Hi Stephen!
Welcome to planDisney.
I'm happy to help my fellow guests from the UK, and 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 Quick-Service Dining Plan can be used from the day you arrive, up to midnight on your check-out day. So, yes, when you arrive after your long-haul flight from the UK, you can definitely begin using your dining plan for a quick-service meal that evening.
For each night of stay, each guest will receive 2 Quick-Service Meals; 1 Alcoholic/Non-Alcoholic drink with each meal; 1 Snack or Drink. 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 or hot drinks such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
Restaurants across the whole Resort that accept a Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan are listed here. Quick-Service restaurants do not require dining reservations in advance, so you can be spontaneous in choosing where you want to eat, each day.
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.
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