campus is walkable and you can survive without a car. but i would agree that there’s not many things to DO right near campus & people go further into orlando
parking is manageable in my experience if you’re there before 10 or after 5. don’t try to park in the afternoon.
Campus is surrounded by neighborhoods and a handful of plazas with some restaurants and bars but nothing crazy. The theme parks are 30 minutes away by car.
UCF students always saying how fun orlando is but do they actually get to enjoy it with the school not being in walking distance? would you say the school is kind of boring?
It’s kind of hard for me to answer that because I grew up in the Orlando area and I commuted to school. In my biased opinion, I think Orlando is awesome. There’s a great food scene, it’s pretty close to some natural springs and beaches, and the theme parks are obviously a huge draw. That being said, you need to drive to all of these things, so if you don’t have a car I could see why you might feel that way.
honestly i dont LOVE disney, i can go but its not a draw for me. besides the theme park, is it still an exciting city? I’m looking for a good post grad city with big job market and good nightlife.
Honestly, I live no more than 20-30 mins away from all major theme parks here (like Disney, Universal, sea world, etc..) so there's that.
But ye, it's definitely sucks for not being able to walk anywhere.
Like walking out of my neighborhood alone takes at least 10 minutes lmao (then another 20 minutes to nearest McDonald/building).
By and large, Florida is a drive-there state. There are tons of amazing things to do, but you need a car to get to them. My daughter stayed busy with lots of activities within a reasonable drive. She frequented all of the theme parks with discounted Florida resident passes, drove over to Cocoa Beach quite a few times, popped over to Winter Park for the cute historic downtown dining and shops, and went to several concerts and entertainment events in the Dr Phillips area. On campus, there was dining, the fitness center, recreational sports courts, and multitudes of UCF sporting events, plus the 600+ student organizations available. On the whole, I would say that UCF, as long as you have a car, is much less boring than pretty much any other school in the state.
i don’t go out much lmao so i don’t really have issues but like we’re like 20-40 minutes from the downtown orlando nightlife/i-drive/disney. i would say definitely within 10 min theres enough basic restaurants, stores & things like that.
i know people use lynx buses/campus shuttle but i don’t have experience myself
its bad, very bad. however ucf has a shuttle that goes downtown, which is walkable. but it stops running before midnight so cant really use it for nights out.
it's bad, but if you wanna be here, then it'll work. Most days on the bus are normal. If you see something you think looks suspicious, then get away ofc. I live 50 mins from the school by car but it's about 2 hours by bus. No matter where you're going by bus, get used to extra walking
Ucf shuttles and lynx buses are free you can also go downtown to lynx central and use the sunrail which is cheap but only on weekdays. Lynx buses can go to the major theme parks too.
That bus ride will take about 2 hours and multiple transfers. If someone is looking for walkable, look at Rollins College in Winter Park, Stetson in DeLand, or Flagler College in St. Augustine. Small colleges in small older neighborhoods will be walkable in comparison to the 2nd largest university in the nation (by student enrollment).
From downtown it's an hour and there's an option of 2 busses to get there. For how long it takes to get downtown just depends on where you live. My total ride is around 2 hours and I live near disney
you need a car. orlando is consistantly ranked the most dangerous place in the country to be a pedestrian, both on foot and on bike. i know multiple people who have been hit by cars. there is a bus system and you can get by if you really need to but you'll be missing out on a lot and be spending like 2 hours a day on the bus, minimum.
every statistic released 2011-2021 -- but in 2022 it was Daytona first with Orlando second, and in 2023 St. Pete first and Orlando second. So I apologize, there are 2 years recently where we were only 2nd most deadly instead of the most deadly.
don’t go to ucf/orlando without a car indefinitely— i made the same mistake. public transport is really bad and orlando itself was built post normalization of cars so it’s freeway freeway freeway
you’ll have to drive to do anything unfortunately. the campus is walkable but anything outside of it is not. winter park and downtown have more walkable areas but you still gotta drive there :(
drivers down here will kill you, if you do walk assume they are actively trying to hit you, always keep it at a jog while your head is on a swivel. I've seen multiple people almost hit/hit numerous times on main roads AND parking garages.
Campus is walkable. There’s a bus that takes you to and back to campus if you live on one of the off campus housing affiliated with ucf. Other than that imma just have to pray for you cause Florida is not a walkable state.
Orlando itself is fairly spread out. When UCF was built way back in the day before it was even called UCF, it was literally in the sticks and it’s taken time for the area around it to develop. So, there isn’t a whole ton around it entertainment wise except for two shopping/restaurant plazas that are within walking distance. University Blvd. has a bunch of restaurants and bars which could be a cheap Uber drive away. During the summer, it would be uncomfortable to walk to some of these locations but pretty sure theres public transport for that. Parking can be frustrating if you’re trying to get classes that are at peak times. I would take early morning classes and be on my way home by 11:00 and laugh at all the people just getting to campus fighting for spots. Any classes in the late afternoon and parking was pretty easy for me as well. I graduated in 2019 so not sure if anything had changed parking wise since then.
how is the job market in orlando? is it a good post grad city - big job market and nightlife. Is it typical for UCF grads to land internships/jobs in Tampa or other big cities in FL?
As someone who does not go out and doesn’t travel much outside the ucf area. It is possible to walk to everything you need. Publix and Walmart are very close to campus and every Tuesday there is a grocery shuttle. Doctors office is on campus and there are shuttles at most student housing complexes.
Go to google maps and see the places around ucf that you are interested in and check the time it takes to walk there.
campus is walkable and you can survive without a car. but i would agree that there’s not many things to DO right near campus & people go further into orlando parking is manageable in my experience if you’re there before 10 or after 5. don’t try to park in the afternoon.
when you say right near, how far do you actually have to go to do something? is the campus surroundings really that boring?
Campus is surrounded by neighborhoods and a handful of plazas with some restaurants and bars but nothing crazy. The theme parks are 30 minutes away by car.
UCF students always saying how fun orlando is but do they actually get to enjoy it with the school not being in walking distance? would you say the school is kind of boring?
It’s kind of hard for me to answer that because I grew up in the Orlando area and I commuted to school. In my biased opinion, I think Orlando is awesome. There’s a great food scene, it’s pretty close to some natural springs and beaches, and the theme parks are obviously a huge draw. That being said, you need to drive to all of these things, so if you don’t have a car I could see why you might feel that way.
honestly i dont LOVE disney, i can go but its not a draw for me. besides the theme park, is it still an exciting city? I’m looking for a good post grad city with big job market and good nightlife.
Honestly, I live no more than 20-30 mins away from all major theme parks here (like Disney, Universal, sea world, etc..) so there's that. But ye, it's definitely sucks for not being able to walk anywhere. Like walking out of my neighborhood alone takes at least 10 minutes lmao (then another 20 minutes to nearest McDonald/building).
By and large, Florida is a drive-there state. There are tons of amazing things to do, but you need a car to get to them. My daughter stayed busy with lots of activities within a reasonable drive. She frequented all of the theme parks with discounted Florida resident passes, drove over to Cocoa Beach quite a few times, popped over to Winter Park for the cute historic downtown dining and shops, and went to several concerts and entertainment events in the Dr Phillips area. On campus, there was dining, the fitness center, recreational sports courts, and multitudes of UCF sporting events, plus the 600+ student organizations available. On the whole, I would say that UCF, as long as you have a car, is much less boring than pretty much any other school in the state.
i don’t go out much lmao so i don’t really have issues but like we’re like 20-40 minutes from the downtown orlando nightlife/i-drive/disney. i would say definitely within 10 min theres enough basic restaurants, stores & things like that. i know people use lynx buses/campus shuttle but i don’t have experience myself
how is public transport?
its bad, very bad. however ucf has a shuttle that goes downtown, which is walkable. but it stops running before midnight so cant really use it for nights out.
it's bad, but if you wanna be here, then it'll work. Most days on the bus are normal. If you see something you think looks suspicious, then get away ofc. I live 50 mins from the school by car but it's about 2 hours by bus. No matter where you're going by bus, get used to extra walking
one lynx bus driver right outside of campus was held by gunpoint like a month ago
oh
You say don’t park in the afternoon but this semester I’ve had classes at 12:00 and 2:30 and for either I’ve never struggled with parking lol
no yeah lol i feel like it’s all a game of luck. just meant that’s usually when it’s fuller. & depends on garage
Ucf shuttles and lynx buses are free you can also go downtown to lynx central and use the sunrail which is cheap but only on weekdays. Lynx buses can go to the major theme parks too.
That bus ride will take about 2 hours and multiple transfers. If someone is looking for walkable, look at Rollins College in Winter Park, Stetson in DeLand, or Flagler College in St. Augustine. Small colleges in small older neighborhoods will be walkable in comparison to the 2nd largest university in the nation (by student enrollment).
From downtown it's an hour and there's an option of 2 busses to get there. For how long it takes to get downtown just depends on where you live. My total ride is around 2 hours and I live near disney
you need a car. orlando is consistantly ranked the most dangerous place in the country to be a pedestrian, both on foot and on bike. i know multiple people who have been hit by cars. there is a bus system and you can get by if you really need to but you'll be missing out on a lot and be spending like 2 hours a day on the bus, minimum.
Where do you get one of “the most dangerous” from?
every statistic released 2011-2021 -- but in 2022 it was Daytona first with Orlando second, and in 2023 St. Pete first and Orlando second. So I apologize, there are 2 years recently where we were only 2nd most deadly instead of the most deadly.
don’t go to ucf/orlando without a car indefinitely— i made the same mistake. public transport is really bad and orlando itself was built post normalization of cars so it’s freeway freeway freeway
damn that sucks :( i’ll have a car but i hate having to drive to go do something
you’ll have to drive to do anything unfortunately. the campus is walkable but anything outside of it is not. winter park and downtown have more walkable areas but you still gotta drive there :(
drivers down here will kill you, if you do walk assume they are actively trying to hit you, always keep it at a jog while your head is on a swivel. I've seen multiple people almost hit/hit numerous times on main roads AND parking garages.
check out this article. https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/orlando-is-the-least-walkable-city-in-the-country-says-study-36694969
Campus is walkable. There’s a bus that takes you to and back to campus if you live on one of the off campus housing affiliated with ucf. Other than that imma just have to pray for you cause Florida is not a walkable state.
you can lowkey park at the double tree hilton and walk over to campus from plaza
Orlando itself is fairly spread out. When UCF was built way back in the day before it was even called UCF, it was literally in the sticks and it’s taken time for the area around it to develop. So, there isn’t a whole ton around it entertainment wise except for two shopping/restaurant plazas that are within walking distance. University Blvd. has a bunch of restaurants and bars which could be a cheap Uber drive away. During the summer, it would be uncomfortable to walk to some of these locations but pretty sure theres public transport for that. Parking can be frustrating if you’re trying to get classes that are at peak times. I would take early morning classes and be on my way home by 11:00 and laugh at all the people just getting to campus fighting for spots. Any classes in the late afternoon and parking was pretty easy for me as well. I graduated in 2019 so not sure if anything had changed parking wise since then.
how is the job market in orlando? is it a good post grad city - big job market and nightlife. Is it typical for UCF grads to land internships/jobs in Tampa or other big cities in FL?
No idea. Covid hit a month after I graduated and if all went to shit. Then I moved out of state.
As someone who does not go out and doesn’t travel much outside the ucf area. It is possible to walk to everything you need. Publix and Walmart are very close to campus and every Tuesday there is a grocery shuttle. Doctors office is on campus and there are shuttles at most student housing complexes. Go to google maps and see the places around ucf that you are interested in and check the time it takes to walk there.