Overall, I still feel WDW actually provides excellent value. You have to go in understanding that a WDW vacation is a luxury vacation. It is not in the same category as a weekend trip to a friends cottage, camping 2 hours from home, or visiting a friend in another city. It is more in the category of travelling for a week to a large US city, going on a cruise, or going to an all inclusive resort. If you look at it in those terms, the prices are reasonable for what you get.
Airfare: No more expensive than travelling elsewhere. In fact, MCO I've always found to have some of the cheapest flights around.
Hotel: Even without DVC, you can literally stay on property for $150ish a night in a value resort. This includes free airport transportation, luggage service, and free transportation throughout your vacation as long as you stay on property. While the hotels aren't deluxe level, its pretty hard to beat that price for the quality of hotel in most places in the US.
Food: Yes, in general, food at WDW is more expensive than you would find in most places. But that can be expected. You don't go to a concert, sporting event, or even a movie theater and expect a good deal on food. However, food at Disney isn't that bad. The quick service in general is wayyyyy better quality food than you can expect from your average fast food joint. So while maybe you spend a few extra bucks per meal, your ratio of quick service to table service can be much higher than a typical vacation without going crazy and feeling sick. I actually think I spend less on food at WDW because of this.
Entertainment: Yes, tickets at WDW are expensive, but if you travel for 7 to 10 days, the tickets become a lot more reasonable per day. If you travel elsewhere, your still going to have to pay for entertainment. Those museums, and entrance tickets to attractions still cost. Do a couple of things per day on a vacation and your likely spending atleast $30-40 per person. A 7 day one park ticket is about $70 per day. If you go 10 days, its goes down to $45-50 pe day.
Estimate of Total Cost for Family of 4 for 7 days
Airfare: 300 * 4 = 1,200
Hotel: 150 * 7 = 1,050
Food: 50 * 7 * 4 = 1,400 (5 = breakfast in room, 15 = lunch, 15 = dinner, 15 = avg for snacks, drinks, upgrades to a few table service, etc...)
Park Tickets = 500 * 4 = 2,000
Total = 5,650/4 = $1,412 per person. It's a pretty average all included price for vacations in these categories. Of course, it only goes up from there if you start adding things on like more deluxe hotels, special events, merchandise, more table service, booze, etc....