Keep trying, people drop their reservations. You can cancel up to 24 hours before at no charge so people will drop right up to the day before because they don't want to pay the fee.
We never use an TA, we used them our first time and figured out that they can not know exactly what we like and how you can modify your trip on the go when you are there using the app.
100 percent rope drop. We go to Peter Pan first, then work are way around....HM, SM, BTM ( a few times ) Pirates and there are still no waits longer the 10 minutes when we are finished those ones then we start the fast passes
We have done a lot of the tours, our favourite is the Marceline Tour. It's not to much and it takes you behind the scenes. It's not as long as the Keys tour but if you get the right guide we found it just as informative minus the underground corridors.