King, I agree that the tier system is EPCOT is kind of wacky, but I think it comes from EPCOT having limited options that actually involve having a queue area. In the entirety of the World Showcase, Grand Fiesta (waste of FP), Maelstrom, and IllumiNations are the only attractions that queue at all. Even in Future World, there are only about 4 attractions that I would ever bother to FP - Soaring, Test Track, Character Spot, and Spaceship Earth. Mission Space, Nemo, and Journey into Imagination are such short wait times that you can easily plan to hit them at non-peak times and practically walk-on most days. So that leaves only 6 "good" FP options versus a park like MK where there are about 13 "good" uses of FP. I think a better way of doing the tiers might be to put Soarin' and Test Track in the top tier and then have a second tier that is "pick one" and put IllumiNations, Character Spot, and maybe Spaceship Earth or Maelstrom in this tier. Then put everything else in the third tier.
We were lucky enough to hit that very narrow window where we could book Soarin, Test Track, and IllumiNations on the same day. I really liked the IllumiNations viewing area. It wasn't very crowded and it was a really nice view. There was someone on the boards--I don't remember who it was now--who didn't care for this view and prefers other spots around the World Showcase, so that's a matter of taste. The nice thing about it was that we didn't have to stake out a spot an hour ahead of time. We walked up at around 8:45 and we got a nice spot. One thing that I hope they are working to fix is that it was difficult to find the right place to check-in. "Between the Tower gift shops" is deceptively vague in the dark when the priority viewing for the Candlelight Processional package is adjacent (but not connected) to the FP area. Pair that information with the new design phase on Test Track. In the regular queue, two people design their car together, but in the single rider lane, each person can design their own car. I would consider booking it to Soarin' and riding stand-by first thing in the morning, riding Test Track single rider, and getting a FP for IllumiNations. Or I might just book it to Soarin and ride standby and then have a FP for later in the day and go again...At the very minimum, I wouldn't be devastated if Test Track and Soarin were both booked solid and I got "stuck" with IllumiNations.
I'm sure another thing that Disney is trying to manage is the need to keep some "good" fast passes available for day guests without having priority FP booking turn into trying to get an ADR for Cinderella's Royal Table. If they didn't have a tier system at a park like EPCOT, Soarin and Test Track would probably be booked solid within 5 minutes of the booking window opening up for resort guests. At least now, hopefully it will take 10 minutes 