I used cloth diapers for 15 months with my son (then he went to daycare and they won't do cloth :( ). Here's what we used:
newborn-3 months: Kissaluvs fitted diapers (these have snaps)
3 months - 15 months: Sugarbritches fitted diapers.
Basically, all the "Fitted" diapers have snaps and elastic around the legs and waist. They're great. You still need a cover on them like you do with the pinned prefolds. We usually used the Motherease Airflow covers.
A great place to check out reviews is at www.diaperpin.com
You might consider "one size" type diapers too. We actually used Motherease One Size diapers for a long while too, but my son is so skinny that they didn't really fit him that well. My sister has been using the One Sizes on her son for the last 16 months. You can also get used diapers for a lot cheaper - check the Motherease forums, and also www.diaperswappers.com.
As for washing etc, here's what we do (we have a front-loading washer) - this is the routine I came up with after quite a lot of experimentation:
1. Wash in cold water with Tide detergent (yes, it matters - we use the regular blue scented kind but it can be "free and clear") and about 1/2 cup baking soda.
2. Wash again in hot water with NO detergent but with 1/2 cup vinegar in the rinse cycle (I add it to the fabric softener dispenser).
3. Dry
The baking soda and vinegar mostly take away the urine ammonia smell.
If you have a top loading washer you can also try doing a cold soak with baking soda, then drain, then do a hot wash with the Tide and vinegar in the rinse. My front loader just doesn't really have enough water to do the soak effectively.
As for night diapers, we tried a bunch of different combinations - putting a doubler into a regular diaper etc. But once my son was sleeping through (or even when he was just down to 1 snack) we found that nothing really worked. We use disposables at night.
Once your baby starts eating solids their poop needs to be removed from the diaper before you wash them (with just breastfed I just tossed the dipes, poop and all, into the wash and they came out fine). You can either just plunk it in the toilet if it's solid enough, get a sprayer to spray them off in the toilet, or get some rubber gloves and swish them in the toilet to get it off. You can also get "diaper liners" (I know "Diaperaps" makes biodegradable ones that you can actually flush and reuse if there's just pee). We never got these to work as well as we wanted, though.
Good luck! Congrats on cloth diapering! We really loved it and will go back to cloth when I have baby #2 in June and am home again.