Some families shouldn’t go on vacation with each other. This mother shares exactly why. has been edited for clarity.
“A couple of years ago, my husband and I decided to go on a family vacation to Disney and Universal Florida with our sons. They were graduating high school and we thought this would be their graduation present.
At first, we did not tell anyone what we were planning for the reason coming up. However, it did get leaked to my aunt and mother what we were planning, and at first, my mother was okay with it just being my children, my husband, and myself going. My aunt, however, decided that she wanted a vacation too and that she would just come with us on ours since we were already going. My mother soon thought that if my aunt was going, it would be okay if she went as well.
My husband and I were not okay with this, because we both knew how my aunt can get. She’s a bit entitled, and rude. However, we knew if we didn’t give in, she would make our lives hell. So, we agreed, and both my mom and aunt knew they had to pay for themselves.
We decided to drive down to Florida instead of paying $4,000 just for all of us to fly, as we didn’t have that kind of money. We were looking at renting an SUV, so we could then drive around to Arizona to tour our sons’ college campus afterwards and then circle back home. While we were all discussing this, my aunt decided that we would use her car. My husband and I didn’t like this idea, but she insisted, and we caved again.
It was only the 4 of us driving down, as my mom and aunt were going to fly, and I would have to pick them up at the airport since it was an hour away from our hotel. By the time my family and I arrived, I dropped them off at Disney Springs while I went to get my mom and aunt from the airport. It was just the beginning of the trip, and things had already gotten complicated.
First, their plane was an hour late, and no one told me (they knew their flight was delayed before they boarded and could have texted me). After I picked them up, we headed to the hotel to check-in. My mom has mobility issues, so she rented a scooter for the week. My aunt said that if she had any problems walking the parks, she would rent one there.
So, the next day we had planned to go to Universal for the day, and as we were staying on Disney property, we had to drive there. The first hiccup happened when we all decided to split up since there were a few rides we wanted to go on that they couldn’t. My husband and I went one way, our kids went off in another direction, and my mom and aunt went somewhere else.
While my husband and I were waiting in line for a ride, my mother called me and said that my aunt was trying to get a scooter, but as the park was out of scooters, she was going to take the car and go back to the hotel.
I said, ‘How?’ as I had the keys.
My mom replied, ‘She said she brought the spare keys and that she would come back for us when we were done.’
I went into panic mode, as my aunt is known to ignore our calls and texts and will fall asleep and not wake up until morning if she is worn out. I told her she could get an Uber or taxi back to the hotel, as there was no guarantee she would return for us and it would be a lot more expensive for us to get a ride back to the hotel than it would be for her.
She then stated, ‘It is my car,’ to which I replied that as we traded cars and she has mine, it is actually my car until I get mine back and that she can’t just leave us stranded here.
As we were gearing up for a war over the car, the customer service desk called my aunt and said they had a scooter available for her. She was okay with that, and the whole thing with the car was dropped. I thought this was the end of it. However, this was just the beginning.
The next day we were in the Disney parks, and I had sent the boys off to have fun since it looked like we were going to be stuck with my mother and my aunt for the duration of the vacation, and I wanted them to have fun on this trip. The morning was okay, but as the afternoon wore on, my aunt kept making little snide remarks about how I was controlling everything and deciding where we went, etc. I told her she was more than welcome to go her own way, as I only decided on which park we were going to.
So, this was her attitude the whole week we were in Disney. She would constantly pick at me or badmouth me to my family. And every time I snapped back, it seemed to add more fuel to her attitude.
One time she wanted to go to a sit-down restaurant, and the Sci-Fi Diner is where we were able to get a reservation. It was cool, as the tables/booths are styled to look like cars and picnic tables, so it seems like you are at a drive-in. Now as we are a party of 6, it is a little difficult to seat us, and when we were seated, it was at a picnic table style. Because it was not a ‘car’ style, my aunt and my mother threw a fit because it wasn’t a ‘car’ style. They caused such a scene that the manager ended up caving in and finding us a ‘car’ table. I was so embarrassed that I pulled the manager and waitress aside and apologized for their rude behavior.
At the end of dinner, as we were about to walk out, I discovered that neither my mom nor my aunt left a tip. The waitress was super nice and did a great job dealing with those two, so I was annoyed they didn’t leave her anything for her trouble. I went back and added more money to the tip I left. I was fed up with them at this point, but I couldn’t ruin this for my boys. So we decided to ride a couple of rides before we headed back to the hotel, while my mom and aunt did their own thing. When we met up with them again, my mom was livid that we didn’t take her. We didn’t know she wanted to go, so we offered to go again, but she said forget it.
The next day I drove them to the airport in silence and dropped them off. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to see them go. It was then my vacation lightened up. We continued our trip to Arizona and started to have fun. It was all great until we finally arrived home.
Before we dropped my aunt’s car, we detailed the car and filled the gas tank up so she wouldn’t have anything to complain about. When we arrived, my uncle (her brother) came out of the house and just stood there with his arms crossed and just stared at me like he thought I was going to try to get past him to do something to my aunt. I just wanted to leave and go home, so all we did was exchange keys and get into my car. The minute I get in my car, I am livid.
It is trashed and only has a quarter of a tank of gas (I gave it to her clean and with a full tank of gas).
As we were leaving my aunt’s house, my husband turned to me and said, ‘Yeah, I was right 20 years ago; that woman is a hag.‘
To this day, that side of the family does not talk to me, and I am okay with that.
In the future, we have decided that if we tell the family what we are doing, we are going to tell everyone that it will just be the 4 of us, and no one else will be welcome. That was the first major family vacation we had since the boys were born, and my aunt and mother ruined it for us. At least my kids had fun since I wouldn’t let them be dragged into their drama.”
