Hi Daniel,
When this question is asked on forums the 8" Dobsonian regularly seems to top the poll. They offer very good bang for your buck, and you wouldn't be going far wrong. However, I would still recommend that you also check out a refractor telescope with an Altitude/Azimuth mount. They can be a very good starter choice too. You are wise to say that you are looking for your "first scope" and not expecting that one telescope will satisfy you for ever.
The first telescope I bought was an inexpensive 80x400 refractor Skywatcher and I still use it (it's now mounted on top of a Newtonian and used as an additional finder scope). The huge advantage of it, especially when I was a beginner, is that it shows everything "the right way up". Most scopes reverse either one or both axes, which can be confusing to begin with. When you're looking at a group of stars it may not matter much which way up they appear to be, but it can matter a lot when you're first trying to find your way around the sky and everything in view moves the opposite way to what you're used to. It also means that you (and the kids) can use it for daytime viewing of scenery, nature etc. without the image reversal problems.
They are very easy to set up - you simply unfold the tripod, point and look. Even the very simple Dobsonian mount needs to be set firmly on flat level ground and they have quite a large diameter. One of the big enemies of the amateur astronomer is any kind of wobble and vibration. As you say, you will at some stage need to collimate a Dobsonian - or at the least check that the collimation is OK - which does require learning some new skills. Laser collimators are a handy tool but do cost a bit.
As you said, the best telescope is the one that you actually use and the easier the initial weeks are, the more likely it is that the hobby will stick.. Another good purchase (for me anyway) was a finder scope with a right angle erector prism (aka corrector prism). It shows everything "the right way up" and also gives me a much more comfortable viewing angle. The ones usually provided are straight through and also reverse some of the view. When pointing the main scope upwards, it can mean getting into some seriously awkward positions to be able to see through the finder. It's also worth noting that the bigger the magnification, the harder it is for the novice to find their way around, because you can only see a tiny piece of sky which makes it very hard to find your bearings initially.
No matter how much you spend (within reason) you are really only likely to be looking at increasingly large clumps of white dots. You won't be seeing the Cassini spacecraft diving through Saturn's rings or much in the way of fine detail on anything except the moon. An important aspect of the hobby is the reading and study required to fire up your imagination and bring those white dots to life.
Whatever you go for will provide some successes and some relative disappointments, so don’t be too worried about getting it exactly right. Most scopes can pick up Jupiter’s moons and some version of Saturn’s rings, but they will be very small scale compared to the photos we’ve all seen. There’s always next year and your next bigger and better scope if the bug bites!
Good luck with your choice.
Cheers,
Chris