TOTD is a must because of what it is but I think there are far better roads in the area. Between the crowds and police activity (at least when I've been) I tend to prefer other roads in the area. But glad you checked it off your car person bucket list
It has actually been my third time there now I did spend time on the surrounding roads and ended up taking some old state routes on the way down. As far as police activity I can agree they make their presence known, but I will say I came through a corner of the dragon much much faster than the speed limit
![Driving [driving] [driving]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_driving.gif)
and a cop parked on a pull off gave me a thumbs up and I continued on my way (maybe just lucky )