Jeremy,
Thanks for your question!
The great news is that with all the
Disney Dining Plans you can start using the credits right away on that first morning of your trip, all the way to the end of the evening of the day that you leave. So you could start that first day with a great character meal, like
Chef Mickey's or
'Ohana, even before you are able to access your resort room. At the other end of your trip, you could enjoy a Mickey's Ice Cream bar at the end of the night on your check out date, with no problem redeeming those credits.
By the way, you can keep track of your credit usage many different ways. A receipt at any meal where you use credits will show you your balance. You can also ask your resort desk to print out the balances. But the easiest of all is to check your balances in live time on your My Disney Experience account directly on your
My Disney Experience App on your smartphone.
Please write me back if you have any follow-up questions.
Have a Magical (and delicious) Vacation!
Doug