Local here, Florida Girl, I live in Winter Garden...
The Sand Lake road area is a nightmare, very congested, and busy busy it is a roadway that connect lots of tourist spots.. malls, I-drive which is nothing but a tourist area, hotels, I-4, Turkey Lake road which is another intersection which is a main artery between WDW and Universal that lots of people use to keep from getting out on I-4, there is restaurants row, lots of stuff for tourist to enjoy, on one end of Sand Lake is a high crime area...
This is not an area you would want to live in....
My suggestion for you would be to look at Windermere - we lived there for about 2 years while our house was being built it was a town house community... Not sure if you looking for apartment living or town house living there are lots of nice communities around with some amenities pools, gyms, walking trails, tot lots, dog parks...as far as housing ( single family) price's they are on the upper end with a high tax base, that's one reason that we did not build there.
Winter Garden is where we decided to build, we love the area, really cute downtown area, every Sat. there is a farmer market, there is a bike trail ( West Orange Trail), easy access to the 429, turnpike, It still has that small town feel, and it is close to everything... lots of new growth... We love it.
Winter Garden is on the back side of WDW, from our house to parking in the parks, is about 20 to 30 minutes.
Clermont, Ocee, are another suggestion for you to check out...
Living here is completely different than vacationing here... When vacationing it's fun to be where all the tourist stuff is and action is.... Living here is a completely different way of life... so you will need to take that into consideration... On a daily basis you will find living away from that action is a good thing.
Not only do you have the tourist to deal with, then there are the snowbirds that migrate when it cold and nasty in the north... so that adds to the traffic...
Fighting the traffic is just going to be part of living in this area, there is so much that is always going in and around Orlando that traffic just plays into it. No matter what time of year, You have the parks WDW and Universal as well lets not forget Sea World, lots of concerts, plays and shows that come to the area, Baseball training camps, Conventions that are always in town, as well as golf tournaments, we just had the Arnold Palmer golf week. Plus lots of people on vacation use Orlando as a base, when vacationing heading over to the beaches, port for cruise ships, Cape Canaveral... and on and on the list goes... so its something that you will need to build into your everyday life.
Florida public school are over crowded, there are lots and lots of private school that might be something that you would want to look into... just a suggestion....
I am a Florida girl, and I love our life here, there is alot to do, so you just have to make adjustments in your time frame to and from work or really where-ever you are heading out to... Once you get the hang of it you will be fine...
If you have any other questions or thoughts Please feel free to PM, I would be happy to help you out...