OMG, I thought of some words I had long stopped using. Speaking as somone who had often been taken advantage of by in-laws, I feel for you. But this is crossing the line.
Suddenly he feels 6 days is too much now that they want to go. It's so much that it has to be cut by two thirds?!?!?!? And they are not paying anything?!?!?! Oh, this brings back memories. In 2005 DH, DD and I traveled with MIL and SIL in tow to my stepdaughter's high school graduation. MIL and SIL paid for their own plane tickets. In addition to our 3 plane tickets, DH and I footed the entire bill for the van we rented and paid for the hotel room MIL and SIL shared next to ours. It was a 5 day trip. I will have you know that on the morning of day 3, dh came in and said, they are out of money so we'll have to pay for them to eat the rest of the trip. So in the 3 months since the plane tickets were purchased they couldn't save enough to eat for the entire trip. And does anyone believe they didn't know when we left that they only had enough money to eat for 2 of the 5 days? I sure don't. But my dh (Lord rest his soul) was literally generous to a fault. In 2007 when stepson graduated, only MIL went, but she got her whole trip paid for including meals and a suite next to the one dh, dd and I had.
That being said, even he wouldn't have gone for this one. I'd be ticked because first of all if your family members don't go that means this trip is costing you more money. Is this perhaps why he's cutting the ticket days so much
to make up the cost of paying for the in-laws to come? That stinks. Why would two people who would be paying their own way be cut out in favor of two people who won't?
Oh heck no! Me and my children would be going to Disney World for all the days we planned.
Now, it is just me here. Dh has passed and my in-laws want an even bigger part of my life. They want to be included on absolutely everything I do. My MIL sees my son as her son reincarnated so I'm trying to set boundaries while still acknowledging the pain she is in now. But they got a look at the new van we got after ds was born and immediately started making trip plans. If I tell them I am planning to take dd and ds to Disney this fall (or about the week at the beach I'm planning for June), I know what would happen. Therefore, I'm not telling anyone (and that includes my own mother) about any of my plans until it is too late for them to plan to go. They'd claim I need help with the children, but what help is it to have to pay part or all of someone's trip and WDW is not a cheap vacation and neither is a week at the beach in June. Plus these are "get away from all the grief" vacations and MIL will bring it with her. Every vacation has an overall purpose and this one is getting completely turned around and I'm sorry for you.
On a few trips we went on, dh stayed in the room for various reasons. Sometimes his health problems kept him in, sometimes he just wanted to sit and watch TV. In Nassau, on a cruise we had this come up. Mom was with us and wanted to nap. I took dd (then 4), got off the ship, and hopped a cab to Paradise Beach. We had a blast. Given your children's ages, going off alone might be more difficult for you, but have double stroller will travel.
So sorry for your loss. I hope you're able to take a deep breath and have some happiness on your upcoming trip.
