Updated What I Wore: The New Pants as Jeans

So I made the V1166 pants in denim, following all of the sage comment advice. And I think it worked out pretty well:

This is my public service announcement photo: DON'T wear a pale bra under a dark top when being photographed with a flash. The bra is actually pink - but it's too light for the topper. It's like my boobs are a light source!

Some things to note:

• They're too short (except with my Diesel "runners"). I'm wearing (practically) flat boots in the photo because I can't stand to look at those runners any more.
• This pattern is weird. I feel that there's too much fabric between the top of my pelvis and my pubic bone. That's the "mom" element. It looks less strange with fancy fabric, fyi. I'm either going to have to experiment with the front-crotch length or find myself another pattern that doesn't yield this result. (A fly-front option might be better given my shape?)
  
• The whole "OMG there's a drag line" issue doesn't really upset me. Honestly, pants have to move in a zillion directions. As long as they aren't a sign that things are too tight, I can live with them. The problem is, to get rid of every drag - at least with my current level of expertise - the pants would be too big as they stretched between washings. Even with RTW pants I do experience drag in certain positions.
• I've got to fix the bottom of the zipper - which gave me no end of irritation on assembly.
• I cut them using the same pattern as the previous pair (the modified 14) but I ended up needing to remove an extra inch of fabric from each side?! Ah, the power of stretch.
• Because I'd already stitched 1 inch seams (which went to 1.5 inches), I opted to serge the seams together as a way to cut most of the extra seam fabric off. Otherwise, the (previously serged for edge-finishing, but not together) seam allowances were going to be ridiculously wide.
• I think the waist is too high - esp. given the puff factor of my lower abdomen.

A few questions for the sewists:

• Is it difficult to lower a waistline? Doesn't seem like it would be, but pants are a great unknown.
• Do you hate drag lines - or do you just accept them? Do you see them as a mark of poor construction or a factor of the human form in pants, especially ones that skim?
• Do you find fly front pants to be more supportive and less baggy below the hill of the lower abdomen and the pubic bone? Is this a common issue when making pants?

Update: I've been thinking about this obsessively all night and I've decided to try a couple of things with this (admittedly imperfect, but seemingly improvable) pattern.

• Lower the waist by 2 inches (and extend the waistband accordingly).
• Pinch out some of the size in the front leg, from the centre of the pattern. I won't interfere with the waistband.
• Another alternative is, having lowered the waist, to extend the darts as a way to get rid of that extra room.
• I don't think I'm going to mess with the front crotch depth at this point. I really think the extra fabric in the front leg is what's skewing things.

If any sewists have experience doing any of these things, and you care to weigh in, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
So whatcha think?