Also, one thing that's been getting annoying the past few years has been watching how you can get in for Early Entry, be one of the first people in line, waiting for an hour or more, and right when the maze opens, you get to watch Express people who weren't waiting get to stroll right in ahead of you, one after another after another. I've already been annoyed about it, especially with how bad it got last year (which I talked about) when it makes you wonder what the point of Early Entry even is anymore, BUT it's another factor to consider this year: Imagine paying to do Early Entry, only to watch as Express people still get preferential treatment.
I know it's never going to happen, but I've always thought that Express shouldn't be allowed to be active during Early Entry time considering how bad it's been getting. And after last year, being the first people in line for The Weeknd on not one but two of the event's September nights only to watch as Express just kept getting ushered through for 15-20+ minutes straight without letting anyone from the general line in, I think they really need to consider disallowing Express during Early Entry if they're going to force people to pay for EE. I can only imagine how my blood would boil knowing I spent $10/$20 just to have my time wasted.
(And then couple that with, like you said, understaffed mazes... Ugh. I've always been "fine" with understaffed mazes during Early Entry because I 100% get it, and I'll take the trade-off of being able to get into the mazes before hours and saving time when I'm getting in earlier than the event "for free," for lack of a better way to phrase it. But if we're expected to pay for it now, then it really would be beyond scummy to give a "lesser experience" to paying guests.)