Hi. Just some thoughts here. First, I am assuming you are doing the standard dining plan (1 table service, 1 counter service, 1 snack per night of your stay + refillable resort mug).
The drink mug can be refilled at POP's food court with hot and cold beverages for the entire length of your stay. Anytime you are at the hotel and the food court is open, you can get tea, coffee, soda... The only draw back is you have to walk from your room to the food court.
Table service meals require advanced reservations. If you haven't made these, you really need to. Unused Table Credits are the fastest way to lose money on the dining plan. At the restaurant you get an entree and a desert. Dinner entrees are typically more expensive and elaborate than lunch entrees. To 'maximize' your value, you might want dinner ressies. Personally, I don't care if I get lunch or dinner. I would rather go to a restaurant I want for lunch than a second choice for dinner to get a more expensive entree.
Some people feel a need to always get the most expensive entree to 'get more.' I discourage you from doing this. Get what you want. If you find yourself always ordering the cheap entrees, then maybe the dining plan wasn't right for you. My point is just not to let the meal plan dictate what you order.
Last thought on table services; if you have kids character meals are a great way to meet characters while you eat. This could save you an hour or more in the park later that day if its something the kids want to do. Character meals are fun for adults, too. My wife and I did Garden Grill last year.
I don't have much advice on Counter Services. Look at the menus on these boards and find ones that you think you will enjoy, or just look at the park map that day and find one the family will enjoy.
Snacks. Use your snack credits carefully. A snack can be ice cream, a bottle of water, or a piece of fresh fruit. If you will be buying a lot of these items, use your credits for the expensive ones and pay the cheap ones out of pocket. If after a few days you see you are not using these credits, just start redeeming them at the food court for apples, bananas, or muffins. Bring them back to the room and set them on a table. Somebody will snack on them or eat them for a light breakfast. Just do not leave the credits unused. That's how you lose value.
One last thing about the meal plan. You get one of each credit per night, but you are not restricted to using one of each every day. You can use 2 snack credits in the same day, or ALL your snack credits in one day. Likewise you can do 2 counter service meals one day, and 2 table service meals another instead of 1 counter/1 table each day. This can give you more flexibility when getting reservations.
Have a nice trip.