Hi Patricia,
How exciting to be planning your first trip to Walt Disney World!
It's a great idea to consider if the Disney Dining Plan is right for your family. Given your situation, I suggest that you check if the character meals that you are interested in are available for the dates that you are going. To do this, you can visit
Disney Dining Online, or call (407) WDW-DINE (407-939-3463). I do think that it is possible that character dining reservations will be available for you, especially if you are willing to do slightly off hours, such as a later lunch or earlier dinner.
I think that for the Disney Dining Plan to be right for your family, you need to consume all of the entitlements that you are allotted. With the Dining Plan, each member of your family will get one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per each night of your reservation. Your one-year-old will not have a dining plan, so you will have two adult dining plans and one child dining plan. If you do not believe that your family will eat all of that food during your trip, then you may be better off paying for your meals as you go. Also you should know that Disney offers a Quick-Service Dining Plan which includes two quick-service meals and one snack per person in your family per each night of your reservation. This may be a good option for you if the Dining Plan seems like too much food, or if you find that you cannot book the character meals that you want. Both the Quick-Service Dining Plan and the Dining Plan come with a refillable mug for each member of your family. There are downloadable brochures which explain all
Disney Dining Plans available online.
I hope that this information is helpful for you, Patricia. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any further questions!