Regarding the dining plan, definitely crunch the numbers - there are multiple dining plan calculators on the internet you can try. For my family, taking into consideration that we like to bring some snacks & that me and the kids are satisfied with munching all day versus having sit down meals, it wasn’t right for us. It may be right for others but what’s important, to me at least, is knowing that you made the right choice for your family, and that involves a bit of research!
Regarding Memory Maker - keep in mind that whoever buys it is basically the “keeper” of the account. Everyone who is linked in the account will have their photos show up on this one account without issue, but you will not get access to download your photos unless the keeper either gives you their password or shares the photos with you. This is important because on the keeper account you can add frames & stickers and other special effects to the photos. My suggestion is to already plan on ordering the photo cds and just factor that into your budget, and make sure that the keeper of the account is willing to grant you access to their MDE account so you can add frames & such.