Well Wendy, no expert here, but I'll tell what has worked for us. For our last three trips to the world, I have made all of my purchases/reservations through the Disney web site. There is tons of advice and opinions in this area as far as tickets go (how many days? park hopper? Water Parks?, etc.), but I have always gotten both tickets and rooms through Disney.
The Dreammaker packages can be a bit high as they contain Ultimate Park Hopper passes and last year I saved some money by getting my tickets seperately vs. in a room package (but still through Disney).
The site has a good reservation system where you can check different prices and configurations before finalizing your purchase.
Try it out by starting at:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/index
As far as the resort goes, we stayed at the All Star Music when my son was 5 and stayed at the All Star Movies when he was 11 and my daughter was 7. Last year when they were 12 and 8, we stayed at the Pop Century. I haven't stayed at any others although this spring we are looking at Port Orleans Frech Quarter.
I would highly recommend any of the All Stars for any one with small children... fun places with lots of families and kids.
Look at the new Magic Your Way packages also... they don't allow park hopping on the same day (such as going to Epcot in the morning and Magic Kingdom in the afternoon), but can be very reasonable. A 6 night 7 day package can be had at an All Star for around $1500 for a family of four.
Just some thoughts.
