Letting Go at the Playland

I took my kids to the McDonald's playland for the first time today.  Yes, my oldest is five and you'd think I would have gone by now, but I never could bring myself to do it.  I think I was partially traumatized by the time a couple of years ago we let Zach play at the Chick-fil-a playland and he wouldn't come out.  That thing was not made for an adult to enter and I had to go in after him.  Not a fun experience.  Also, Sarah can be a crazy kid at times and I never knew what she would do.  Long story about why we went, but our original plan today was to go to the drive-thru.  As Zach saw the playland, he decided he wanted to play on it.  Zach is a really mellow kid and in my mind, he needs to be more social.  So, I'm trying to go with things that will give him some more interaction with other kids.  To me, that includes the playland.
From entering the McDonald's, my kids were bouncing off the walls (almost literally).  I had to keep getting after them to stay with me as they kept kind of bouncing towards the playland area.  My point:  they were ecstatic.  We got our order and went to sit in the playland area.  I have to admit I was kind of impressed, it was nicely set up.  I felt kind of weird though when we got in there.  I guess the other mothers are pretty frugal - I didn't see any other kids but mine with a Happy Meal.  They mostly bought hamburgers, had them share fries, and such.  I don't blame them, go for the affordable, especially since it looked like they had more kids than me.  Later, I did see kids come in with Happy Meals, so I quit feeling like I was spoiling my kids.
I got pretty bored though.  Not a whole lot to do but sit and watch the kids.  Even then, the thing is all tubes you can't see too well into except for a few strategically placed windows.  So, I couldn't even watch them all the time.  Next time I'll bring a book or my laptop (I'll have to check if they have the free wi-fi there).  Or hope that they decide to put some stuff in there for parents to do.  I guess they'd rather have you watching your kids.  Makes sense to me. 
My kids had a great time.  They were also very good about eating their lunch before playing and then not fighting me when I said it was time to leave.  I honestly expected the experience to stress me out, but it didn't.  I feel like I kind of let go of yet another hang-up I have about raising my kids.  I've got lot a long ways to go to be like a normal mom, but it feels really good to make one more step.