Hey there, April. Thanks for visiting us with your question.
There is some flexibility when you plan to use the
Disney Dining Plan during your vacation. Because the credits all kind of just pool together, you aren't required to use them in any particular order.
Credits are based on the number of nights you are staying. In some cases, if we arrive later on our first night, we won't use any credits at all, and that will ultimately give me extra credits to use at a
signature dining experience. Alternatively, we do pay out of pocket for a meal so we can have the two credits we need to enjoy a meal at a place like
Cinderella's Royal Table.
The other thing I have seen people do is work their snack credits into a full meal. On the Disney Dining Plan, you'll have
two snack credits per day. You can combine them, to get two snacks that you build into a meal. For example, at
Yak & Yeti Local Foods Cafe you can get a generous portion of chicken fried rice for one snack credit and a pork egg roll for another. That might be enough of a meal that you can save an actual table service meal credit to use another night - especially if you enjoy a bigger lunch.
Play around with the menus at some of the restaurants, which you can find under the Things to Do Tab on the
Walt Disney World web page.
Happy planning!
Anna