I am curious what people prefer. I have a 4 day trip in October and I had been evaluating my TP. Tonight I copied them and optimized just to see what would happen. I liked what it did for AK and Epcot but not MK and HS.
Just curious what others do
I try both and just pick the one I prefer. Sometimes the optimize option has me going back and forth across a park more than I think is sensible. I’d rather stand in a lines for a little bit longer than constantly crossing a park.
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Evaluate ,guess it has something with backtracking. Will stand in line an extra 14min through out the day. Also left handed ,that might have something to do with it! !! 
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Optimize - I prefer walking over standing in longer lines. The only time I use Evaluate is for an EP WS plan where I know that I will be doing the pavilions in order and just want to get some timings to plan meals/breaks.
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Totally depends on what you’re trying to do. Optimize is for when you want to let the software find the most efficient touring order for your listed attractions. Doing this several times once you’ve selected attractions should eventually result in a stable plan; you’ll eventually see little change. Evaluate is for when you don’t want to change the order,mbut just want to know how long everything will take. Sometimes it’s helpful to evaluate as your trip gets closer. If you see big changes in the wrong direction (lots more waiting) then you know it might be good to re-optimize.
I don’t think it’s an either/or. Using these buttons together can result in the best touring plan possible.
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You know you can tell the program that this is your preference, right? Use the sliders at the top of the page to set walking speeds and wait vs walk preferences.
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Yes. And thats what had me wondering. I choose least amount of walking but like someone else mentioned, it had me crisscrossing all over the place when I optimized.
Hit optimize several times in a row until it stops changing.
Setting the slider to minimize walking does not find the plan with the least walking - instead it finds the plan within a certain range of the optimal (least waiting) plan that has the least amount of walking. Pretty much no matter how you set the slider you will be crisis-crossing the park, just somewhat less it you set it to minimize walking.
I use optimize first then copy that plan and move things around to my liking for easier walking or specific times I would like to do an attraction, then I evaluate and keep tweeking till I find a plan that works for me.
That’s exactly what I do too! Because I dislike backtracking almost as much as I dislike standing in line. Only problem is I can’t Optimize in the park when something needs to be changed, if I did that then my TP would fall apart. But 99 % of the time this strategy works wonderfully.