Dining near Florida Mall

[Keith]

Oh my goodness Keith, that sounds awful

We always park as close to the entrance as we can and we just don't walk.

our own fault really, should've told the taxi cab to park by the b&n entrance. Shouldn't really have done that walk across to the mall, it's not really designed for it and I tend to wear a sports coat type jacket even out there in 90degrees which probably doesn't help fitting in ;-)

but yeah, not a wonderful area IMHO

[lisaw]

That is awful! Tbh we only really go to the Florida Mall out of habit and as long as I can find a nice Hallmark shop elsewhere I don't need to go anymore!
I really like The Loop shopping centre

[Tink]

That sort of thing is exactly what I'm talking about. It's broad daylight and those low life scum are robbing from people, and sometimes actually hurting them. One woman was severely injured when she had her purse grabbed by someone in a car. She refused to let go and was dragged quite some way before being forced to release the purse.

There are any number of other shopping areas that do not have as much associated crime. The Loop (although I don't go there) is fairly new and is not laden with parking lot hoodlums.

Winter Garden Village is a very nice place to shop, browse, dine and have a stroll. Not a huge selection of stores but there is a Best Buy, a very nice Barnes and Noble, a Target and a good variety of other small shops. There are full service and counter service restaurants too.

Winter Park is another popular place to stroll and shop, but it's more like a village setting and is not a mall or strip mall. The stores are an eclectic collection of small shops, and there are a number of restaurants of all types. There is street parking, and it can be a real challenge sometimes.

Millenia Mall is still fairly ok, but be highly alert at the holidays. Again, those mall parking lots are huge and people get accosted in them all too often. Park as close to the door as you can and do not bring your purchases out to the car and leave them and return to the mall. Even if you put them in the trunk of the car, you are running the real risk of having them stolen. Thieves watch and when you are gone it's a simple matter to pop the trunk and steal your purchases.

As with any heavily visited area, there is the constant presence of crime, so always have your wits about you and be alert to who is approaching you.

And for the record, never EVER not once go to West Oaks Mall. It is an extremely dangerous place no matter what time of day.

[Wendy]

And for the record, never EVER not once go to West Oaks Mall. It is an extremely dangerous place no matter what time of day.

...................and you will get told off by Tink

Seriously though, I've never been so scared at a Mall in all my life

[canesandphins1]

Ill second the west oaks mall you need a tank and the national guard to go there

[uscwest]

We rarely go to any of the malls in FL as neither of us really likes to shop unless we have to. But I shall file Florida Mall in the back of my mind. That really sounds scary Keith.

[Keith]

We rarely go to any of the malls in FL as neither of us really likes to shop unless we have to. But I shall file Florida Mall in the back of my mind. That really sounds scary Keith.

to be honest, at the time I wasn't really that bothered. I was just reacting in the moment and because we never used to drive, we've walked around areas we probably shouldn't have. So it's far from the first time I've been confronted by someone asking for money and I'm used to being pretty definitive and robust in response. It was only when we got back to the hotel and I had a chance to wonder if they'd had knives or if it had've been dark with no one else around :/ We'd walked that route FROM the mall across to bestbuy before fairly late in the evening so....

yeah scary and another reason I'm glad I let you all talk me into hiring a car when we go!

[Britchick]

so why don't the police do something about it?

I'm not going to the FM now, there will only be Caitlin and I so i don't want anything scary! Maybe we'll get a town car to MoM, it has the stores we need i guess.

[Keith]

so why don't the police do something about it?

I did see quite a lot of state trooper cars around the car parks last time we were there so perhaps they're trying. A lot of area to watch out for though I guess especially with idiots like me wandering around car parks and unlit non-existant walkways. Shared responsibility for safety and all that

I'm not going to the FM now, there will only be Caitlin and I so i don't want anything scary! Maybe we'll get a town car to MoM, it has the stores we need i guess.

I wouldn't let it worry you too much. A taxi/town car to the florida mall should drop you off right by the entrance and collect you there again later anyway. MoM is a MUCH better experience though if it has everything you want

[Britchick]

I did see quite a lot of state trooper cars around the car parks last time we were there so perhaps they're trying. A lot of area to watch out for though I guess especially with idiots like me wandering around car parks and unlit non-existant walkways. Shared responsibility for safety and all that



I wouldn't let it worry you too much. A taxi/town car to the florida mall should drop you off right by the entrance and collect you there again later anyway. MoM is a MUCH better experience though if it has everything you want

it's cheaper to go to MoM - i got quoted $110 to FM it's around $70 to MoM