Hi! I am somewhat of a DL newbie also, we went last year for the first time, and it really was not as overwhelming to plan as I had thought it would be
First you don't have to stay onsite at DL. There are 3 hotels on site to choose from, all being fairly expensive. Right across the street are several 'good neighbor' hotels. A favorite on here is Hojo's. We personally stayed at Fairfield inn. There are many of these hotels that are within easy walking distance. We were able to walk easy with 2 little ones, and not a problem to head back to the hotel for naps/rest in the afternoon if needed.
About the dining plan, people will tell you here that it is not a good plan. Nothing like the one at WDW. Not recommended. Others can give you more details about this though!
About tickets, you pretty much get park hopper tickets anyways, unless you are doing a one day/one park ticket. I believe Get away Today (getawaytoday dot com) has the best pricing on tickets. You can also go to disneyland.com and they have tickets that you can purchase online as well, but I know for right now get away today is cheaper.
Hope that helps to get you started. I know there has been a map floating around that gives you an idea of the good neighbor hotels along with other area stuff surrounding DLR, it's good to get an understanding the the layout and where the hotels are in comparison to the parks. Hopefully someone will offer this for you, as I don't have it, sorry.
Good luck planning and have fun! This board has been invaluable to me in the planning, and some wonderful people on here to help!
