DH and I have been a few times pre-children. I second FT that staying in a Disney resort would probably be easier with tired children. That said, we've stayed at the Sheraton and the Marriott on I-Drive and as much as I love Disney it was sometimes nice to have somewhere to go back to to have a brief rest from it! Plus the pools were amazing, and it was nice to have a bigger choice of restaurants. Both resorts offered buses to the Disney/Universal parks, and we used the I-Ride trolley to get to Sea World (which is awesome, don't miss it).
We've never used the dining plan in Orlando but we did use it when taking B to Disneyland Paris last year and I would definitely consider it when we go to Orlando, it was really useful from a budgeting point of view.
I'm very jealous! It's a brilliant holiday, I can't understand why some people pretend they don't like it (they are clearly pretending). We're off on a Disney cruise later this year though so I won't feel too sorry for myself
