We just got back from a week in the world, with the dining plan. It's our second time using it (first time paying for it!). We are a family of 4....with 12 and 8 year old boys. My mom also came with us.
We loved the DP the first go-round, but after using it this trip, we said we probably won't do it again. We just felt too tied down to sit down meals this time. I love doing some sit-downs, but I really could have done without one every single day. We also could do without the appetizers and the desserts at TS meals. We felt uncomfortably full all the time.
Next trip, both of our kids will be "Disney Adults", so the plan will cost us that much more. Another reason to skip the plan. The meals are big enough that they'll be able to share, and honestly, we're almost out of the character meal phase, so I doubt we'll be doing more than one buffet.
I guess I should add that we've been to Disney 7 times, so we've BTDT with a lot of the restaurants. There are some that we love, but others that we have no need to do again, at least for a while.
Good luck deciding!
Marcy