diff --git a/gremlin-core/src/main/java/com/tinkerpop/gremlin/process/util/DefaultTraversal.java b/gremlin-core/src/main/java/com/tinkerpop/gremlin/process/util/DefaultTraversal.java
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/gremlin-core/src/main/java/com/tinkerpop/gremlin/process/util/DefaultTraversal.java
+++ b/gremlin-core/src/main/java/com/tinkerpop/gremlin/process/util/DefaultTraversal.java
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ public class DefaultTraversal<S, E> implements Traversal<S, E> {
     }
 
     public String toString() {
-        this.doFinalOptimization();
+        // todo: optimizing on toString can cause weird stuff when debugging - can we have doPreflightFinalOptimization?
+        //this.doFinalOptimization();
         return this.getSteps().toString();
     }
Commented out toString execution of traversal optimizations.

This causes early evaluation in the debugger and then really crazy stuff starts happening.