I feel like being on the monorail will make things a little easier with 2 little tots. As far as I can tell they have some rooms that are the cheapest on the rail. We are just going to do the MK since they are young and trip is short. Plus we need to save something to come back and see.
True, the least expensive rooms at Contemporary are cheaper than the least expensive rooms at Polynesian and Grand Floridian. However, those rooms tend to sell out rather quickly, so you want to act fast.
Another option to consider is Wilderness Lodge, which has access to Magic Kingdom by boat (as well as by bus). The boat isn't as convenient as the monorail, but it's more convenient and more interesting than a bus ride. And WL (along with Animal Kingdom Lodge) is the least expensive deluxe resort. I know it may not be exactly what you're looking for, but in case the cheapest Contemporary rooms are unavailable, you can at least consider WL if you don't want to or can't pay Poly or GF prices.
But I agree about being on the monorail for convenience. We stayed at Poly 4 months ago after numerous stays at Moderate resorts, and WOW, were we pleased with the added convenience of the monorail.
Is the walk up dining plan worth getting? I don't think we will go to a "fancy" resteraunt while we are there. Chicken fingers, spagetti and pizza are mostly want my kids seem to want, Not sure about character meals yet but we may do that since it will be their birthday.
My family does almost all meals as counter-service meals, with one or two character meals thrown in. I'm very big into "doing my homework" and my calculations have led me to the conclusion that the Quick Service dining plan would be at very best a break-even proposition for my family. One of the problems is that the QS plan includes a dessert with each of the two counter-service meals per day. We almost never order dessert with our meals ... we save the treats for other times, such as a break from the action in a park, or a late-night thing before bed. Therefore, the moey we spend on the QS dining plan that goes towards the dessert in each meal is totally wasted money. Then the problem would be that we'd want to try to get our money's worth and get dessert during each meal, which will either bloat us or make us feel bad that we're wasting food that we're barely eating.
I've been doing my Disney homework for a lot of years, and I've reached the unmistakable conclusion that, for my family and how we eat (as explained above), the Quick Service dining plan wouldn't be a good deal for us.
The other thing to keep in mind is that you can get a MUCH greater variety of food at counter-service places beyond chicken fingers and pizza. If you want to, check out the many menus yourself at
http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm (this is a listing of ALL restaurants, but next to the name of each it will state if it is a counter-service location).
You guys will ALL have a great time!
