Mister Mason: That's OK, I was just kidding about the lenses.
I do love manual-focus though so that doesn't bother me! My SLR was a K1000... I never had an SLR with autofocus before the new camera.
DD: OK, we'll go one thing at a time.
Like MM said, the ballhead lets you move around the camera on top of a monopod or tripod. There's also "3-way pan/tilt heads" which let you move each axis independantly. (Vertical and horizontal.) The problem is that decent ballheads can cost a LOT of money! So I'm looking for the best cheap one.
And in case it wasn't obvious, a monopod is basically a tripod with one leg. It's not as stable (you can't just leave it there obviously, you need to hold it) but I thought it might come in handy for something like fireworks shots at Disney, where any attempt to set up a tripod may result in many dirty looks due to the crowded conditions!
I would definitely recommend taking a class - even if you already know some of the stuff, a big part of photography is just getting the proper inspiration to take interesting photos. That's something that I get with SLRs in manual mode that I just can't get with a PnS.
Re: Noise. Again, like MM says, it's totally subjective. Look at sample photos in the reviews of the cameras you're considering, especially the ones at higher ISO levels. When you look at them (especially full-size), see how much the noise bothers you. I detest noise but others don't mind it as much.
The Fuji is worth consideration because it gives you almost as much zoom for far less money, plus more ISO options (I'm not sure how the noise levels compare to the Canons and Sonys, but it definitely goes higher.)
buy.com has been around a loooong time and has extremely cheap prices on many things... unfortunately, their web site stinks but I've always had good luck buying from them.
Mini tripods... you can get those for extremely cheap. ($10-15 often.) They have them at the usual electronics stores, or online.
www.minitripods.com has a bunch of 'em! There's even a review site that reviewed every one sold there (Google could help find it.) They are pretty much universal, so don't worry about buying one that won't work with your camera. Naturally, the $10-15 ones are pretty flimsy but are better than nothing and will probably come in handy somewhere like Disney - I plan on picking one up before my next trip, also.
Flash/hotshoe... internal flash is just that, a built-in flash, like pretty much everything. A hotshoe means that you can mount a separate flash unit on top, which will generally work better (and can cost a pretty penny.) Few people ever bother using them especially on a PnS camera, and I suspect that all the cameras you're looking at have hotshoes, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. It is worth noting that the SLR-like cameras often have a pop-up flash, which helps minimize red-eye. (The closer the flash is to the lens, the more likely you are to get red-eye.)
No sense in all of us spending our time trying to decide on which one to get when we can just have one of us go crazy 
I forget why (my brain hurts by now), but I think my other choices seemed better than the Fuji.
)cameras of choice. 
