Not sure about tickets, we get ours free
My grandmother used to work in the sewing shop (retired now), I'm sure she could sew Mickey's outfits with her eyes closed, and my grandfather and aunt work there as ride maintenance/behind the scenes..
Are you planning on going to just one park or all of them?? We were just down there in March because my sister's high school band got to perform prior to the afternoon parade and they marched down main street..
My brother and I got to do it 4 years ago, I was a senior and he was a freshman.. Totally amazing, castle in the background and thousands of people lining the streets watching and cheering you on, talk about a rush!
At Magic Kingdom I definitely recommend the parades, they're soo much fun, and the light parade at night is pretty cool.. As far as rides you HAVE to go on the Buzz Lightyear one, I LOVE it lol, you can skip the Stitch one, it's not really a "ride" and if you don't like the dark or surprises then it's definitely not one for you.. Space Mountain is a classic
as well as Haunted Mansion.. Splash Mountain is GREAT, if you don't mind getting wet and it's cute too.. And of course, you have to stay for the fireworks over Cinderella's castle and watch Tinkerbelle fly from the castle's tower
If you're going to Epcot, you should check out the ball, it's been totally redone and renewed with some cool interactive stuff (thanks to my aunt and her crew!) And OMGosh YOU HAVE to go on the Finding Nemo ride, soooo flipping adorable and it's AMAZING how they did it, it's actually an indoor aquarium and they incorporate Nemo and friends "in" the tanks with the real dolphins, manatees, sharks and fish, it was definitely one of the best "rides" we did down there.. Test Track is pretty cool too!! And of course, you have all the International Pavillions where you can (and should!) go and try food from the different places! And once again you gotta stay for the lasers/fireworks
Disney's Hollywood Studios is one of my favorites!! If you go, and like roller coasters, you have got to ride Aerosmith's Rock' N Roller Coaster
Then you have The Tower of Terror, I LOVE it, but don't ride it if you don't like complete darkness, sudden drops and afraid of heights
The new "Lights, Motors, Action" stunt show is wicked, and a must see if you like that kind of stuff, it's SOOO neat how they do the different stunts
And last but not least, is Animal Kingdom, which is a favorite of mine.. If you go you'll definitely have to take the train or truck ride through the animal lots to see the giraffes, elephants, etc. When we were down there they had sooo many babies, so it was extra special to see them all out and playing, the zebra foals were the best!
The Tree of Life is awesome enough, you could spend all day just looking at all the animals and detail that was carved into it! The Bug's Life 4-D (which is in the Tree of Life) is a must-do
Won't spoil the suprises in there
They have a new roller-coaster, called Expedition Everest and it's super cool
One thing I REALLY REALLY REALLY recommend doing is getting fast-passes for the rides you REALLY want to do.. Lines were pretty long even in March when we were down there (course we went right around Spring Break) but now that it's summer and schools out I'm sure they'll be just as bad or worse.. They'll have fast-pass machines at the rides, slip in your ticket and you'll get a ticket for the ride with a time range on it (example 10:00-11:50; if I remember right it was typically a 2 hour range), then during that range you can come back to that ride and get in the "fast-pass" line which is shorter (though some not by much!) and you can get on the ride(s) quicker... It saved us a lot while we were done there, without using them there was no way we could have gotten on all the rides we wanted to!