Anyone removed the cupholders from the dash?

[solana_sc]

Greetings all,

I began installing LED's into the dashboard cupholders but quickly found that the bottoms of these aren't a great place to drill into. (yeah, I know--measure twice, cut once)...I want to drill into the vertical face of the dashboard behind the cupholder "covers," but need to take the covers off to do so.

I'm not a retard as far as automotive interiors go, but I couldn't remove them using the shop manual pdf's (a huge thankyou to whomever posted the manual!!!). (all the other trim I've removed--headliner, A-pillar covers, console, hvac faceplate, has come out very easily. Color me very impressed by the thought that went into making this easy to manufacture and service!)

Has anyone managed to pry them off without breaking anything? I've yet to get the semicircular arms on each side to release so I can swing the covers down.

Thanks!