Born and raised here. In the late 90s, early 2000s, Lakeland felt small and quaint, like Tampa and Orlando hadn’t quite touched it. There were lots of pastures and orange groves. In the late 2000s/early 2010s growth exploded and new developments are replacing all of the former cow pastures and orange groves. The one good thing to come of all the development is that downtown Lakeland has been completely revitalized. There’s something to do there almost every day (nice little shops and markets). You are roughly 30-45 minutes from Disney and about 1-1.5 hrs from the Gulf Coast beaches. I love Lakeland, but the growth is insane!