Coronado Springs is the only moderate I have stayed at, but it was nice. The rooms are a little small and you will be cramped if you plan to have 5 people in there for any length of time. We stayed with 4 and we were on top of each other. On the other hand we stayed at the deluxe Wilderness Lodge for a lot more money and the rooms were small there too. If you are set on staying on property, which is a great experience and has perks, than a moderate would probably be your best bet. If off property is an option, there are a ton of inexpensive rental houses and condos that will give you a lot more room to move, save money on food since you can cook meals there, and there are many close to all the attractions (Disney, Universal, and Seaworld). I love being on property because I like to use the buses and not have to pay to park, but if youre looking to go on a budget you can rent a house, pay for parking, buy groceries at Publix and spent less than just the room on property. We do both on and off property. Our last visit in Oct 2012 was at the All Star Movies and we were ready to kill each other by the end of the trip. No room to move in the room and the beds are tiny.
I have been going to Disney for most of my life and I had never used the dining plan until this past October. Is it worth it? is a hard question to answer since we dont know what the cutoff for worth it is for you. We got the quick serve dining plan for 4 people for 9 nights. The Cost was in the neighborhood of $1300 ($34.99 per person per night plus tax) (just the dining plan). The price has gone up to 37.58 per person per night plus tax for 2013. This gives 2 counter service meals as well as a snack each day for each person. I can tell you that it was more than enough food for my family, but if you add up how much you pay for the plan versus how much you would pay eating off property you will find that the plan is not worth it in the sense of $$. I would purchase the dining plan again for a few reasons. With the dining plan you have already taken care of your food cost so you arent trying to budget the food money while you are there and it gives you more time to have fun, I also like it because it gave us an opportunity to eat at places we wouldnt normally eat at if we were paying out of pocket right then. The food was really good and usually all 4 of us would share 2 meals if we chose the right restaurant. So, the dining plan, in my opinion, was not worth it in money sense, but it was worth it to us in convenience. If you stay off property you do not have the dining plan option. You only get it if you book a package (room, tickets, and dining plan). Sometimes there are deals. September 2013 there is a free dining plan offer. If you book your package (room and tickets) through Disney you can get the dining plan free. Not sure when you are planning to head to WDW, but definitely keep your eyes open for those types of deals.
I would never by a non park hopper ticket. There are too many opportunities to visit multiple parks in one day. There are many types from single day non park hopper to park hopper with no expiration or just normal park hopper or park hopper with water parks and more. The list goes on. The first question to answer is how many days are you staying. The next question is what parks are you planning to go to (Disney, water parks, universal, seaworld, Busch Gardens, the alligator farm). Last October we stayed 9 days and had the plan of going to the four Disney parks, seaworld, Aquatica, Universal, and Islands of Adventure. You would think 9 days would be more than enough time to accomplish that. It was not for us. We did it but we were more exhausted than normal. We could have only done the 4 Disney parks and still need time. Universal has the same type of hopper tickets. You can buy a single park single day or you can buy a multiple park single day. We bought single park single day tickets and only made it to Islands of Adventure. With 3 day passes we did one park in one day. I dont know that you would need the hopper with universal, but some people prefer universal to Disney.
You probably wont find anything that will combine Universal and Disney together unless you go with a vacation planner / agent and then all they will do is get them separate and charge you one price.
Dreams Unlimited has vacation packages and they are a Disney Authorized agent.
I hope this will help get you started allong with all the other responses.
I will try to offer up what I can. . . You will find the Dis to have all of the info you seek. 
