A free trip is a free trip, right? One man’s generous offer to his sister-in-law’s family for a free Disney World trip turned into a nasty family feud after she accused him of being “cheap” for putting her family into a different hotel.
“This summer I am taking my family to Disney World,” wrote Reddit user Safe_Ad_6111. “We are going to stay at one of the resorts on the property. My sister-in-law and her family had a hard time during the pandemic so I decided to do something nice and invite them along. My treat.”
The family vacationer said he accumulated enough hotel and airline points to cover the majority of the trip and that he offered his wife's extended family free flights, Disney park tickets, and their own hotel room in an area called Disney Springs. When it became apparent that his family would be staying somewhere else and not in the same hotel as his own family, plans for a happy family vacation swiftly turned into a nightmare.
“Apparently I'm being cheap by using points for their hotel instead of just paying for them to stay at the same resort as us,” he continued in the thread. “They told my in-laws that I was making their kids jealous by not letting them enjoy the same stuff as us.”
According to Disney’s official website, Disney Springs is a “themed retail, dining and entertainment center” owned by Disney and located near the Disney World theme parks, but it is not a theme park itself. Disney does not own hotels in the area, so they lack some of the perks onsite Disney guests have access to, such as transportation between theme parks.
READ THIS NEXT: Disney World Is Making Four Major Changes.
After his wife told her sister and brother-in-law to "STFU and accept the gift," which they refused, the man gave them the choice to accept the trip or he could cancel the reservations altogether. That turned into a whole new family feud.
“They started yelling at me for… taking something away from their children,” he continued in the thread. “I had talked to them like adults but when they started screaming their kids heard them and found out that they might not be going. Now their kids are pissed at their parents for possibly [ruining] their vacation.”
The Reddit user asked if he was in the wrong for potentially ruining the family vacation and making his in-laws look “bad in front of their kids.”
“You're gifting them airline tickets, park tickets AND a nice hotel and they demand more?” one user replied. “Cancel their tickets. Immediately.”
Some suggested the Disney vacationer cancel the in-laws’ tickets but take their kids instead. “If the kids are old enough to know their parents are the ones wrecking the vacation, they are old enough to come without mom and dad and have a vacation with their cousins,” one user wrote.
RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Others said to canceling the entire trip would teach the other family that “that life is difficult when you’re an A**hole.”
The post has not been updated with any resolution for the family fight, but most commenters responded that the trip planner was not a jerk for what had transpired. Some were also quick to volunteer their own families to go in place of his sister-in-law's family.
“I’m not even a Disney person," another user replied, "But if someone offered me and my family a free vacation I sure as hell wouldn’t turn up my nose at it.”
