How to visit in the evenings

[bluezy]

[This is a version of another post I made, but I think I worded it poorly. So, I'll try again...]

I'm wondering how other people handle their evenings now. Let me explain...

We have been to WDW a few times, but found we really liked the old "Tour Guide Mike" approach, and used it on our last 3 trips. Basically, we'd be there at rope drop, stay until early afternoon, head back to the hotel, then return for the evening. For us, "evening" was usually 2-3 rides that we could use Fastpass for and dinner, with a show (Fantasmic/Illuminations/MSEP+Wishes) on some (not all) nights. It was all very relaxing and fun - even if there were crowds, we never waited in lines in the evening (except for staking out a spot for MSEP and Wishes) and were able to see everything we most wanted.

However, this will be our first time to go with FP+ in place, we're coming up on our 60 day window soon, and I'm wondering how other people who followed that old approach have adapted to the new system. I know how FP+ works - I'm looking for advice from others as to how you've adapted to the new reality - is it possible to follow the old "style" without using all your FP+s on nighttime rides/events?

Do the evenings (we will be going in a busy time in July) tend to be so crowded that the only way to ride anything is with a FP+? Or do the rides tend to clear out, enough that we can ride something (headliners? mid-popularity.? anything?) without much wait/lines? Should I save most/all of my passes for the evening, so that I'll have them, or am I likely to find a few good (though maybe not "headliner" rides to do in the evening with little/no wait? Any help here would be appreciated...

We use a similar approach most days. Hit the park at rope drop; schedule FPs for late morning/early afternoon; head back to the resort for several hours; have dinner somewhere; return to a park around 7:00. This is very effective at MK. Last June (on a CL9 day, most recommended park) we managed to do 22 attractions; watched MSEP; and used a total of 9 FPs for the day. (We came back a different night to watch Wishes.) That was with a 6-hour swim/rest/dinner break. We could have used more FPs but by 10:00 p.m., they just weren't needed anymore. We left the park when it closed at midnight. On that trip, we made sure to go to a kiosk and schedule our 4th FP before we left the park for the afternoon -- choosing something around 6-7:00 so we could use it right when we got back to the park. Now we'll probably do that from a phone while we're riding the bus back to the resort.