any advice on good easy to use animation programs??

Answer 1

what kind of animation 2-d? 2-d?

for simple 2d, flash is pretty easy
for simple 3-d try animation master. it's pretty cheap $199 but does great 3-d stuff

Answer 2

Create Animations Like Pixar : http://3dAnimationCartoons.com/?jfbF

Answer 3

swish max