(Announcer’s voice….) “We now return to our regularly scheduled Mayhem. When last we saw our intrepid Mayhem Marauders, they were having a confrontation with a Brazilian tour group. Let’s join Mousekedude as he continues his narration of this epic event. Mousekedude…?”
Thanks, big guy. Okay, let’s see… where were we… Oh yeah.
Just as a clarification, we were “in line” in the sense that this huge tour group was in front of us waiting at the “gate” where the first CM checks the FP’s to see whether yours is valid before allowing you to actually enter the FP queue. So these Brazilian clowns were holding up the line because their FP return time hadn’t come up yet, but they were insisting on waiting right there, thus blocking anyone else from getting in. I guess they thought that since they had “got there first”, then the rest of us should have to wait as well. We could see the CMs getting a little annoyed, and it was at that point that Soarin’ pointed out to the tour leader that our FP’s were ahead of theirs, and that we should be able to go in first. This is what started the confrontation. Soarin’ was firm, but not rude, in the way she made her statement. But the group leader got all huffy, got up in her face, and sneered: “well that’s for them (gesturing wildly at the CM’s) to decide, not you!!” So now Soarin’ is mad, and she snaps back “well I work here too, and I know what I’m talking about!!!” But the tour lady wasn’t listening, she had already turned her back on us in a rage and stomped away. The CM’s saw this happen, so finally one of them grew some... courage... and came marching up the line shouting
“Fastpasses for 11:40 (or whatever our time was… can’t remember..)
and earlier ONLY, please!! 11:40 and earlier ONLY at this time!!!” as he gently but firmly moved all the Brazilians to one side and made room for us to walk by them. So then… heads held high in triumph, we sashayed right on past the whole group and through the “gate” into the queue. Now, me being the true Mayhem Marauder that I am, I just couldn’t resist getting in one last dig. So as we glided past “Mrs. Big Shot Tour Leader”, I stopped, leaned over to within 6 inches of her face, and purred “Told ya.” Then we went in. Five minutes later, as we were winding our way through the queue, we got a glimpse back outside and could see the whole group still standing out there waiting as dozens of other people went right on past them. Yes! Victory was ours!
Reveling in our triumph now put is in a great mood to enjoy this newly refurbished attraction. It was pretty darn cool, I must say. We liked the whole “Tron” thing they had going on. The interactive part where you get to pick your own car was pretty cool… until we later figured out that it doesn’t really do anything special for the ride, so we decided that next time we would skip that part and just continue on up the queue. Anyway, here’s some pics. I apologize for the poor quality, but we were carrying the small camera that day (the underwater/sport camera), and it takes fabulous underwater and daylight shots, but doesn’t do as well with low-light “in-motion” shots.
One thing that felt really weird in a kinda fun way was that the actual track was exactly the same, as were all the “stop” and “pause” and “accelerate” points. So we kept having flashbacks to the old ride, and could even almost hear the old narrative. Some of the old backdrop scenery was still there too (pine trees, semi-truck). They just repainted it and added neon lights. But overall, it was a great ride and we were pleased with the upgrade. One thing that definitely still hasn’t changed, though, is that they still have bugs: the second time we rode it, some of the neon wasn’t lit and the audio in the cars wasn’t working. They more things change, the more they stay the same…
After the ride, we were all feeling a bit hungry. So we decided to go to (can you guess..?..... wait for it…..
WAIT FOR IT…….)… that’s right! La Cava Del Tequila in the Mexico pavilion!
Some chips and salsa with guacamole, washed down with a yummy Jalapeno Margarita would be just the ticket! So off we went… only to get there and find out that they wouldn’t be open for another 20 minutes. Grrrrrrrr!!!!
So we thought we’d try going to Norway and riding Maelstrom, then coming back. Well, when we got to Norway, Maelstrom was down. Bummer! So we just muddled around for a little while, then wandered back to La Cava to await opening time. We were first in line at the gate, but a crowd soon started to gather. A handful of college-type dudes were kicking up some fun right behind us, talking about Margaritas, so I asked them if they had ever tried the Jalapeno one. They were skeptical, but I urged them to man up and give it a try, so they agreed. Once inside, after having tried one, they came over to our booth and thanked me (“ah yes, more successful converts… my work here is done…”
).
So our cravings satisfied, we set out to continue our mayhem. Not sure all the exact events after that because we didn’t really take any more pictures for a while, but I do know that at one point we were passing Club Cool, and I remembered what my next mission was: “I just gots to have me some Beverly!!”
So in we went. I quickly polished off a full cup, to Soarin’s astonishment (“…you didn’t even flinch!”
), and grabbed a second. I savored this one a little longer just to rub it in (Soarin’ shaking her head in shocked disbelief…
). Then we continued on.
Let’s see: Jalapeno Margarita – check. Beverly – check. Yep, I’m officially “home!”
Finally it came time to part ways (Soarin’ had to go to work), so we gave hugs all around, swore to uphold the Mayhem Marauder mindset at all times until next we should meet, etc…. and Soarin’ headed off to work.
After doing a little of this, and some of that, Mouseoholic and I decided to take a resort break. So we headed back to our room for some R&R. Later, we came back to Epcot for our dinner ADR at:
The food was very good, and we had a great table. Here’s the view from our table:
Then some unwelcome mayhem reared its head: I couldn’t find one of my credit cards!
I tried to think of all the possible places I might have used it that day, but was getting more and more anxious because I just wasn’t sure. Finally I decided I must have left it at La Cava because that’s the last place I thought I might have used it. So we rushed back there, and sure enough… our server had held on to it for me. What a guy! I almost had another ‘rita in celebration, but the line at the bar was too long.
It was starting to get late, and we were tired, so we took in one last attraction:
…and called it a night. We needed to get back to our room, get packed, and get some rest because tomorrow will be the big day: we leave for Port Canaveral to catch our cruise on the Dream!!!!
Stay tuned for more.
I know I never completely finished our last trip report, but you all know about my issues with Photobucket, etc… and I just don’t have time to recreate the whole thing from scratch. 
