These aren't normal people. New York City denizens generally aren't regarded as normal people, no matter how often Seinfeld runs. :)
...Kissimee and St. Cloud are just as dumpy as Hialeah...
No argument, but the Parramore will never be Liberty City. My contention is that if you or I were given a parachute and given a choice to be dropped out of a plane over a random section of the Orlando metro area or the Miami metro area, both of us would pick Orlando in a heartbeat.
BTW: The "city" of Miami is actually quite small. Apart from the financial district on Brickell, most of the business activity is actually in the Gables (where many multinationals keep their Latin American headquarters) or west of the airport in Doral. Most people who say they live in Miami actually live outside the city in Miami-Dade County.
Amigo, I grew up there. My parents met in Florida while teaching at a high school in the Ft. Lauderdale area. I know. Most people who live nowhere near Orlando or Miami or Tampa say that they live there because nobody outside of Florida knows where the hell Yeehaw Junction or Howey-in-the-Hills is. Lots of folks INSIDE Florida don't know where those are!
As for your contention that downtown Orlando gets many "tourists," all I can say is that South Miami Beach attracts the most sophisticated people in the world at all hours of the day and night, while Orlando attracts fat rubes in bad clothes. ;-)
Disney World attracts more of them than South Beach ever did, whether they'll admit it or not. And while Disney and O-Town attract thousands if not millions of fat rubes in bad clothes, have you seen retirees in Miami lately? I mean, geez, that place is God's waiting room for fat rubes! 8)
Now, on THAT, I'm pretty sure we'll agree. ROFLMAO.
BWAHAAAAA! Retirees in bad clothes sharing Washington Ave with some rather convincing transvestites. Very true.