Husband booked a holiday I said I didn’t want to go on

We always spend 14 days in parks. So much to see and do. It's handy if on a budget as tickets are paid for.

While I get the strong temptation to say "off you trot and enjoy yourselves, see you when you get back." I wonder how fair this would be to the kids?

Literally leave it all to him. No planning, no packing, no booking, no talking about it other than to say, you guys have a lovely time. I'll hear all about it when you get back.

This is an excellent tactic from @WallaceinAnderland , I've used it before. It works wonders because it causes no arguments, since you are being so nice. It completely blindsides them.

To be fair, your husband can go on any holiday he wants, it’s not fair to vetoe his choice. If you don’t want to go, then fine, stay at home.

You have to bear in mind that the rides close when there are thunderstorms - at least they did when I was there last some years ago in late July- so you might end up only doing a couple of things in the mornings and pretty much nothing at all in the afternoons (when the storms tend to happen more frequently).

The easiest thing in the world for OP to do is - nothing.

Literally leave it all to him. No planning, no packing, no booking, no talking about it other than to say, you guys have a lovely time. I'll hear all about it when you get back.

If one or both of the children don't want to go then that's fine, they can stay at home with Mum and we'll do lots of fun things here.

That's it. There is absolutely no need to make a big song and dance over this.

Let him deal with the consequences of his own choices. OP can absolutely step aside. Just repeat to husband - do what you want dear, it's nothing to do with me.

The issue is he doesn't care what you want / feel.

Well that goes both ways. DH really wants the holiday. Op has said she isn’t adverse to going at some point. It reads to me like it’s Ops generalised anxiety putting her off, DH saw a deal and booked it.
Despite the renovations he’s paying. August is when the long holidays are and US kids go back to school. The youngest will be matured a year.

I think it’s more of an issue if Op had suggested something specific she wanted and he’d gone ahead regardless.

Next year Op gets to choose with no ifs or buts.

If you look at the % chance it’s 50%. What actually happens is you get a massive tropical downpour at lunchtime and then the sun comes out as if nothing happened. It’s warm throughout.
The other poster was on the coast and got unlucky. It’s a massive state. Sub tropical weather isn’t UK rain/sun.

The issue is he doesn't care what you want / feel.

Plus travelling to Trump America shows a fairly fundamental lack of awareness for me.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/4167147
Not sure if this link ^ will work properly. In Florida it's thunder and lightening with rain until the end of August with above 30C every single day. The humidity (77%) is similar to being in front of a hot steamy oven with the door open. Then contrast with polar temperature air-conditioning indoor, when you will need to put a jacket or cardigan on.

Show him the weather forecast. Tell him you are not going in August. Your kids will probably hate it.

Disclaimer: Been to Orlando/Florida for work. Never been to Disney.
BTW I wonder if it's a lot cheaper in August!

We’re here now, coming to the end of an 18 night trip and it’s rained a bit the last few days but for like an hour among bright sunshine!

Sorry OP, we’ve had the best time as a family! Got the full dining plan which has been amazing.

I would go for it!

Could you come to some sort of compromise such as one week at the parks and one week on a cruise (or whatever you like)?

Firstly I’d ask him who he is going with given I said no Secondly I’d express my pleasure at having 2 weeks to myself whilst he and the kids are away.
Seriously though, I would stick to my guns and say I said no and I meant it. However I would say I’m happy to consider it at a different time and propose rebooking to a more convenient opportunity.
i also, given you are married, would have a look at what you can change about how finances are managed in your marriage. This to me is actually the greatest concern. He spends large sums not only without consulting you, but expressly against your wishes. It appears he earns / has access to more than you. Is this because you need to prioritise house and childcare? If so, and he won’t start to consider it ‘our’ money, I’d be looking for a full time job / higher paid job and letting him know 50% of childcare and household chores are now his as you don’t have access to sufficient funds under your control.

Next time you choose

It’s bad enough that he booked it after you said no, but unforgivable that he’s told the children and is getting them to take his side. I would be furious at that.
I’ve been to Florida in August and it was very , very hot and very humid. I hate hot weather, but survived unscathed. It did rain a lot, but in short, heavy bursts. The heavens would open and it was like having buckets of water poured over your head. I actually liked it, as you could cool down and in fact you dried off very quickly because of the heat.
if you do go, my advice is not to go the parks every day. It’s exhausting, so pace yourselves. But you are well within your rights to say no or postpone.

These are all red flags for abuse:

• riding roughshod over your views as though you don't matter
• manipulating you through the children
• emotionally abusing the children by recruiting them into an adult argument/encouraging them to take sides
• sulking/manipulating
• lying that the alternative is to go nowhere
• telling you that you're stupid
• earning more than you and keeping it for himself (gives at his whim) rather than having a family pot

Don’t tell him not to take the youngest, the fucker will present that as he’d love to take the youngest and it’s only their mean nasty mummy stopping them from going. Make him admit that he isn’t going to take both children on his own because that might be work.

So he's booked a thing you said you didn't want, he's bullying you and trying to emotionally manipulate you into going and he's undermining you in front of your children.

You have more problems than a couple of weeks in a hot humid disney nightmare

He sounds awful.

The way out of this is to have a conversation with him (no kids involved) about the practicalities he's overlooked, and your wishes he trod into the dirt. He needs to cancel or change the dates.
He also needs to apologise to you for how he's treated you.

Then the two of you present a united front to your kids and explain the holiday was a lovely idea, but booked impulsively and has now been altered to meet the needs of the family.

If he can't do this, I wouldn't give him houseroom

Weve been in August 2017/2018/2024 and it was significantly hotter in 2024 than the previous years, we would never go in Aug again because it felt so.much hotter.
If you do go I wouldn't worry about rain too much because it's much more typical to have one big downpour then beaming sun straight after, the weather on the other thread is more unusual.

However! I'd be so pissed off at him, we always agree on everything before we book a holiday so him unilaterally deciding would make me so angry.
It sound like you've got some dining credits but if it's the basic hotels.it isn't enough for 3 meals a.day so that will soon add up, and we've always paid for genie plus otherwise you'll spend all day queuing And I think it cost us about £400 last time

And the thing about buying water is rubbish. The water fountains are a bit grim but every food.outlet does free over water and we buy massive bottles of filtered water from the supermarket to have in TH fridge for the accommodation.

I’m from Florida but have lived in the UK for twenty years and my kids have grown up here. We go to Florida every other year and wouldn’t dream of going in mid summer. Insanely hot, very humid and it rains most days (absolutely hammers down with rain for 30-60 mins), plus the hurricane risks.

If going to Orlando/Disney I recommend friends only go in May or October half-term (and miss a few days off school). The weather is warm and it’s not humid.

The theme parks are insanely busy in the summer and Easter. You pay all that money and then end up queuing an hour to go on each ride. We went in May last year and had such short queues for the rides - we went to the beach for a week during May half term, then did a week in Orlando when UK schools were back and Florida schools weren’t on holidays.

He's the aggressor here. If he loses money because he didn't consult you that's on him, not you.

The bigger issue is you've fallen out of like, at least he has. You don't treat people you care about like that.

It might not be as bad as you think. I have been to Florida 12 times, we have only been once in August and it wasn't really any hotter than it can be in October, the hottest was in June. When we went in Aug my son was 9 and he coped very well with the heat.
All the shops and restaurants are air conditioned, most of the queues for the rides are either inside or have giant mist spraying fans. It did rain, we had some impressive thunder storms, but I only remember it being a problem once, we had just got off the monorail and the rain was lashing down, we had to stay and shelter there for a while. Most of the time you can see them coming and head into a shop or restaurant, every time I've been the storms don't last very long and before you know it everywhere is dry again.

I would be annoyed with my DH if I had already said I didn't want to go though.
Tell him he needs to get planning, it's much more important to plan everything now they don't do the free fast passes anymore. You will have to book your restaurants in advance, you need to make the most of the free dining.

Take loads of breaks and use the hotel pool to cool down, the water parks are excellent, even if you don't enjoy the slides, there's plenty to do, lazy rivers and wave machines, etc.

The US kids usually go back to school mid August, so it's not the busiest time to go, other times of the year are definitely busier. So if you change the month the parks will probably be busier than when your DH has booked.

Make the most of it, I'm sure with the correct planning you will have a great time.

I wouldn't go. Tell your eldest why and stick to your guns.

You say he’s paying with “his” money, do you mean money he earned before he was married / had kids with you? Because any other money is “yours” together. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.

We went in August one year due to schools and uni
I sweated in places I've never sweated before or since.