Having spent some time with DDi now, I am actually pleased to find that my initial thoughts on the tools remain the same: I don't think they're worth it to me. The character builder IS a lot of fun to work with, but I don't see myself just making characters for the heck of it.
However, waiting 3 years before subscribing has turned into the deal of the century for me re: Dragon and Dungeon. 10 bucks for 80 issues? Totally worth it! I have been having a blast reading it all (reminding me how much I missed my old dead tree subs).
At the moment, my plan is to subscribe intermittently to DL new articles, but I haven't ruled out a 3-month sub to see how much I like getting new stuff as its published (plus I'm really curious about the Kara Tur stuff).