That's sweep picking alright;-) There are a lot of different ways to sweep the same series of notes. I just posted an exercise in the technique forum that has helped me to become more fluent at sweeping:

http://www.guitartricks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=146121#post146121

I know what you mean about it clicking all of a sudden. The penny dropped for me while I was listening to Jason Becker and imagining how he did it (I already failed at getting it from tab). It gets easier every day and in about 6 months or so you will be able to string together massive sections of aprs. Some guys don't like em, but I'm an arpeggio freak:-)