in the morning, and after we obtained our driver’s licenses, we drove to the building where we would then register our vehicle.  Keep in mind that the building where you receive your driver’s license is not the same building you register your car at.  (Another peculiarity different than Wisconsin).  You also may not make an appointment here:  you wait for your number to be called.  We had estimated our fees to be approximately $180: imagine our surprise when we discovered the actual total was $409!  We did not realize that an initial registration fee of $225 is charged if there is no Florida registration to transfer.  The tag renewal is based on the birth date, and you will pay the full fee regardless on when you register your vehicle.  We will need to renew in December, and it is estimated that our renewal fee will be $60.

It is highly recommended that you do not purchase a vehicle less than six months before you move, as you will need to pay the difference between Florida’s state sale tax and your own state’s sale tax. If at all possible, wait until you arrive in Florida to purchase that new vehicle, or do it more than six months out.  You will need to prove that you have owned the vehicle for longer than six months, so be sure to have that paperwork on hand.

We hope the posts on obtaining your driver’s license and vehicle registration have proved helpful.  We know we would have loved to have this information prior to our move, and if it helps someone out, then it’s totally worth the time it has taken to pull it together. 🙂


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What Does it Feel Like To Move?

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.