Thanks everyone. In terms of the Resort View tower room, we plan to stay in the tower in either the lowest level room or splurge on club level (we don't care about view that much when we stay somewhere).
Although we are for sure doing the dining plan we also won't be in the parks as much as normal (late starts, earlier returns, mid day breaks) as we will be traveling with a lot of little ones and doing shorter or more broken up days which is the only reason I am hesitating on club level since it will give those without kids or older kids somewhere to hang out that isn't the room or the pool (and drink as we are all drinkers on vacation).