Dream It, Do It!

          We should move to Orlando.  My husband made this observation after we were both sad to leave Walt Disney World on one of our trips a few years ago.  At the time, we were heading down to Florida about once a month. We talked about how exciting it would be to move and how awesome it would be to go to the theme parks whenever we wanted to do so.  This conversation happened about three years ago, and as I am typing this article, I am sitting in my house in Orlando, Florida.

            When we first decided to move to Florida, we saw this goal as just a dream; it was far too difficult, and it felt like it would never happen.  We had to do lots of work on our house in Louisiana to get it in shape to sell.  We had an older home, so it needed some extra attention.   We worked on the yard, added a fence, gutted and re-did two bathrooms and the kitchen, installed new carpet, painted and pressure washed the outside of the house, painted the inside of the house, filled up a POD, and spent hours cleaning and arranging everything before we could put the house on the market.  Not only did we have to do physical work to our house, but we also had to make the personal decision to move to Florida.  I am a teacher, so it was really hard to leave the school at which I had been teaching and face moving to Florida without a job.  My husband is a software developer, so we are very lucky in that he can keep his job and work from home.  We had to decide to move despite leaving many friends and family in Louisiana.  This was not an easy process, but everyone was so supportive because they wanted to see us live out our dream.  Luckily, my brother does live in Florida, so we do have some family near to us.  Overall, this has been a painful process, but it has been worth all of the hard work.

            After we dealt with the house as well as making the final decision to move, we had to list our house for sale.  Once we put our house on the market, we felt like we had made a huge step; we were really going to do this thing.  However, our enthusiasm soon waned when we had many people come to look at our house, but no one wanted to buy it.  The market in Louisiana is still struggling, and there were so many houses for sale in our neighborhood, that we could tell that this was a buyers’ market.  So, we waited, prayed, and buried St. Joseph statues (four of them), but no one made an offer.  Then, we had one offer; but it fell through.  This was a huge blow to us, and it really made us question our decision to move.  Maybe, this wasn’t supposed to happen for us.  However, just when we thought that all hope was lost, we got an offer on our house, which at that point had been on the market for a year.  After some negotiating, we were able to get our house sold, and we also could begin the process of searching for a house in Florida.

            Now, we knew that we wanted to live as close to Disney as possible, and we really wanted to live in a neighborhood called Thornhill, which is right behind the Magic Kingdom.  You can hear the train whistle and the ferryboats from this neighborhood.  You can even see Wishes every night.  This is where we wanted to live!  When we were done with selling our house, we decided to take a trip down to Orlando in order look at some houses.  The week before our trip, we noticed that one house in Thornhill was for sale; we were so excited to see this house.  However, just a few days before our trip, the house was listed as under contract.  Again, we were so upset; we really wanted that neighborhood, and we kept seeing houses go up for sale, but it was never at a time when we could actually purchase the house.  Just when we had given up hope, the house in Thornhill came back on the market because the financing fell through on the other offer.  We visited the house with our real estate agent, and I knew that this was my house from the moment that we walked in.  We have a porch, and we can see Wishes every night, and we can hear all of the Magic Kingdom noises when the neighborhood is really quiet in the morning and at night.  After viewing the house twice, we put in an offer, and we were in competition with a few other families; however, our offer was selected, and we were able to move forward with the process of purchasing the house.

            We have worked so hard to get here, and I can truly say that we are blessed.  Without the support of our friends and family, we could have never done this.  My husband has also been so strong throughout this whole process, and our teamwork has made our dream come true.  So, if you want to move to Orlando because you cannot get enough of the Mouse, you can do it if you are ready to work really hard and keep moving forward despite the hardships that may get in your way.  Since we have moved here, we have been to one of the theme parks for a little while for the past few nights, and it has been surreal to leave my house and head to Hollywood Studios to watch Fantasmic just because we feel like seeing the show. 

            My next challenge will be to apply at Disney and become a cast member.  My current job is chief box unpacker, and when we are all moved in, I will apply!  Some people might think that we are crazy for moving to Orlando, but we are happy here, and that is all that matters.  So, “all of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them,” are some Disney words of wisdom that come to mind in light of our current move.  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!