__________ is/are overrated.

[kphoger]

Florida is getting that way.

Florida is overrated.

Hmm...  I've never been to Florida, but you guys are confirming my long-held suspicion that it's overrated.

[abefroman329]

Florida is getting that way.

Florida is overrated.

Hmm...  I've never been to Florida, but you guys are confirming my long-held suspicion that it's overrated.

Can confirm.

[Max Rockatansky]

Florida is getting that way.

Florida is overrated.

Hmm...  I've never been to Florida, but you guys are confirming my long-held suspicion that it's overrated.

Count me in on the list of people who think Florida is overrated.  Living there dispelled any notion that it was anything special.

[JayhawkCO]

It smells bad. Beaches are fine but busy. Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami. You can only go to DisneyWorld, etc. so many times. Hurricanes. Bugs. The people are... Floridian.

I can actually say this as I did live there for about a year back in high school.

[kphoger]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

[Max Rockatansky]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

The Keys has culture too, but your mileage may vary with the hard core Conch Republic types.

[Scott5114]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

The Keys has culture too, but your mileage may vary with the hard core Conch Republic types.

I have a vague idea of what the Conch Republic is, but what are the people like?

[abefroman329]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

The Keys has culture too, but your mileage may vary with the hard core Conch Republic types.

I have a vague idea of what the Conch Republic is, but what are the people like?

Parrotheads with questionable bathing habits.

[JayhawkCO]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

The Keys has culture too, but your mileage may vary with the hard core Conch Republic types.

I have a vague idea of what the Conch Republic is, but what are the people like?

Parrotheads with questionable bathing habits.

You can almost always assume there is a >10% chance they've been drinking too.

[Max Rockatansky]

Lack of culture anywhere other than Miami.

Miami is the only place in Florida I've ever thought I might be interested in visiting.

The Keys has culture too, but your mileage may vary with the hard core Conch Republic types.

I have a vague idea of what the Conch Republic is, but what are the people like?

Parrotheads with questionable bathing habits.

You can almost always assume there is a >10% chance they've been drinking too.

Essentially the above are symptoms of the so-called "Keys Disease."

A lot Salt Water Conchs also don't like outsiders, it takes seven years to obtain Freshwater Conch status in their eyes.  My opinion about the locals is heavily soured by my interactions by working with them as a security manager on base.  They locals are very opinionated and very aggressive towards sharing their views on what they think of outsiders. 

[roadman65]

Florida was good when it was a tourist destination and had plenty of Oranges and other industry that the rest of the country didn't have. Plus traveling around was easy and less traffic. Lakeland was once less than a forty-five minute drive from Disney, but now thanks to a place called Champions Gate, it's a forty five minute ride through it from US 192 to US 27 alone.

Plus it's a major life change when you actual moved when driving, to now stop for several minutes and move for less than thirty seconds to be still for another indefinite amount of time. Of course New Yorkers don't mind driving I-4 at all because it gives them comfort to be at home as being brought up on the LIE with non stop volume, is what I-4 is.

I sometimes feel tempted to erect a hand made sign on the I-4 exit ramp at Exit 58, that reads " Go Home and kindly take your traffic with you"  and post another one to say " Developers are not welcome along with you transplants that patronize them!"

[D-Dey65]

Florida was good when it was a tourist destination and had plenty of Oranges and other industry that the rest of the country didn't have. Plus traveling around was easy and less traffic. Lakeland was once less than a forty-five minute drive from Disney, but now thanks to a place called Champions Gate, it's a forty five minute ride through it from US 192 to US 27 alone.

Plus it's a major life change when you actual moved when driving, to now stop for several minutes and move for less than thirty seconds to be still for another indefinite amount of time. Of course New Yorkers don't mind driving I-4 at all because it gives them comfort to be at home as being brought up on the LIE with non stop volume, is what I-4 is.

I sometimes feel tempted to erect a hand made sign on the I-4 exit ramp at Exit 58, that reads " Go Home and kindly take your traffic with you"  and post another one to say " Developers are not welcome along with you transplants that patronize them!"

As a former Long Islander, as well as a driver on the LIE, I can assure you I took no comfort from the traffic we used to face, and would often long for the days when NYSDOT was still planning other highways as an alternative. I still do, and I'm pissed that the chances of them being built are less likely.

There are plenty of other developments that sprung up in that area besides Champions Gate. I had an aunt and uncle who lived in three of them before my aunt died in 2021, and my uncle moved back to Upstate New York. Even with him leaving, somebody else bought the house.

And I don't blame you for your sentiment towards developers, but what bothers me more is how poorly planned many of them are. So many of them need frontage roads along US 27, and even interchanges, but nobody is even thinking about that.

[roadman65]

I agree it's poorly planned out. The roads do not develop as fast as the land. The I-4 Ultimate was a project that should have been built in the eighties as it was a road set up for the demands of that particular decade and not now. I-4 ideally should have Texas style freeway frontage road system with the Ultimate. If it were built in 1985 that way, no land acquisition would have been needed then as many clutter  what is now was not back then. Of course now it would be impossible.

Lb McCleod could have been part of the Frontage system as well as 33rd Street on the other side. 

Plus starting a light rail back then to go various places stemming off the current SunRail would have helped with the transplant of today if the business to developments were strategically placed along the lines.  Poinciana should have the SunRail go to it rather than stop along US 17 and 92 8 miles from it. Heck does Lynx even run a shuttle to go from that terminal station to someplace like a commuter lot built near the intersection of Doverplum and Cypress Parkway or how about build a bus stop and commuter lot in some of the land not yet built on toward Polk County in that poorly plannned city.

[D-Dey65]

The only buses I know of that go to the Poinciana SunRail station are the Citrus Connector from Polk County. They have a whole parking lot strictly for buses, and it seems like they're hoping to let others in. As for the frontage roads, I'm talking about having them along US 27 in places as far north as Clermont. And add more interchanges in certain spots. I wouldn't go so far as to turn the whole segment into an expressway, but there are areas where they could've built things in a way that doesn't interrupt the flow of traffic on US 27. Sadly, I don't think you can do that anywhere along US 192.

UPDATE: I just checked SunRail's website, and two Lynx bus routes do go there:
https://sunrail.com/station/poinciana/

[hbelkins]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is) but I'm not a fan of heat, humidity, hurricanes, thunderstorms practically every summer afternoon, crowds, lots of traffic, beaches, and the other things that Florida is known for.

If not for all the snowbirds, Florida might be OK in the winter, but I want nothing to do with their summer weather. July and August in Kentucky are bad enough.

[JayhawkCO]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)...

Mickey?

[kphoger]

there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)

I'm sure it's either XXXTentacion or Lauren Poe, but it beats me which one.

[Max Rockatansky]

there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)

I'm sure it's either XXXTentacion or Lauren Poe, but it beats me which one.

It isn't Buc-ee's and the cult of the beaver is it? 

The snowbirds in Florida really aren't too bad compared to Arizona.  In Florida they tend to stick to Del Boca Vista like communities (see The Villages) whereas Arizona they tend to be thrown more in the mix (aside from the Sun Cities and Quartzsite).

[abefroman329]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)...

Mickey?

Tom Brady

[Takumi]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)...

Mickey?

Tom Brady

Winn-Dixie

[Max Rockatansky]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)...

Mickey?

Tom Brady

Winn-Dixie

Publix?

[Rothman]

I have only been to Florida twice in my life, both times as teenager, and there is one thing about Florida that I really really love and am envious of (it's probably easy to guess who that is)...

Mickey?

Tom Brady

Winn-Dixie

Publix?

Piggly Wiggly

[D-Dey65]

It isn't Buc-ee's and the cult of the beaver is it? 

I've been meaning to ask about that, since there's one over at International Golf Parkway.

I see that when they built that one there, they eliminated an entire local dead end street (Prosperity Court) from the frontage road (World Commerce Parkway). It makes me wonder what the planners originally thought was going to be built when they laid out those streets.


As for the elimination of the longer connecting ramps on the west side of that interchange.... BOOOOOOOO!

[Max Rockatansky]

It isn't Buc-ee's and the cult of the beaver is it? 

I've been meaning to ask about that, since there's one over at International Golf Parkway.

I see that when they built that one there, they eliminated an entire local dead end street (Prosperity Court) from the frontage road (World Commerce Parkway). It makes me wonder what the planners originally thought was going to be built when they laid out those streets.


As for the elimination of the longer connecting ramps on the west side of that interchange.... BOOOOOOOO!

Personally I'm kind on the "whatever"  side to Buc-ee's.  It was adequate when I stopped in at one, but I wouldn't go out of my way to revisit.  When Adam posted his thoughts on the St. Augustine Buc-ee's on Gribblenation there was significant outrage at someone having a similar middling opinion.  The cultist brand loyalist to gas station chains (Wawa and Sheetz) is something I find kind of bizarre.

[formulanone]

I mean, it's nice not having to wait to take a leak, but you're paying full fare for anything at Buc-ee's.