We have posted this picture before. But I want you to get a clear image of it and keep it in the back of your mind for later. This will become a major hang up for me as this day progresses and comes to a close.
With that in mind, I am here to finally bring you a new chapter. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting it, and I apologize for keeping you hanging for so long
. I have been bombarded at work, tasked with organizing a Prescription Drug Abuse/Awareness Summit for up to 300 people. For the last couple of months I have barely had time to breathe, let alone write a chapter. But while the boss is away
or should I say, Now that the boss has retired
In the last chapter, T-Man had everyone on pins and needles, waiting to see if he would find his ID back at the room or if he would have to jump ship and find a new way back home. (Although how he would drive back home without an ID is beyond me, silly boy). As he mentioned, luckily he found it on the nightstand and we didnt have to worry about trying to smuggle him into my luggage. The last thing I need is to be arrested for human trafficking or something.
We hop back on the shuttle and head back to the park. I can hear this little voice in the back of my mind and Im struggling to figure out what it is.
As we get closer to the park, I can feel the voice getting more determined. Once we pull into the space for our shuttle and the door opens, I am hit with a whammy as I realize what this voice is. I struggle internally to push it back. I will not succumb to this so called death threat. I am the master of my own mind. I will not be a dumb wife. I will not.
*sigh*
We made our way through the carousel of entry and went straight to the lockers. Adding all our baggage to the locker, only taking the essentials (i.e., IDs and moo la moo), we began our walk to the other side of the park, where I will soon meet my maker.
We wanted to hit up Toy Story Mania since it was closed the last time we were here, but as we made our way towards the ride, we decided to pick up some fast passes for California Screamin. Upon getting said passes, T-Man notices that the wait time is only 10 minutes. This will not go my way. I already know what he is thinking. I can see it in those eyes. The excitement of a 10 year old boy inside a grown mans body. Hes all but jumping up and down. This is the ride he has been waiting for. This is why we came back to DCA in the first place.
As Im walking through the que, I begin to ponder what it is about being a dumb wife that is so riveting to me that I can not say no to this man I call my husband
. I did not have time to contemplate that for too long, because before I knew it, we were being pushed into the car. The harness is pulled over my head and Im struggling to make sure Im strapped in tight. The supreme ruler of the ride, or CM as they are called, comes around and tugs on the handle of my harness to make sure it wont come up on me mid loop, and we are off.
This ride is totally deceptive. It starts you out all nice and slow, its like a walk in the park. You go under the bridge and all of a sudden you hear this voice out of no where say;
Get ready screamers. Head back, face forward and hang on.
Im now trying to figure out where this invisible person is and Im pretty sure with those instructions, he knows what he is talking about, even if he sounds like a pimply 13 year old. So I do as instructed. The car moves a few feet and we stop. The kids voice is back;
Launch in 5, 4, 3,
Wait, Im not ready
I dont think I can do this
2, 1!
Before I know it, Im launched into an aluminum tube straight up and then pushed straight down. This is where Im to die
This is how it will end
I just know it.
Oh
wait
I guess not
The coaster launches us into a never ending turn just in time for the next uphill battle with the aluminum tube.
As we near the top of the hill, the coaster starts to slow down. Im thinking, Oh great, just what I need, for the coaster to stop working while Im at the very top of this thing. But the coaster has other things in mind, like freaking me out as it all of a sudden speeds and plummets straight down.
Im beginning to think, OK
Ive gone through the worst of it. This has got to be the worst of the coaster, and its not too bad
I thought too soon.
Just as that thought is processing in my brain, the coaster roars into the 360 degree loop.
The rest of the coaster is a blur, bounding over small hills and curving to the left and to the right at crazy speeds. Just when I thought this thing would never end, we finally start to crawl to a stop. I cant get out of the seat fast enough. Of course, it almost feels like you are being pushed out of your seat as the new victims, er
I mean
fanatics
are trying to make their way into the car.
T-Man grabs my arm as I stumble out of the car and onto the platform. I wearily make my way to the stairs to get down to solid ground. I all but get down on my knees and kiss the asphalt below me as we get to the bottom.
At this time Im in need of a beer. But the beer stand is no-where near us at the moment. As we make our way towards our elusive beer stand, we come across Toy Story Mania. Now this I can do.
The posted wait time is 45 minutes. There are no fast passes for this ride. They do not fast pass TSM here. We contemplate whether it will be worth standing in line for 45 minutes or if the lines would possibly go down later. However, this was our thought process last time and we never got to ride it. So we opt for waiting and get in line.
T-man decides to pass the time by taking some pictures.
The time stamp of 45 minutes is pretty right on the money. The only problem with this que is that the majority of it is all outside. You go through the outside chain link fenced off maze, just to go into a room that is full of fun paintings and sayings on the walls. You circle through that, before coming back outside for your glasses. Once you get the glasses, the ride is almost within reach. Just a few more moments and we are there!
Mike was happy he finally got the number 1 spot and was telling me he was number 1.
We get into our car, and test out our trusty guns. They seem to be good. Let the games begin!
I honestly do not remember who won. We might have a picture of it. Ill have to see. But the ride is pretty much the same once you get inside, as it is in WDW.
I knew we had a picture
Ask me who was who and I couldnt give you a straight answer. I honestly do not remember.
Once we finished with Woody, Buzz and the rest of the crew, we took a little walk through the pier. They did a great job on this part of the park. If it wasnt for the fact that there is no ocean off to the side or in front of you, you really would think you were on a pier. With the roller coaster off to one side, and the arcade games and shops along side it, it really is nice to just walk along and people watch.
Before leaving this side of the park, I really wanted to ride Mickeys Fun Wheel.
NOTE: From this point forth, this ride will be known as Mickeys NOT so fun wheel! Ill explain, but first, remember that picture I posted at the start of this chapter?
Now, looking at it, it looks like an innocent Ferris Wheel type ride right? Innocent my rear!
As you approach the line, you have a choice; you can either take the road less traveled (the stationary car), or follow the throngs of people going to the car that moves. Now come on
it cant be that bad right? Even if the car moves, its just a Ferris Wheel. Where can the car go?
With that said
I want to pre-empt this story to remind you of who I am. Do not let the fact that my hair has been dyed red fool you
I am still a blond at heart. And do not let T-Man fool you with his talk about how I graduated from college with a degree...that degree means nothing here at Disney. I occasionally can be duped by the ever present, lovable mouse we all know and love.
Back to the story now
We come to the fork in the road and decide to follow the leader, and hit up the moving car line. Its got a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front of the ride, so it cant be bad. There are even little kids in line in front of us. If they can do this, I sure as heck can!
As we approached the front of the line, we told them how many were in our party and waited until they stopped the ride, let the other people off, and ushered us on. The car is a cage
A wired in, metal cage.
This was the point where my Bachelor of Science degree failed me! I knew there was a reason I called it a BS degree in the first place! We began the slow assent up. Our car was swaying slightly, but nothing I couldnt handle. I figured this is cool. We should be able to see everything from the top
and then
I lied. I lied good. I cant do this
I really cant.
Go back and look at that picture. Do you see the way some of the areas have this sort of curved rail where the car is sitting
as you approach anyplace that is not the very bottom of this ride; you are pretty much flung about on this curved railing. Its sort of like those zig zag toys that we had when we were kids, where you would place a ball at the top and watch as it went down, then dropped and when down the other way, etc
The very first time the cage dropped, I felt my heart drop too. I almost lost it. I was literally having the start of a panic attack. The poor couple across from us where looking at me like I was crazy, especially after T-Man had just mentioned to them after seeing the Tower of Terror ride as we rose up, how we just went on the Tower of Terror the other day and It was my absolute favorite ride. All I could think of was I was going to die!
You see, in my panic stricken mind, it was only a matter of time before the cage I was sitting in would gain momentum and take off with us in it. T-Man kept trying to calm me down, taking my hand and telling me to focus on something in the distance. Unfortunately every time I would do that the car would lurch into a new position and I would have to control myself from screaming at the top of my lungs.
Needless to say I was extremely happy when we got off the ride, and very anxious for that promised beer! I would have taken two rides on California Screamin over that panicked feeling any day.
Here are a few shots T-Man was able to get from the ride, while I was clinging to the cage for dear life.
This is a shot of the intricate detail work of what goes into World of Color.
An aerial shot of Grizzly Peak, the star of Grizzly River Rapids.
An aerial shot of The Matterhorn.
A shot of California Screamin
These are the aluminum tubes I was talking about earlier.
Better shot of
everything
You see Matterhorn in the background, Off to the right you see Space Mountain, and near the front, Soarin.
Now dont get me wrong, the ride was cool, and if I knew ahead of time what that feeling would be like, I probably wouldnt have freaked out the way I did. Ive done this once before with T-Man. One of the mountain ranges we have here in Albuquerque, the Sandia Mountains, and at the top of this mountain, is called Sandia Peak, its a very popular place in the winter when it snows, for all those who love to snow board or ski, and pretty popular in the summer for hiking and stuff. There is a great restaurant at the top of the peak, and to get there, you take the tram. This tram has the 3rd longest single span in the world.
Anyway, weve been on the tram before, and I had no problems. But I had always ridden it during the day. This one time, we rode it up during the day, stopped and ate at the restaurant and by the time we left it was dark. As we boarded the tram to go down, I didnt think anything of it. Until the initial take off from the platform. There was an every so slight, but sudden drop off, and I freaked. I think my initial fear was because I could not see what was below me. I had my head buried into T-Mans arm or chest the rest of the way, fighting back tears and trying desperately to breathe.
I havent been back on the tram since
.
So I think if I would have known what the moving car would have felt like on the Fun wheel, in the beginning I wouldnt have freaked as much as I did. It took me a little while to get my bearings back and was able to walk normally again.
To get my equilibrium back, We took a small walk to the nearby store to look around.
Once I could walk without drawing attention to myself, we went in search of that ever so needed beer.
We decided to take a page from Ponzi's book and took a self portrait of us with our beer...
I'll leave you all with that for the night. I put off some of my work today to get this done so I have a little catching up to do tomorrow, but hopefully we won't take as long with the next chapter. Hope this chapter was worth the wait! Did I mention how wonderful you all are for sticking around?!
. I have been bombarded at work, tasked with organizing a Prescription Drug Abuse/Awareness Summit for up to 300 people. For the last couple of months I have barely had time to breathe, let alone write a chapter. But while the boss is away
or should I say, Now that the boss has retired
As we get closer to the park, I can feel the voice getting more determined. Once we pull into the space for our shuttle and the door opens, I am hit with a whammy as I realize what this voice is. I struggle internally to push it back. I will not succumb to this so called death threat. I am the master of my own mind. I will not be a dumb wife. I will not.
It was worth the wait 
and I really admire anyone else with the courage I lack! You have my utmost respect 
I never thought I would feel like that again after the Tram ride story I told, and when I got on that ride, I was crawling out of my skin, I was so scared. I just didn't expect that feeling at all. 
Yay for you! Even if you have to deal with the conference during the day, just being near there and having the opportunity to hit up a park at some point in the day (especially now that the days are longer) is exciting! I will live vicariously through you for the moment. 
and Thank you! I like Mickey's Wheel of Terror. That is a pretty accurate description. I think you were very wise in your decision to say NO WAY...I was not so smart. 
Love it. Eventually we are going to have to start our own Dis-tionary...We already have Prac and now Asphalt. 
