What do you love about Orlando, and what do you hate? What could be improved or added? Please share your thoughts, stories, and pictures.

Love:

1. It has a vibrant and compact downtown.
2. There's lots of urban growth taking place.
3. Its an entertainment mecca.
4. Its centrally located in Florida.
5. Its only 45 minutes from where I grew up.
6. It has one of the best modern airports in the country.

Hate:

1. Its landlocked. I need quick waterfront access.
2. It doesn't have a large historic core with diverse architectural styles.
3. There's no rail transit.
4. Traffic/Toll Roads.
5. Its the largest metropolitan area with one interstate.
6. Orange County's attempts to compete against the city, instead of working with it.

1. Skyline
2. Entertainment
3. Shopping
4. Nice Downtown
5. Pertty lake in downtown

Don't really hate much about the city.

Likes:

1) Downtown nightlife as well as restaurants in the core
2) Construction boom, especially downtown residential
3) Entertainment and cultural options
4) Lakes
5) Thornton Park neighborhood

Dislikes:
1) Disney's grip on city politics
2) Traffic/transit

More replies please!

Orlando is so fake, so built on fantasy, so unrealistic. My idea of an ideal city is far removed, three thousand miles or so away: Anaheim!

^lol

Orlando is actually pretty interesting and will probably get more and more interesting as the city fills in downtown. I found that almost all that is typically pictured when you think of Orlando is on the Southwest part of town and has its own tollway taking the tourists right to the very cool airport. North of that huge area is Orlando the normal city, with a growing non-amusement business community.

anybody know when orlando started developing or was disney world pretty much the start of the city?

Cypress Gardens, which is farther south of Orlando than Disney World was in operation around the time of World War II. So there was some pre-Disney amusement in that area as far back as the 1940s.

I'm sure Orlando was a very small southern town back then.

well why is this thread not in the florida forum,

well why is this thread not in the florida forum,

It can be.

Former Orlando resident here:

Love:
1. all the lakes in the area
2. SunTrust building and Bank of America.
3. new LYNX intermodal.
4. Wekiva Springs
5. dixon park
6. Brick streets and nice old homes.
7. still affordable housing compared to south florida

Dislikes:
1. Toll roads, most roads have paid for themselves by now geez. they need to just tax everyone and let the traffic flow free or toll I-4 and let the tourists foot the bill for the congestion they cause on that road
(yea I know locals use it but give them a discounted toll with a registered sunpass to a local address)

2. short skyline :(

3. incomplete beltway that even when (and if) it is complete it doesnt line up and has two different route numbers...... how brilliant

4. Turnpike is two lanes through urban Orange and Osceola counties which is fun when two grey hairs are driving side-by-side both drivers asleep at the wheel.

5. issues with rail transit because some trailer trash in the government thinks that prostitution would move from downtown and OBT :runaway: to I-drive god forbid hookers get mobile.

http://www.10-7.com/humor/pictures3.htm

5. issues with rail transit because some trailer trash in the government thinks that prostitution would move from downtown and OBT :runaway: to I-drive god forbid hookers get mobile.

Tell them they have to get rid of the hookers first. XD lmao

Love:

-Disneyworld (come on, what non-locals don't!)
-Golf everywhere, esp. Bay Hill
-Airport terminal building: beautiful design with the lakes, glass, neon, landscaping, etc. If it weren't for all the tourists and how long it takes to get through security it'd be my favorite airport in the country that I've been to.
-Downtown nightlife is vibrant and pretty compacted to small area, with some pretty cute girls
-Lakes everywhere
-Good offering of nice hotels (Peabody, Grand Floridian my favs)
-Isleworth
-The quirky, seen-better-days attractions you can still find throughout Central Florida
-Car Auction: one of world's largest, it's truly an unbelievable place that everyone should see but you have to be a dealer to get in

Hate:

-Traffic on I-4 & Turnpike
-How f***ing hot it can get
-Luke Perlman (sp?) for making boy bands
-Downtown doesn't have taller buildings
-Crying tourist kids- makes me NEVER want to have my own or at least wait until they're 5 or 6 until I take them
-Old people everywhere- makes me NEVER want to get old. In fact, I'm going to start smoking right now and drink 3 scotches a day, AND eat nothing but fried red meat. No more exercise, either.
-Predators AFL team (I think it was them who beat the Nashville Kats a few years ago in the championship when I lived there. If not, my bad and go Preds!)
-It's FLORIDA without the beach!

Forgot 1 more love: it's where I met Michael Jordan at a Magic Game