Wishes And Pixie Dust

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


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Clermont is Home

Yesterday marked the six week anniversary of our arrival in Florida, and we thought we would share with you our thoughts about the adjustment process.  Prior to our move we had heard from others who completed long distance moves and were informed that it could take up to a year (or more) for this to feel like home.  We are happy to say that we don’t anticipate it will take that long.  It goes without saying that we miss our family and friends in Wisconsin, and at times it’s hard being away from them, but we have made new relationships that would not have been possible without the move, and we are happy to know these individuals better and call them our friends.  It does seem a little weird, though, not to have anyone to list as an emergency contact on the school forms.

For those of you in the process of preparing for a long distance move, we recommend donating or selling as much as possible.  Seriously, get rid of it now.  We have been saying on this blog since early on that unless you love it or it has meaning to you, don’t keep it. We have discovered that the boxes you do move with you have to be unpacked, and then furniture needs to be purchased to put the items into (assuming you don’t move the furniture with you).  As we were packing boxes and preparing for the move, there was one conversation that kept resurfacing, and that was the question of which articles of furniture we should consider moving.  We find it interesting that in the end, the furniture we chose to move with us fits perfectly in the apartment, and had we elected to move an end table we were considering, there would have been no place for it.

We feel at home in Clermont, and have absolutely no regrets about our decision to move here.  Yes, we are further than we’d like to be from Walt Disney World, and we find that our trips in are less spontaneous and more planned around our family’s responsibilities. However, we love that we do not live in an area where tourists frequent; it makes it feel more like home.  We are becoming more familiar with the area, and have discovered which side streets we can take to avoid travelling on Highway 50.  We had our first pizza night last night since moving to Clermont, and it was awesome to get back into familiar routines. Which Disney movie did we watch?  The Princess and the Frog, of course! 🙂

We love that we are able to refurnish our house piece by piece.  Catie’s room is completely done, Ben needs a dresser yet, and we need a dresser and some bookcases.  We’ve gone with a beech wood theme in our living room when buying furniture, and love the lighter color of the wood.  We tend to decorate in brighter colors here, to match the sunny climate. We have yet to purchase a sofa; we haven’t found one we like that will match our color scheme, and we refuse to settle on a cheap substitute just to “have a sofa”.  We have found plenty of sofas in tan/darker neutral colors, but we want something with a lighter edge to it.  One of the furniture stores we go to often is Clermont Furniture by Winn Dixie.  We really like the selection and prices, the owner/manager is not an aggressive “in-your-face” type salesman, and they offer same day delivery with really reasonable delivery rates. One of the things we’ve discovered is that in general furniture stores will offer low prices on furniture, but then over-inflate delivery costs.  We really like that Clermont Furniture does not do that.

We recommend researching the area you intend to relocate into, to discover which stores and amenities are available prior to your move.   This will help you to get a feel for your area, and make it feel more familiar to you once you do arrive.  There are still times when we can hardly believe that we live in Florida; sort of a “don’t pinch  me, I might wake up” moment.  🙂  It seems weird to be living in a totally different part of the United States, but we all seem to be adjusting well.  Clermont is home 🙂

 

 

 


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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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Obtaining Your Florida Driver’s License

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!


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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.

 


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Disney Quest

Friday night we took advantage of our premium annual passes and decided to check out Disney Quest, located at Downtown Disney West Side.

Disney Quest offers five floors of interactive adventures, and we will briefly go through each of the floors and describe what each offers.  Ben was amazed that they have the same turnstiles to enter as he sees in the parks….lol

Floor 1 offers the Virtual Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for Buccaneer Gold, and the Disney Quest Emporium.   Both kids decided to ride the Virtual Jungle Cruise:  you enter an inflatable boat and are given oars to steer the boat through the course.   We felt it was an okay experience, but they seemed to have trouble navigating the boat with the oars so the virtual experience was not as good as it could have been.  We all went on the Pirates attraction, and give it two thumbs up!  An excellent experience and worth the 30 minute wait time.  The Disney Quest Emporium offers various Disney souvenirs for purchase.

Floor 2 offers the Radio Disney SongMaker, Animation Academy, Living Easels, Sid’s Create-A-Toy, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride and CyberSpace Mountain.    We did Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride, which was fun but not something we’ll feel the urge to do everytime, and CyberSpace Mountain, which is Ben’s dream come true 🙂  You can design and then ride your own roller coaster.  This was awesome and we’re sure a must-do every time we visit.

Floor 3 features the Underground Arcade, Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam, Race Zone, Classic Games and Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster.  This floor offers a lot of video games that you will find in a typical arcade.  Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam puts you in control of your ball, and you use your body to navigate it on the screen–you definitely get your exercise from this game.  Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster is a bumper cars style attraction; you can choose to be a driver or a gunner, and try to spin your opponent’s car by firing cannons at them.

Floor 4 offers the Sports Arena Arcade, Ride the Comix and a Kid’s Area for children ages 2 to 7.  We just briefly walked through this floor and didn’t participate in the attractions.

Floor 5 offers Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, Ride the Comix, Classic Games and Food Quest.  We did not travel up to this floor yet.

Let’s say you’re planning a Disney vacation and trying to determine its value:  is it worth the $43 admission price per person?  If you are an individual who really enjoys gaming, and who can devote a good portion of one day to staying at Disney Quest, then yes, we feel it is worth the price of admission.  For a Florida resident, it definitely is worth the extra $10.65 you will pay more monthly to obtain a premium annual pass (as opposed to the standard annual pass); which allows you free entry to not only Disney Quest but also the water parks, golf course and ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.