Whoa.

 We woke up bright and early, had ourselves a spot of breakfast and resolved to face today with optimism. This quickly dissolved for me when we "needed" to schedule some FastPass rides and all the restaurants were "booked" so we had to reserved dinner at the same place we ate at last night.

Again, my inner six year old started stomping her foot at the notion that I had to be at some place by 1:00pm for some prescribed fun. And that there's no dinner opportunities until 7:00pm. When I'm shelling out this kind of cash, why are they telling me when and where to be? Maybe this was the wrong vacation to take, I thought. After all, we're the type of family that likes to hit the road with no particular schedule; we stop if we see something interesting like Peach World or I need an iced coffee refill. Bo tried his very best to talk me out of my tree while we made our way to the ferry boat.

One of the benefits of staying at a Disney resort is the free inner transportation everywhere. To get to the Magic Kingdom this morning, we took a lovely ferry ride across a lake. We docked just off to the right of the main entrance and were released into the hoards of people. We chose this particular time of year to visit because it's considered a "slow" part of the season. I was still floored by the mass of humanity.

Hey, that guy with the ponytail, I think I know him!

We made our way up Main Street trying not to trip over our ever dropping jaws. After a couple of rides (don't even ask me to name them because it's all a blur) I got over myself and was able to relax a bit and enjoy the experience. I know the kids certainly did. We traipsed around the park going on rides and browsing through stores. I think we hit just about every "land" there was.

But I tell you, Disney today is not the Disney I remember as a kid. We had little RFID bracelets that we used to get onto the FastPass rides and pay for our food. Let me tell you how handy it is not having to fiddle with tickets, cash or credit cards every time you wanted to do something. We're also on the meal plan. This is a very good thing in terms of money. Not only do you save money by purchasing the meals up front but it also cuts down on the "Oh my goodness, everything is so expensive, kids - you're only getting pizza slices!" at every meal time. You just march up to the counter, place your order, scan the bracelet and the receipt comes up $0.00. The "free snack" per day on the plan is also kind of interesting. The food that qualifies ranges from a Twix bar on up to a large, two scoop ice cream sundae. You play your cards right and everyone can have two snacks in a day by virtue of the portions being so large.

Also, Bo downloaded an app called My Disney experience for his iPhone. We've used this to book the FastPasses, book the dinner as well as find out wait times on rides. It's a handy thing to have.

We ended our day at the Magic Kingdom with said ice cream sundaes. We took our tired, spent selves back to camp and had a quick swim before dinner to revive our selves. Back at the all you can eat buffet restaurant, Baby resolved to have two servings of ice cream again.

After dinner, Bo took the older four kids back to the park. I gladly stayed back with the two little ones to put them to bed. I think Gummi was asleep a minute after he got horizontal.

We've already schedules our FastPasses for tomorrow as well as made our dinner reservations ("Consider it a suggestion, not a scheduled obligation." says Bo) at Epcot. I'm looking forward to it.