Elaine,
Nice to hear from someone in my neck of the woods. Thanks for visiting the site and posting.
Unfortunately I don't have too much information to offer - sorry. I think the airline with the most flights to Orlando are American and United/Ted from O'Hare, and Southwest from MidWay.
I fly a lot and I wouldn't describe any airline as being particularly family un-friendly.
"Lower fares" is impossible to say, since ticket prices change by the minute. One web site I sometimes use to track lower fares is
http://www.airfarewatchdog.com. You might also want to sign up for Southwest "Ding" fare notification system - which sometimes can offer very good deals, but you have to act fast.
Most important to me is to find a reasonably priced, direct flight that has good departure and arrival times.
Your last part is easy: No, I unfortunately have never been during the ESPN weekend. ;-)
Hope that helps. If not, please feel free to re-submit the question and let me know what else you need.