Need advice for using G+ and ILL and park hopping

[las3888]

We are planning for a stay in early June, we will staying at BWV and enjoy spending our evenings at EPCOT so we plan to do a few days of park hopping to other parks in the AM and mostly spend our evenings at EPCOT. I am getting a little concerned as I am poking around MDE app today (weeks in advance) and seeing that at 10:15 ILL is sold out for Ratatoullie (a must for us) and times for Test Track (another must) G+ is booked up all the way to 8pm, so likely pretty soon that will be unavailable.

What are my options? For the ILL ride (Ratatouille) can I book that at 7am? I know I can't book for a time until after 2pm, at 7am will it give me 2pm times (and after) or do I have to keep checking until the 2pm timeframes start to show up? And to be honest, we really don't want to ride until probably after 5pm since we plan to swim in the afternoon. How can I manage this best?

And what about Test Track? While at another park in the morning, say HS, do I keep checking the EPCOT times until something for Test Track becomes available after 5, or an agreeable time for us? I then will use my G+ chit for that and can't book another G+ attraction for 2 hours after that, correct? It stinks because while I am willing to do that, I don't really want to have to be watching this all morning, and what if at 10:30 the ideal time becomes available. I book Test Track and then am stuck in a busy park where I can't use G+ probably for the rest of our stay since we would likely leave around 1 anyways...?

Any other options? And what is the refresh trick I am reading about? I don't quite understand this. It seems to have to do with RotR or am I wrong? We are planning to book an ILL for that attraction but since HS will be a morning park for us, we will be looking to book that at 7am that morning. Hopefully we will get a morning time for that, but am I hearing this right in that they are sold out like instantly? Are other attractions selling out that quickly as well, just so I am aware?

Sorry for all the questions, we have used both G+ and ILL at DL for spring break but we did not park hop. And I will add that as far as the refresh trick goes, I wonder if that isn't something that happened to us inadvertently. We were at DL and had ridden Space Ranger Spin in the morning using G+ so we were not allowed to book it again. DS and I booked in the evening a different attraction and I'm not sure what I hit but I was checking wait times for SRS and G+ became available to us and it did work and we got in. I don't know what I did, it happened very quickly, it almost seemed like a glitch, and could not re-duplicate it the rest of the trip but it was a nice little bonus.

PS - I thought Runaway Railway was an ILL ride, but in my app as of this morning it shows up as G+. So is RotR the only ILL ride at HS now? Wondering what the latest ILL attractions are...

 

[g-dad66]

There are only 4 ILLs through August (1 in each park): Rise, Remy, 7 Dwarfs, Flight of Passage.

You can book any of them at 7am. If you book Remy when your park reservation is not for Epcot, it will only show you times beginning at 2pm. You can select the time you want (but beware, the time may change between the time you pick it and when it is confirmed).

For Test Track, you will find that at 7am, the LL times will rapidly show later and later. It won't take long for you to get an evening return time.

If you book your first LL for Epcot after 2pm, then you will be eligible for your second LL two hours after Epcot opens, regardless of which park your reservation is for (the park that you go to in the morning).

 

[las3888]

If you book your first LL for Epcot after 2pm, then you will be eligible for your second LL two hours after Epcot opens, regardless of which park your reservation is for (the park that you go to in the morning).

Thank you for your info, wondering why only 1 ride per park for ILL this summer.

Also, if I book Test Track at 10:30 (just as an example for a 7pm return) that morning while I am in HS, you say I need to wait 2 hours after EPCOT opens (which is 9am). So at 11am can I book more LL in HS (or elsewhere), in other words I don't have to wait 120 minutes?

 

[musicguy856]

Thank you for your info, wondering why only 1 ride per park for ILL this summer.

Also, if I book Test Track at 10:30 (just as an example for a 7pm return) that morning while I am in HS, you say I need to wait 2 hours after EPCOT opens (which is 9am). So at 11am can I book more LL in HS (or elsewhere), in other words I don't have to wait 120 minutes?

If you book TT at 10:30 you would have to wait until 12:30 to book your next LL at HS. Currently MMRR, FEA, Space, and Everest are part of Genie+ and not ILL through the summer. FEA will likely never be ILL again since Guardians is opening soon.

 

[las3888]

If you book TT at 10:30 you would have to wait until 12:30 to book your next LL at HS. Currently MMRR, FEA, Space, and Everest are part of Genie+ and not ILL through the summer. FEA will likely never be ILL again since Guardians is opening soon.

Do you think when they open Guardians they will continue to have Remy as an ILL?

 

[musicguy856]

Do you think when they open Guardians they will continue to have Remy as an ILL?

If they keep the current model of one per park Remy could move down to G+.

 

[g-dad66]

Thank you for your info, wondering why only 1 ride per park for ILL this summer.

Also, if I book Test Track at 10:30 (just as an example for a 7pm return) that morning while I am in HS, you say I need to wait 2 hours after EPCOT opens (which is 9am). So at 11am can I book more LL in HS (or elsewhere), in other words I don't have to wait 120 minutes?

You will want to book Test Track much earlier than 10:30 (it may be gone by then). You will want to book before Epcot opens. Today at 7:30 am, the Test Track LL time was 5:45 pm.

By booking your first LL before Epcot opens, you can then book your second LL two hours after Epcot opens.