Both of my boys ended up.at schools they did not visit prior to acceptances. And both recieved merit.
DS1 was a NMF and added his eventual choice at the last minute because the application was easy and the merit guaranteed. The school had EA so we were able to visit in Febuary and the school was a clear top choice while waiting to hear from his one reach school. We never visited the reach school but did visit about 20 other schools. Some fell off the list, others moved up. We also sent DS1 to a summer program at a school I thought would be perfect for him. While he enjoyed the program, it became clear the school was everything he didn’t want. So all of the visits helped a lot even though he ended up at the 1 match/safety school he didn’t visit.
DS2 ended up at a reach LAC school he did not visit before acceptance. He visited and interviewed at 7 of the 9 schools he applied too. Also visited a bunch of other schools that fell off his list. We tried twice to get to the reach school, but flight issues and weathet plus hard to get to location not near other schools got in the way. Luckily, DS2 got an unexpected early acceptance and he was able to visit before April.