~The Last Hurrah: a spooktacular tale of terror

This past weekend we decided that before a successful embryo transfer might end my thrill seeking roller coaster riding days for the foreseeable future, we should head to DisneyLand and Disney California Adventure for one last hurrah.

A mere four weeks after the tragedy at Big Thunder Railroad, we found
ourselves at California Screamin' in DCA ready to try our luck.




After waiting in line, and assurance being given to the more
reluctant member of our couple (I'll let you guess who that was), we found ourselves locked in and ready to be launched for our journey on the tall, steel roller coaster.


Here's Dirk smiling in anticipation:



After the initial exhilarating acceleration, we twisted, we rose, we
plummeted, we inverted and otherwise hurtled along the track...

...until our train came to a SCREECHING and ABRUPT halt. Ok, I can't
verify the screeching part - but if it had been a car, there definitely
would have been screeching involved. The deceleration was swift and
extremely UNexpected.

So there we were - suspended high above DCA...at a dead stop...on the
tracks...





As you can well imagine, this delay produced no small amount of worry
amongst some of the trapped riders.





A minute later the attraction's PA system encouraged us to remain calm,
informing us that there was a "difficulty" preventing us from
continuing our journey...
must remain calm, *deep breathe*, must remain calm

Sometime later Crystal, a cast member, clambered up
the catwalk to personally assure us that everything was fiiiine and to let us know that while they couldn't let us out of our trains, the Maintenance Engineers would be along directly to rescue us.




Still stuck. Still waiting. Cast member Aaron came by to once again let us all know
that everything was going to be A-Ok.



However, some remained skeptical.



In the meantime, when we weren't snapping silly pictures of each other, we surveyed some more scenery from our lofty perch.




And Crystal helped us record our adventure for posterity.



Eventually, the Maintenance Engineers made their way to our train.
Using precautions such as latching their safety harnesses firmly to the
structure, they released our restraints and helped us onto the catwalk.




Upon reaching good old terra firma, we celebrated our survival!




I couldn't have asked for a more exciting last hurrah.
Unbelievably, our wild ride didn't end there, but that is a tale for another day...
stay tuned for part two in our spooktacular tale of terror!