Hi Clare,
Congratulations on booking your very first visit to Walt Disney World - you are going to have so much fun!
My family love the Disney Dining Plan and when making our dining reservations, I normally tend to use the majority of our table-service dining credits for dinner each day as that is when we usually sit down to enjoy a meal together at home. I also feel that it offers better value for money if you use your credits for dinner as opposed to breakfast and think that I can safely say that you will all be ready for a sit down at dinner time after walking around the parks all day.
That said, I would definitely recommend that you do book at least one early morning dining reservation at a Character breakfast. Your first day is probably a good choice for this as you will no doubt be up early due to jet lag. You can find out about all of the available Character meals on the Walt Disney World website
HERE. Our favourites are the Best Friends Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch at Disney's Polynesian Resort, Chef Mickey's at Disney's Contemporary Resort and The Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom.
A great advantage of booking an early morning dining reservation at a restaurant inside one of the theme parks is that you will be allowed to enter the theme park prior to its official opening time. This means that you will be able to get some fantastic photographs without any other Guests in the background (For example, if you choose The Crystal Palace which is located at the Magic Kingdom, you would get some great photographs in front of Cinderella Castle.) before eating your breakfast.
Wishing you a magical holiday filled with memories which will last a lifetime!