I love my D200!  I suggest getting the additional battery pack with it I can photograph all day (about 1,000 pics) and still have juice left over.  I love leaving it on automatic and letting it sense the best settings, and also appreciate the ease with which I can take over when conditions make it better to be in manual.

The speed is fabulous.  I can make a flip book of one of our dance sets.  The continuous shoot feature is handy doing group pictures to make sure you have the best chance of one with eyes open and facing you.