What on earth are you renting, to get quotes that high?
I got a deal for my friend at Alamo for less than $100. for a week, and I am always under $200 for 10 days.
I was suprised by the car rental rates this summer too ! Last year it was much cheaper.
I am staying in FL from Aug 3-19 this year. That is 16 nights. I wish I had more DVC points left in my bank to stay onsite so I could save the $579 cost of a car. I tried Alamo, Dollar, Budget, National, Avis----used every code I could find. Then tried reserving through Southwest....Orbits....other car rental places.
I'm getting anywhere from $590--$787. I need a full size car because of amount of people and luggage we have. I am using my Vistana timeshare week for part of the stay---so this is a whole week I need to rent a car (and pay for parking at the theme parks daily). Now the remainder of the stay I need the car because we'll be at Disney's Vero Beach---no disney transportation there and we need to get back and forth to my dd's college campus that week for orientation. So I need the car for that. But I so wished I could stay onsite for the first week in wdw so as to not need a rental among the other perks.
its just going to be DH and I and we'll be spending all our time at the parks anyway. I just don't see the need to spend all the extra money on a resort i'll never be at.
And that's just it Jenfrog....you know what works best for you and what your personal preferences are in a vacation.
Even though we've been to WDW well over 30 times (I stopped counting), we prefer onsite. I like the onsite perks....the free transportation.....Magical Express......and the wonderful themeing of the resorts. Last year, we didn't stay in the parks all day---we don't do commando anymore. Got there early in the am, then went back in the PM after dinner. We're AP holders and sometimes we're just content to pop into a park for a few hours a day.
During the entire middle of the day we have lounged around at the Wilderness Lodge. Sat around the pool........on the beach....looking out over Bay Lake. I could just stay there at that resort and never step foot into the parks. It's so beautiful to us. In the past, we've also enjoyed OKW, BWV and this year we are trying AKV. Many of the offsite places, while very nice, seem so cookie-cutter to me ? I know many love having a rental home....but, personally, that's not for us. We prefer a resort-like setting. Staying in a home is just too much like not ever leaving home. And I know many would disagree....but that's fine. I'm just offering our reasons for our preference for staying onsite.
So everyone knows what works for their specific needs and tastes. To us, the resort we stay at (after so many trips there), is just as important as everything else. Sure we still do the theme parks, but not as commando style as we used to (and by that I mean staying in the parks the majority of the day). It's nice Orlando has something to offer everyone. Have a great stay at the Comfort Suites.