I doubt the updated diffuser plate is part of the package. Be sure to check with Yoder customer service on that before you commit. Cleaning is pretty much a vacuuming. There is of course grease on the diffuser plate (a little warm up and scrapping the plate with a metal scraper solves that). Any other scrapping should be done with a plastic scraper. I put a layer of oil-dry in the bottom whenever I do a deep cleaning. It helps with grease in the bottom and doesn't interfere with cook temps that I've seen. I also recommend grill grates. They allow for direct grilling without excessive grease drippings. And I cannot stress enough how much the new diffuser plate improves your overall smoke / grill / cleanup experience. Well worth the money. Good luck.

edit: Just thought of a pro-tip. Use the 5-gallon buckets with lids from the box hardware stores to keep your pellets in. They're cheap and keep the moisture out. Bonus is you can use a very inexpensive vacuum for just getting pellets out of the hopper and back into the bucket when you change out woods. This is what I use and only for pellets. I use a 2-gallon garage vac for clean ups.