Hi Pam!
Welcome to planDisney.
Thank you for sending in this question as I love to talk about Disney dining plans! They are a great way to budget for our holidays and know that our food (or most of it!) is paid for in advance.
Your Disney Dining Plan can be used from the day you arrive, up to midnight on your check-out day, and you can use your dining plan in any way you want to - subject to having some meals or snacks remaining on your balance. Maybe you'll want to use it for more meals one day, and less on another, and any time you want to check your balance you can find it on your My Disney Experience mobile app, or at the bottom of any dining receipt. If you'd like a copy of all your dining plan transactions, and how many you have left you can stop by the Front Desk of your Disney Resort hotel and ask a Cast Member for a print-out.
For each night of stay, each guest will receive 1 Table-Service Meal; 1 Quick-Service Meal; 1 Alcoholic/Non-Alcoholic drink with each meal; and 1 Snack. Also included with every Disney dining plan is a Resort Refillable Mug which you can use at any Beverage Island located at all Disney Resort hotels (near to the Quick-Service restaurants) for unlimited refills of a variety of soda drinks, including sugar-free versions, and coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
Restaurants across the whole Resort that accept the Disney Dining Plan are listed here. Table-Service restaurants require advance reservations, online or by using your My Disney Experience app. Reservations can be made up to 60 days in advance, so you are well within that window. If you have trouble securing the restaurants that you want, please keep trying as Guests cancel and change their reservations all the time, even on the same day. Quick-Service restaurants do not require dining reservations in advance, so you can be spontaneous in choosing those each day.
Please come back and visit us if you have any further questions, and you can
send me a direct question if you wish. We will be very happy to help you plan your magical vacation at Walt Disney World Resort.
Sue