Everything that you are saying is true, as I know first hand of some of the references you mention. I lived in both Sanford and Lake Mary for a period of 3 years while working for a private law firm in Seminole county before taking a gig with the DOD to which I departed for Iraq as a contractor.
During Hurricane seasons, which living through about 7 of them including Hurricane Katrina is where I realized that I-75, I-95 and I-4 were always bottlenecks during evacuations. I hated the strip malls and cement block houses to which were made from the cookie cutter templates where every house that looked the same were popping up everywhere, as well as the transplants from New York along with every other illegal working there who couldn’t speak English were moving there in droves.
There was always a running joke when I did some pro bono cases for a friend (the DWI and drug possession variety) as the saying used to go; “Come to Florida on vacation and leave on probation” as one fellow colleague would tell me that Florida was the catch drain for all the raw sewage that would filter down from the rest of the country. I guess in my line of work at the time there was some truth to that with all the drug busts I would see perpetuated from people who came down from places like Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc. etc.
I was lucky not to get caught up in the cocaine induced stripper parties with co-workers working in the commodities trading industry as I had a thirst to always be doing outdoor stuff and exploring the state. Most of my down time was spent on weekends at a place called Wallaby ranch, a community of aviators of small aircraft and Hot Air Balloons outside of Orlando were people would gather to fly their metallic wings and have beer parties afterwards. Cool place and good times. I especially like going to Blue Springs, St. Augustine, and checking out places that were off the beaten path like canoeing on the Kissimmee, and Wekiva rivers, as well as taking boat trips on the Everglades.
One of things of interest to me was exploring places that Jack Kerouac used to write about, his musings of his days while living in Florida and the descriptors he had for the state were not always of fondness but of cynicism of the impermanence that Florida culture always seemed to have made an impression on him. My literature was of Lucia St Clair Robson (To Light a Distant Fire) history of the Seminoles, and as I explored other parts of the South always reminiscing of what Falkner wrote about as I headed in places like Charleston, SC, Savannah, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee were also of interest to me. Never made it to Key West for the very same reason you articulated, but still, it would have been cool to check out Hemingway’s cats and the place he used to live while living his exploits of daring manhood’s fate of survival while fishing for Marlins that I can imagine were glorious lived experiences before the rift raft came in. From all of this I can imagine a place with rows of Orchards of Orange Trees during times of blossoms, and seasonal blooms that used to dominate certain places in Florida before the congenial greedy businessmen saw dollar signs in real estate developments that destroyed such natural beauties as well as farming communities that used to thrive there. Nothing like cutting open a fresh Florida orange and biting into its fresh juicy taste that can only be found in Florida. Much of the natural landscapes that where there had an abundance of natural wild-life, native species to Florida that used to flourish with a balanced Eco-system but that all changed when people started bringing in foreign invaders like the Burmese Python and Iguanas that now threaten other species to extinction. Still, Alligators and seeing their ancient eyes swimming below my canoe in clear water was both an intense experience and of wonderment to be able to appreciate such things about Florida.
Disney destroyed quite a bit of the natural environment when they built their now Disney World, and like you said, the long wait in lines to get on a ride or see an attraction especially in oppressive Humid hot weather was simply not worth the wait, so I never bothered with it nor had a desire to go see the attractions. People were delusional of a world that only existed in the Movies that they watched on Sunday evenings (Disney special) it simply didn’t exist. It was all an Illusion.
Don’t get me started on the retirement communities and their nazi like homeowners associations with gated communities and golf courses. 
I took solace in places like Miami where the collection of Art Deco Architecture is still very prominent and is a well preserved heritage of a bygone era. Also Jackonville as Southern culture there is you still had Lynyrd Skynyrd as cultural Icons, as well as Tom Petty. Ha! Its a shame, Florida as much as many are moving there due to prosperity and an awesome Governor that is finally running things right there, I am not sure I would want to move there with what is there now. Probably more of the same when I was living there, but more crowded than ever with rising housing costs, such sense of impermanence never settled my soul thus I wasn’t one to be longing for Florida. Visit? Yes probably, but who knows.
