About said.
Well, it really depends on the story type? genre? target reader?

I didn't take any writing class, but start writing stories when I was 10 myself. For English, I just slowly learn the way of writting. I notice about the repetitive of said, and annoyed with it. So I tried the two ways you mention, descriptive or 'thesaurus'. Until now, I am slowly adjusting the balance of the two method to get the correct equilibrium. <3

Please don't ping me, thanks.