Maybe it's the difference between PP and academics - some of this makes no sense to me.
The gradual emergence technique seems counterintuitive - unless they have a lot of narc on board, it seems like they would cough more. And although I'm all for a relatively quiet wakeup, in a busy OR, turnover time rules in most cases. I don't lighten up early, because often it's only five minutes or less to close an abdominal case in PP-land, and if you lighten up early, then extubating deep becomes far more risky. Leave the agent on, extubate, crank up the flows, depart.
Extubating deep is a HUGE plus if you're willing. If you have a good mask A/W going to sleep, more than likely you won't have a problem waking up. Patients can be extubated before reversal if needed. Even for ENT patients, if your surgeons have them reasonably dry, tonsils, sinuses, etc., can easily be extubated deep.
LTA's work well, especially on cases that are shorter. I don't think it helps on a four hour spine, but on a lap chole, sinuses, etc., they're very helpful.
Unless you're in an OP place, fentanyl early, MS or dilaudid late. We don't have remi on formulary, but when we did, we rarely used it. It's just not that useful a drug in our practice.