Most of us say the creed without thinking; the rhythm of the words just carries you right along. I remember being in church as a child, and occasionally just focusing on everyone enunciating the "S"es in the prayers.
I do believe words have power and meaning though, and reciting things like the creed, or the Lords Prayer, or the Prayer of Saint Francis is a transformative experience, or should be. It's hard to argue with the latter two, of course [side note: I hate them sung...they should be said] but the creed is so out of date, and it could not possibly be updated to reflect the wide variety of beliefs of most modern Christians. Of course, the Catholic church is a bit of a special case; "Cafeteria Catholics" and all (I am proud to be one). My parish does not insist or does not question any given individual's belief; however, I sense vocalizing some of my new beliefs would be something that would turn other parishioners against me. I would not be simple to explain; here's one time I experienced that myself.
I was Episcopalian until the late 1980s; I remember the rector at our church (who later become a notorious bishop...) mentioned in passing at a retreat I went on in high school in the early 1970s that Jesus did not actually physically rise from the dead; this was a bolt out of the blue, and despite the many sermons I had heard the man speak he had not seen fit to mention that factoid. Not easy to understand after we all said in church every Sunday that he DID physically rise from the dead in the creed. He pretty much had to spend the rest of the afternoon answering questions about this.
I will accept that it is more a creed of belonging than a literal description...like the Bible itself, I guess. What I am more interested in I guess is how willing others are to share your beliefs in more conservative settings.