Top Areas to Live Close to Disney World! 🏰

If your dream is to live close to Disney World, then this is the episode for you! Join us as we breakdown the TOP areas including what you can expect for pricing and lifestyle.

Moving to the Orlando area?! Ron has helped countless people relocate to Central Florida and will be happy to help your find your Orlando area home. Contact him at:
Ron@HowellHomeGroup.com
407-765-1525

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi everyone, thanks so much for joining us for this week's episode of the Life in Orlando podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey guys, we are so glad you're here with us and we are excited to hang out for the week.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Yes, and we have a really important topic to talk about today. But first, a really exciting week here in Orlando.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

We really have. We've had some some bigger things kind of happen and uh we're kind of excited about it first and foremost. I think one of the really cool things is that the Gatsonville Jaguars, it's been announced that they are gonna play their 2026, 2027 football season here in Orlando.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

That is so amazing. We don't have a permanent NFL football team yet, but this is the closest that we can get. And we're pretty stoked about it. They're gonna be playing right here in Camping World Stadium while they are building a brand new stadium up in Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Well they're doing a renovation center stadium, is what they're doing. It's massive renovations that are stadium up there, but it's so much that it's basically going to be a new stadium, but it's at the same location and just updating and renovating what they have.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Well, regardless, I'm happy to have them here.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I am too, and I'm also happy that we get to watch two of our favorite teams play here in Orlando this year when they're playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. So that's gonna be really awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. We also have another football team uh from the UFL kick off their season Orlando store.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yeah, it's our inaugural season. It's the first time we've had a team here for this league, and we are super excited about it. They won their first game and then they have another another game this week. So it's gonna be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, they do. They play in the Entering Coast Stadium, which is where the Orlando City plays, right? The soccer plays, beautiful stadium. If you haven't been there, it's a gorgeous stadium.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

It really is. It lends itself well to a good, close-knit community. Like you really feel like you're on top of the action, uh kind of like when you're in a hockey arena or something like that. It's just really tiny. It's a smaller venue, but man, it's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

And then one of the biggest events that happened this week is something that really was watched all over the country.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Something kind of small.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, right. If not all over the world, is that Artemis II launched, which was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

It was really cool to see. Uh, we were able to watch it from our backyard, as a matter of fact, which is really cool. But man, I think we said, I think they said we had over 400,000 people come to view the launching they expected this this past week. So really, really cool. What a historic moment. I mean, going back towards the moon, we'll say, not to the moon. They did be on the moon, did it kind of a flyby in what they're doing. But man, this is in preparation for the Big Daddy of launching and actually landing on the moon again. So super excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I mean, it is one of the coolest things about living in Orlando that a lot of people just don't think about before they move here. We have been at Disney for a lot of the day, and we wanted to rush home to view the rocket from our the rocket launch from our house because we have a really good view from our backyard. So just to be able to watch these launches and not just Artemis 2, but all of the launches to be able to watch them right from our backyard.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Basics regularly.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

It is, it is so amazing to have that opportunity. And yeah, it would have been great to have been over on the Space Coast, but like you said, there were 400,000 people over there. So just to be able to step outside and see it, uh, it was an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Very much agree. Yep. Definitely wouldn't have wanted to be in that 400,000 hour in that 400,000 people crowd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a mess over there, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

That would have been a little much. Let's talk about one of the biggest questions that we receive uh through life in Orlando, but also Ron, that you receive from a lot of clients. And this is where should I live to be close to Disney World?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Yeah, regularly I get the question, and I know we do through life in Orlando as well, but what are the top five areas to live close to Disney World? And that's like always kind of the trend. So many people move to the Orlando area and say they want to live as close to Disney as they possibly can. Well, there are five areas that are kind of the primo, kind of like closed spots I'd recommend that kind of fully encompass and encircle the whole Disney bubble, we'll say. And then at the end, I've got a special little addition I want to add in if you want to actually really step up the game and actually live on Disney property. And that'll come at the end.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

So let's hop into it. There are five top areas that are gonna range very like widely, I guess we'll say, based on what you're looking for, anywhere on price point, size of homes, true location, and kind of what the purpose of your property is. So let's start off with the number one spot, really, that we'll talk about, which is celebration. And celebration is kind of your best overall quote, Disney lifestyle. It was originally developed by Disney itself. And this is actually about 10 to 15 minutes to the parks, depending on what park you're going to and what part of celebration you're in, of course, traffic. But this is kind of the closest and kind of like going to give you the Disney lifestyle because that's how they built it. It's got a little walkable downtown, really strong community vibe. There's a lot of events there. They have highly rated schools, it's a family-friendly atmosphere. It's really kind of the closest thing to living in Disney without being in Disney in itself.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, and I kind of see this as almost like a story book community, almost like what you see. What's that movie that was out quite a few years ago? Was it like Pleasantville? Pleasantville, yeah. That's what it reminds me of, where all of the houses are beautiful and in manicured and maintained. It just has this perfect little community vibe. That's what I really picture and see Celebration as.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah, I would agree with that. So, with that, let's kind of talk about in some of these when as we go through each of these areas. Let's kind of talk also about kind of the price points and stuff like that. Let me geek out a little bit, if we will. So in celebration, the median home price is roughly right around $950,000. So the home sizes there, they average right around 2,800 square feet. Some of your smaller homes, they're gonna be closer to the mid-600s or a little bit lower, maybe. And then you got your luxury homes, which are gonna be anywhere from a million plus, and they can go to the mid-2s, even. So I would say with that, you got kind of a wide range, but it is more of a luxury type of market because it is that Disney vibe. There are currently two listings, and they're actually one at 3 million and one at 4.9 million right now. So you can go ultra luxury in this community and celebration.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yeah. So if you really want to be as close to Disney as possible without being inside of the parks and really want that community feel, then celebration would really be the spot that you would want to look at.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Let's talk about number two. And this one is not as close to Disney as Celebration is, but it's still about 15 or 20 minutes to Disney, depending where you are. And you can see fireworks from your backyard or from your neighborhood from a lot of these houses. And this is Windermere.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Yeah, Windermere is kind of best known for luxury and privacy. There's a lot of lakefront estates, gated communities, kind of a quiet, upscale, really highly desirable for like executives, professional athletes, celebrities. There's a lot of uh what we'll call a lot of money in that area. And so it is one of the nicer communities or areas of Orlando so much so that it's even often considered one of Orlando's most upscale areas. If you're looking for prestige and space, this is kind of where you want to be with larger lots and custom homes.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

But there are different neighborhoods inside of Windermere that have more reasonably priced homes that are not multi-million homes, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Right, yeah, absolutely. It's just Windermere is kind of pegged as that luxury area, but there is still your moderate average entry-level homes, typical homes. I just had a client that closed in Windermere probably what, about four months ago. So right at the beginning of the year. That in itself, talking on the price point wise, your entry-level homes are going to be somewhere around six to eight hundred thousand, roughly. Whereas your typical average single-family home in Windermere is going to run you somewhere between 900 to 1.3 million, give or take. Now, if you want to go on the higher end and you're going to be in the luxury or the lakefront market, you're looking at 1.5 million to 5 million plus. I mean, there's homes into the tens of millions of dollars there. If you're in communities on the lake, like in Isleworth or Keen's Point, anywhere in the Butler Tangle Lakes, you're going to kind of pay a premium to be there. But these homes are just gorgeous. And I've had clients I've gotten to show some of these homes too, and I'm just like, wow, it really is that luxury experience kind of upscale.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

And a lot of these homes are on larger lots as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah, absolutely. Larger lots, and they're all custom homes for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Windermere is definitely one of those more upscale places, if that's really what you're looking for, but still a very reasonable distance away from Disney. It's also really close to a lot of nice restaurants. It's close to an area called Restaurant Row, which features a lot of the top Orlando restaurants. There's a Whole Foods there, a lot of shopping there. So you really do have that convenience. And there's also a little downtown in Windermere as well, with a few local restaurants there.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Right. Yeah. So the area you're talking about, Dr. Phillips, right there at Stand Lake, is kind of uh the other area where a lot of the restaurants or restaurant railways once come out shopping. So it's and it's really not too far from Universal either on the other side of Windermere to Dr. Phillips to kind of get over there.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

So that's true. That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

It's kind of that good midway point between Disney and Universal if you're kind of wanting to be in that that's that central location there. Moving beyond Windermere, kind of go into another area that is going to be similar in location to Windermere, but a little bit more on the affordable side in most cases, is an area that is super hot right now, super popular, and that's going to be Winter Garden. There's a couple different areas of Winter Garden. We'll dive into our next spot, is officially kind of Winter Garden, but it's actually a segment of Winter Garden that's super hot right now. But Winter Garden is best known for kind of its charm and its kind of community feel. Depending on where you're at in Winter Garden, you can be anywhere from 15 to 25, even 30 minutes from Disney, but it's an easy drive down if you use like the toll roads 429 or something like that. So if you're in the northern part of Winter Garden where there's a historic downtown, which is just awesome. It's such a cool, cool, cool spot that we love. It has an area to it that's I love that is a golf cart district. So it's really neat from there. A lot of people love that aspect of being able to buy the golf cart district and have their golf carts and drive down into a little historic downtown area and grass and drinks or dinner at night. Go to the farmers' market.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Oh, the the downtown area of Winter Garden is one of the coolest areas in the Orlando area. There's a huge Saturday morning farmers market. The West Orange Trail runs right through this area as well. So if you run or if you cycle or just interview the walk, this is a fantastic outdoor trail. You're going to find so many local restaurants and shops in this downtown winter garden area. But also, in addition to that, there's an area called Winter Garden Village, which has a lot of newer spots with restaurants and shops and kind of a big shopping center.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

So you best buy and things like that there.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So it's just great for kind of your everyday living. And kind of like what you said, Ron, there is that area that's kind of the older downtown winter garden, which is more of the golf cart area, but there are some pockets where there's some newer construction and some newer homes as well. So it just kind of depends on what you are more looking for, more of that downtown downtown vibe with maybe some older houses around, or if you're looking for something a little newer, which is kind of in one of these neighborhoods that's around in Winter Garden as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, and you kind of just think, you know, think small town vibe with modern growth to it, and that'll kind of give you an idea. It's very popular with families and young professionals. Price points. Let's talk some price points really quickly on that, and we'll we'll move on to the next area. But here in the winter main winter garden area, your median sale price is roughly $580,000 to $650,000. Your entry-level houses are going to range somewhere around $450 to $525. And then if you're looking for the newer, larger, or even your lakefront properties, they can be well over a million into the multi-million. So there is a wide range of big gap depending on what you are looking for. So there's kind of a budget for everybody, which is what makes it so charming and kind of like that whole community feel. Everyone fits.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

So the other part of Windermere, oh sorry, the other part of Winter Garden that we were talking about, that is kind of a subsection of Winter Garden, which has become super hot and trendy and popular, and it's closer to Disney, is the Horizon West Hamlet area. And this is where a ton of your new construction is. There's a lot of new construction, a lot of growth here. From most places within the Horizon West area, you're going to be roughly 15 and 25 minutes to Disney. And in some cases, you can even be a little bit closer than that, I guess, depending on the time of being in traffic that you go there. But this is one of the fastest growing master plan areas in all of Central Florida.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, there are really going to be great schools in this area. It's other depending on where you are, you could be in a couple of different school districts, but there are great schools. There's a lot of modern homes that's really built for families here in this Horizon West and Hamlin area. There's some great areas for shopping and for restaurants, and it's still growing. There's a lot that's still being built.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

So Hamilton area is booming. With a lot of the kind of the businesses and restaurants and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

It really is. So we're still expecting this area to continue to grow over the years.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah, it's kind of considered the sweet spot being cheaper than Windermere, uh comparable, but slightly lower than Celebration. Plus, there's a lot of strong appreciation driven by the new construction market and the infrastructure growth there. Price point-wise, let's talk. You know, your median home price in the Horizon West Hamlin area is right around $675,000. Your entry-level smaller homes, you're going to be in the $450,000 to $575,000 range. And then just like the other areas of Winter Garden for your luxury, larger lakefront type properties, $900,000 to multi-million. So there's a very diverse budget of types of homes in this market as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah, if you're looking for an area that is really full of new construction, new development, but still fairly close to Disney, then this could really be an area that you may want to consider. Horizon West Hamlin area.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

If you are looking more budget-friendly, we'll say, and you're good with being a little bit on the south side of Disney, and you are even okay maybe with older homes, as well as if you're comfortable being in communities where there's a lot of short-term rentals. Kissimmee is our fifth spot. This is kind of the last one we're going to talk about overall for the top five places. And this is in there mainly because of the proximity, but it's also a very good entry-level point for homes in the Disney area. But this is also where so many people come to buy vacation rental or investment properties for Disney as well, or as family vacation homes for themselves or own family. So Kissimmee, I'm focusing more on the northern and northwest, northwestern area of Kissimmee because you can go far south in Kissimmee and go all the way east in Kissimmee because Kissimmee is laid out really, it's really wide. So if you get further out, you're not so close to Disney anymore. So it's not as advantageous in the terms of talking about being close to Disney. But this is going to be your area that's best for affordability and investment. Depending on where you're at in these areas, you're talking anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes to Disney. There's tons of short-term rental communities here. It's a lower price point, but there's a strong Airbnb and vacation demand here in this area.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, and because semi really is the most affordable option here on our list. So if you're really looking for something to still be semi-close to Disney, but you are on a budget that's a little lower, then you will likely find something here in this area. One of the downsides is that likely you will be in a community where there are vacation rentals. So that's just something that you have to keep in mind. But if you have a vacation rental yourself, then that can be very advantageous for you.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yeah, absolutely. And that's not a negative. I don't want that to come across as a negative that you're going to be in a community with, you know, vacation rentals or dah-da-da-da. That's what this area was kind of built on for people that want to be close to Disney for those vacation rentals. But there's plenty of people that live in some of these communities full time. I've got some clients right now that are actually heavily looking at buying a home in Kissimmee in one of the vacation rental communities to live in full term and full time because they want to be super close to Disney, but their budget affords for them to be in Kissimmee. And that's where it is. But you can get a really nice three, four-bedroom home with a pool in a nice, you know, HOA community that's super close to Disney at a really reasonable price. And with that, your price point, it's kind of a broad mix of price points due to the short-term rentals, entry-level homes, and then some newer construction communities. Now, I don't want to sound like you can't get a nice high-end home in Kissimmee because you absolutely can. There's a budget for everyone in Kissimmee itself. But your entry-level homes, you're looking at anywhere from $275,000 to $375,000. Your typical single-family home average, you're kind of looking at right around $375 to $475. And then if you're going into newer construction or some of the larger homes, you're looking at you know $500,000 to $700,000 plus. There are plenty of properties in the Kissimmee area where you can spend over a million dollars on some of the higher-end, nicer neighborhoods and the mega bigger homes. So that is out there if you want that. I always tell my clients that are asking, where can I get the most bang for my butt close to Disney? Kissimmee is going to kind of be that area. If you want the little bit bigger home, you want your money to go a little bit further, Kissimmee is going to be that spot. If you're looking for the other amenities and the nicer built, newer communities than you're going to be in the other areas we've talked about. But Kissimmee is really good for that budget, stretching as far as you possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Right. Well, I don't think that we can talk about the best communities to live close to Disney without talking about the community that is actually located on Disney property.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, that's just kind of the bonus when we talked about that we kind of teased at the beginning. So there's a community, many people may not know about it actually, but there is a community called Golden Oak. And Golden Oak is the only residential community inside Walt Disney World. So when you live in or buy in Golden Oak, you are literally living on Disney property. These are your ultra-luxury enclaves like Allesworth, but with a Disney premium layered on top of it. So this is like your trophy asset market, not your typical primary residence or in your investment play. Okay, so keep that in mind. There's extremely limited inventory. It's got concierge style resort level amenities, fully custom luxury construction homes. Okay. So just know that. This is like, like I said, the ultra-luxury inside Disney market. Your median home price for Golden Oak is $7.5 to $7.7 million. They do have, for the budget conscious, they do have your entry-level cottages starting around the 3.5, sorry, the $3 million to $5.5 million.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Is that all?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

That's all. That's it. Couple accounts change.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

$3 million cottage lease.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Right. Right. Now your typical house in Golanoke is going to run somewhere around $5 to $9 million. Then they have your larger estate homes, and those are going to range somewhere around 10 to 15 plus million. And then they have their ultra sales that can be 20 million plus for some of those properties. Now we're talking homes that are 11,000, 14,000 square feet homes. They're just ultra luggers, stunning, unbelievable, custom built. These are just like wow. Currently, right now, I did pull it just a minute ago to look. Currently, we have a max property, an actively maxed property right now that is less than 18.5 million. And the lowest active home right now on the market in Golden Ope is 7.9 million, just to give you an idea.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

So you all have better hurry to jump on this.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Before it sells. It's yeah, it's run by the four seasons by Disney, and you have access to some of the four seasons amenity as as well. We've stayed at four seasons several times. We've had the opportunity, and it's amazing in its own. But I mean, you really are just living kind of in a fairy tale community when you are in Golden Oak.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah. Well, this was a great list. I feel like that there was a something for everyone and for every price point. And the fact is, is, you know, I think that if you most people are really looking to come here to Orlando to be close to the theme parks, but then they quickly discover because there's a lot of other things here in Orlando other than the theme parks as well. But just to kind of give a little overview and breakdown, Ron, do you just kind of want to give your perspective?

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah, I'd say from an agent's perspective, you know, when people are asking these questions about the top areas, I'd say that the best overall is probably going to be celebration, if you're wanting that Disney vibe. You know, if you're looking for luxury, you're probably looking more Windermere than anything. You could still dabble in that into Winter Garden and Horizon West area. But if you're looking for families in your average price points, you're probably looking at Winter Garden and Horizon is really solid for that. And then if you're looking at a lower end budget andor investors, Kissimmee is kind of the hot ticket for that, I'd say.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah. Well, there are a lot of different neighborhoods and communities within each of these areas. If you're thinking about moving, reach directly out to Ron. He can have an initial consultation with you and then guide you to the right area for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah, we can go to Golden Note tomorrow if you'd like.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

But he'll be happy. He has worked extensively and helped many, many, many clients move to all of these areas and knows them very well. Yeah. So, you know, it starts with that initial uh call and an initial consultation, just a kind of really narrow down what lifestyle is going to be best for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Right. Yeah. And it doesn't really matter. It's just a matter of what it matters to you. What lifestyle do you want and what fits your budget and your needs? There's some place for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

There really is.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

And for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yes. That's that's a really good point. Well, we'll put all of the uh contact information down in the show notes. Even if y'all have any questions, you know, not directly related to any of these areas, to any areas in Central Florida, reach out. We'll be happy to chat.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Absolutely. Thanks so much, everyone. We really appreciate your time and glad we were able to break down the top five areas to live in coastal Disney.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Have a great week, everyone. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Bye.