Thursday April 24th 2025

The first time I was in this area of Florida was in the mid 1960s. I’m not sure if I was in this specific area since I was a kid in the back seat of my parents car at the time, but it’s probable since we went to Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven from north of Orlando. I think I visited this general area at least once every decade since then. Once the Rambling Road Trip began at the end of 2015, I’ve spent several weeks in this area southwest of Disney World every year. All of that means I’ve seen a lot of change.

Originally this area was very rural. The roads were narrow and lined with orange groves. As the years went by scattered housing developments and businesses started to appear in between the citrus groves. On each visit I was surprised by the growth. For the most part developments of single family homes came first followed by business like supermarkets to support the new residents. Since 2020 the development activity has accelerated. In addition to the single family homes multi family dwellings started to be added to the mix. Some or them were townhouses, but the majority seemed to be apartments.

At the start of this winter very few areas of undeveloped land seem to exist. Over the course of the winter the trees on at least seven different large parcels near my base camp have been cut and earth moving equipment has moved in. I have learned that a new Walmart and Sams is going into one of the tracts. A Target anchored development is going into another and a Home Depot into a third. The others could be anything. The bottom line is the greater Orlando urban sprawl has arrived.

Despite all the construction and roadwork the traffic volume in the area has gone down. The only reason I can think of is that the winter snowbird season is over. It certainly has ended in this park.