Indeed
The husband seems to be incapable of graciously accepting a generous gift which isn't for him but for his children who (however people who don't fancy Disney for themselves are trying to spin it and make it all about them) - ARE excited to be going. He wants to sulk,, wants time alone for himself (which I do get I like some me time on holiday too) but no mention of offering his wife the same courtesy. If he was saying - I'd like to spend time just us and the kids as well as the big group days I don't think anyone would bat an eyelid- it's the wanting to act like a single man rather than a father and husband on holiday that sits badly.
Is Disney all about the rides....honestly it isn't -there's golf, nature trails, fine dining , horticultural activities, educational programmes as well as all the usual stuff you'd expect in a holiday resort plus the parks, rides, fireworks, shows and a lot of the "I'd never go" brigade would be very surprised if they actually researched properly or tried it (which of course they won't - and that's fine too)
I did wonder if all the planning has set this off- That he feels that every second of every day is going to be planned to the nth degree - I'm a big believer in having a plan as it's very easy to end up crisscrossing a park and walking for miles longer than needed if you don't know which rides etc are close to each other -but it's a rough plan not a millitary march. There needs to be down time and breakout time built in.
Frankly though if you read the trip reports on the Dibb you'll see that most people who have overplanned end up going off plan or ripping the whole thing up as not practical once there anyway. Throw in a slew of inlaws and all this talk about wanting to be able to opt out might be more logical.
This might account for the change from happy to go to trying to carve out some time - Maybe it's not to do with alone time so much as not wanting to be in a big organized pack for 14 days and plans to hire your own car and plans to visit places like water parks, Kennedy or even the beach just the four of you might be a better compromise.
Frankly there's few extended families who can sustain happy togetherness for a full 2 weeks especially adding in, over stimulated kids, adults wanting to do different things and people with different energy levels -let alone the early risers versus those who want to sleep later on holiday .
Getting allowances for these built into the planning could be the difference between the holiday of a lifetime ......or the holiday everyone needed a week off to recover from afterwards ;)