Cut Price 'Maelstrom'?

[Nostromo]

When we went to Epcot this time, it was my fifth visit; on 3 out of 4 previous visits I rode the 'Maelstrom' ride in Norway pavilion of World Showcase. I am sure I recall it as being a Viking themed Longboat ride lasting just over 10 minutes including a sequence where we were caught in a 'North Sea Storm'. Moreover, throughout the ride, the background narration matched the audio-animatronics very well.

Not this time though. The commentary was unclear and truncated, obviously skipping over several sentences. The ride itself was considerably shorter - less than 5 minutes in fact - and the entire North Sea Storm sequence was missing. AS we completed the ride, we could see that some sections had been cordoned off.

Does anyone know if Maelstrom is being refurbished?

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Sounds like it might have been as we definitely had the north sea sequences etc etc last time I was on it a few months ago.

[mikewj]

We were looking forward to Maelstrom as we've only ever been on it the once (didn't realise it was there before) and wanted to have another go.

Hopefully it was just a technical fault as they usually close the whole ride when its being refurbished.