After 17 (or is it 18?) trips to WDW, I think I can probably come up with a few tips
-- Put me in your wife's column on the advance planning thing. There are a couple of books that aren't bad (names escaping me at the moment), also several independent websites that are good (disboards.com is one). Consider your priorities & your likes (sit-down meals vs counter service for example) and then make sure you accomodate those first, then plan everything else around that. Some people want to max out their ride count, other prefer a more relaxed pace with some pool time at the hotel. That's probably the one thing the books won't help with - personalization. It's your trip (and your daughter's) so plan according to your own desires, not anyone's conventional wisdom.
-- Coronado can be a little hit or miss. The resort itself is above average as on-site goes but the service (housekeeping, maintenance) has been spotty at best, to the extent that we finally struck it off our list of places to stay. One of the best on-site food courts, The Pepper Market" of any of the properties, several notches above the average in both variety & quality. Other thing to be aware of with Coronado is how it sprawls & how that affects the time it takes to get to/from the resort buses. If there's no other higher priorities in terms of your room location, work with the cast member at check-in to try to get as close to the bus stop as you can. No sense walking more than you have to (you'll do plenty of that at the parks).
-- I'll echo Mizzou quite a bit on the food stuff. With an 8 y/o (which I gather from your phrasing is a first-timer), at least one character meal is a must. Breakfasts are good choices, we like Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary best of those (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto is the usual roster). If dinner is more your thing, consider the family style meal at Magic Kingdom's Liberty Tree Taven (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Chip & Dale, in a 1776 theme).
And lunch or dinner at Cinderella's Castle at MK is also a real experience, although reservations in peak season are tough (as in it might be booked up already). For more adult pleasing fare (although with kid options), Le Cellier Canadian Steakhouse at Epcot is good (more reasonably priced at lunch) as well as Rose & Crown Pub (killer spot for watching the nightly fireworks from their patio if you can get the timing right). The aforementioned Sci-Fi is the #1 choice at MGM on every trip for us. And the most underrated sit-down is the Plaza Restaurant on Main Street at MK, an absolute oasis amidst the chaos with lighter fare akin to counter service but in an infinitely more enjoyable atmosphere. I think we've eaten at virtually every restaurant in every park (and more than half the resorts), so any specific questions just let me know. Heck, I can even critique the different counter service stops.
-- Ditto Mizzou's advice on the Park Hopper option. With or without the water park option included, it gives you much needed flexibility to maximize your trip.
-- Also agree on the Fantasia show at MGM (if you see one sit-down show, that's the one) and on the dodging the smoke for Illuminations at Epcot.
-- I'm more mixed in my advice on transportation. In peak season, the bus service can be a huge downer. Let your personal tolerance for waiting in lines when you're exhausted be your guide on that IMO. Over the course of our trips we went from driving to using the Disney transportation back to driving (and picking resorts that gave us some water transport options).
That's at least two cents worth, but if you've got specific questions or would like input on anything else WDW either post it here or shoot me a PM, I'm happy to help. No sense reinventing the wheel IMO, so you're welcome to take advantage of the mistakes we made on our first few trips