Family vacation is a time-honored, lovely, downright stressful and sometimes harrowing tradition. We’ve all seen National Lampoon’s Vacation with the Griswold family (if you haven’t, step into the sunlight, introduce yourself to the world), so we know there’s pressure to make everything go well. But cops say one family man took that to the extreme, by robbing a credit union in order to make the final payment on a Disney cruise.

It was going to be fun times for everyone, reports Florida Today, for a 37-year-old man, his girlfriend and her two kids. Officials say the man didn’t have the final balance owed for the cruise, and well, things went from there.

“He claimed he had money in the bank but that he couldn’t get access to it or that they had a hold on it,” a police commander said. “He said he felt pressured to follow through with his promise to take (the girlfriend and her two children) on a Disney cruise and decided to rob the credit union.”

No one was hurt during the robbery at about 10:40 a.m., when cops say the man slid a note to a teller demanding cash, reportedly indicating he had a weapon.

Police showed up minutes after a bank alarm went off and spotted an SUV similar to the one the man had been driving. Officers took the man into custody and recovered the cash.

Meanwhile, it sounds like those kids will be disappointed after all — they were waiting in a car outside the bank with their mom, who says she didn’t know about the plan.

“She was horrified and the children were upset. They watched as we took him into custody. They drove here overnight from Charlotte for a cruise. But they didn’t know he was going to do this,” the police commander said.

The man was booked on robbery, grand theft and driving on a suspended license. We hope someone takes those kids on vacation soon to make up for it. Better late (and legally paid for) than never.

Police: Credit union robber had Disney cruise on mind [Florida Today]

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