Unrecoverable hard drive - have replacement. What to do from here?

Thanks in advance for your time. A couple of weeks ago, I updated the software on my wife's early 2011 macbook pro 13". During the reboot, it froze on the loading screen, and on other advice in this forum, I used Disk Utility to verify the drive. Well, it came back unrecoverable, so I purchased a shiny new SSD to replace it. I have at my disposal:
My wife's MacBook
A new SSD
Her files backed up to CrashPlan online
A windows PC to facilitate any recovery or data moving that may need to happen
An external hard drive dock that I should be able to use with the PC or Mac
At the time of the crash, the MacBook was running OSX Mountain Lion, but I'm unsure if I have a disk to reinstall it on the new drive.
Here are my questions:
Will I need special tools to remove the current drive?
Assuming the drive isn't too shot, should I theoretically be able to pull the files under her user folder off the old drive using the dock and my windows PC?
Can I locate an installer for Mountain Lion online somewhere? I can figure out how to make a bootable image if I have an ISO.
If not, is my best bet to install Yosemite and do the CrashPlan restore from there? I'm not sure if her programs will be restorable - really just worried about pics, docs and music.
Any other advice or gotchas would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Will.

You will need special Torx drivers to remove the bottom plate screws and the interior disk mounting screws.
If the drive isn't "too shot" then you may only need to re-partition and format it rather than replace it. To transfer data from it will require that you put it in an enclosure or docking adaptor in order to access it. You can't use your PC. This can be done after replacing and prepping the new drive.
No. You will need to follow the procedure outlined below. After which you can download Yosemite from the App Store.
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

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