Mount Dora is a beautiful area. Not sure about the schools though, and since it’s in Lake County…well, you’ve been warned.
You can find tiny little hamlets all over. We live in Montverde, where downtown is a flashing yellow light and I can walk to the post office. Nearby is Oakland, also tiny.
They’ve started rebuilding downtown Orlando, trying to attract more yuppies.
You’re out by USF (University of South Florida). FSU (Florida State) is in Tallahassee. USF is larger, FSU is more well known and has a better football team. I think Temple Terrace is a cool area, BTW. A friend of mine lives in a restored older home there in a quiet neighborhood with beautiful trees. Housing prices are nothing compared to Connecticut.
A small warning: the humidity has been pretty low compared to normal since I’ve been back down here (early this year). Other years might be worse, although you’ll learn to live with it.
Another small warning about schools: Florida rates their own schools. They are NOT compared to schools in the rest of the country (or at least that’s not reflected in their ratings). My kids’ new school is also A rated, for several years. I’d rate it C or “Acceptable” but hardly “Superior” or even “Above Average” yet, with the limited data that I have. As I understand it Connecticut (at least some counties) have excellent schools. Their will probably be a noticeable drop off in the quality of public education that you’d get here.
If you want to compare schools nationwide, there’s always the highly flawed No Child Left Behind data.
I grew up in Ruskin, which is Southwest of Tampa. I moved Northeast and am now in Brandon. It’s a little East of Tampa. If you’re looking for Water, try South Hillsborough (specifically, Apollo Beach). Certain areas of Riverview are nice, too.
Brandon is OK, except it has too much Suburban Sprawl for my liking. I’ve been considering moving to Plant City, Thonotosassa, Seffner, or Valrico. I want to be able to stretch out on about an acre.
Places to avoid:
Gibsonton, unless you like carnival workers
Wimauma, unless you like to pick tomatoes
Clair Mel City, for a variety of reasons
I heartily recommed the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas County specifically. I’ve lived here 22 of my 25 years, and it’s my favorite place in all of Florida. I’m on a thin peninsula, so it’s breezy most of the time; also, having the Bay on one side and the Gulf on the other really helps regulate the temperature – our high during the summer stays in the mid-90s while the inland areas often exceed 100.
Avoid Orlando metro AT ALL COSTS. Unlike our area, there is no natural limit on Orlando’s land area, no water to stop the growth. As a result, it is among the worst cities I have ever had the misfortune of driving in. Everywhere is clear across town from everywhere else, and the traffic is horrendous.
I like Miami to visit, but parts of it are too impoverished and fractured for me to really recommend living there. Jacksonville seems to be the “best” of North Florida and South Georgia combined – it’s way too Dixie for me. Tallahassee and the Panhandle may as well be in Alabama. The Keys are nice, but so very far away from anything, and everything there costs much more than in the rest of the state. Their only road link is a 110-mile, 2-lane highway, so you have to factor in the transportation costs into the price of everything.
Sarasota seems nice enough, but I like being in a larger area than that, so I also don’t know that I would recommend it. As Pinellas County fills up, though, the residents are fleeing southward toward Bradenton and Sarasota. In 20 years, they will probably rival Pinellas / Hillsborough in population.
Everyone likes to bad-mouth our school systems, but I received an excellent education in Pinellas public schools. We have several magnets, including an IB program, and our state university system is excellent.
This is a great case of YMMV! I saw this thread and thought, “People will say how mcuh they hate the Gainsville area, and love Miami.” Surprise! I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, went to school in Miami, and lived in the Keys. I miss Miami with a passion, I love that city. The Keys are a great place to visit but too expensive to have a normal life. I have to say that the public school system, at least when I was put throught it, stank out loud. I had to go home every day and watch PBS for any kind of education.
My parents live near St Augustine and that area below Jacksonville is unspoiled and very pretty.
I think we are unanimous in our opinion of Orlando!
I may be moving to Miami.
I’m excited but scared!
Among other posters, I must say thanks! I love hearing from all the Floridian Doper’s it is really helping our move. I say that with all seriousness. Tho we have never lived there, we want to consider every possible apsect of where we may want to spend the winters.
So far we have relocation packets from Gainsville, Jacksonville, Tampa Metro, Naples and Dade County on their way to our house. There is a lot of info to cover and I feel like we are taking the best steps to cover it. The best part of the SDMB is that we get unfaultered views of areas we are considering.
Who knows, maybe we’ll land in Arizona 
for 6 months out of the year 
Not as scared as the citizens of Miami!
:: residents flee the metropolis as Monstro crashes through an Art Deco building, picking up bikini clad hotties and tossing them into his mouth like so many peanuts. One Cuban-American businessman in a guayabera stops next to a woman as they gape up in horror. Their lips move but not synched to the soundtrack… badly dubbed we hear :-
Monstro is coming!! Monstro is coming!! Run for your lives!!!
Hmmm, the vast majority of these restaurants were open when I was there twenty years ago. (mmmmm, Falafel King, great hummus) And I can’t agree with the inclusion of Cracker Barrel as a great restaurant (plus I’m still boycottin’ them for having fired all their gay employees about 14 years ago). But I’m glad to see Gainesville’s finally has a Thai place since I’ve almost decided to move back. (I’ll sure miss real breakfast tacos tho’)
Contributing to the thread: My aunt lives in Tampa and loves it. But she’s fairly well-off and lives on the bay. Tampa’s also the birthplace and mecca for death metal, bizarrely enough.
My best friend just moved to Jacksonville and I was there Wed. My opinion of it hasn’t changed in twenty years. It’s still one huge, horrible suburb filled with nothing but strip malls and chain restaurants.
St. Augustine is a neat little town. I always thought it’d be neat to settle there. It’s got a nice beachy, old school Florida vibe.
Everyone I know (and all my relatives who live in Florida) consider Orlando to be an armpit.
Hmmm, looking at when you want to be in Florida, you might want to stick to South Florida. It does actually freeze a couple of times a year in North Florida (in Gainesville, a freeze warning meant the whole neighborhood left their sprinklers on overnight so we’d get icicles). Plus, you usually have to wear a jacket in January and February.
Oh, and it’s kih-SIH-mee, not KISS-ih-mee… 