When I open my mail, I get a prompt that says, "The connection to the server failed."

Hi Dutch,

If you are having issues setting up a mail account on a new iPad, you may find the following article helpful:

iOS: Unable to send or receive email

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3899

Regards,

- Brenden

Hello there, Dutch Walden.

The following Knowledge Base article has some great troubleshooting steps:

iCloud: Troubleshooting iCloud Mail

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4002

Specifically the following:

Issues sending or receiving mail on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

1. Make sure you have Internet access:
   
   • Open Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
   • Make sure you can load a webpage such as www.apple.com.
2. Verify you can receive email for your iCloud account at iCloud.com on your Mac or PC.
3. Make sure that your iCloud email address is enabled:
   
   • From the Home screen, tap Settings > iCloud.
   • Tap your iCloud account.
   • Make sure the Mail slider is set to On.
4. Ensure Push is enabled on your device:
   

   From the Home screen, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > Fetch New Data. Make sure the Push slider is set to On.

5. Ensure Push is enabled for your account:
   • From the device's Home screen, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > Fetch New Data > Advanced
   • Tap your iCloud account.
   • Make sure Push is enabled in "Select schedule."
6. Turn your device off and on.
7. If the issue persists, turn off all the sliders mentioned in Steps 3-5. Then, turn them back on again and try again.
8. If you have multiple iCloud accounts set up on your device, Push will only work for one account. If you want to switch which account uses Push, see this article.
9. Check the System Status at the iCloud support site to be sure there are not larger issues affecting the iCloud service.
10. If the above steps do not help, delete the iCloud account from your device:
    • From the Home screen, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.
    • Tap your iCloud account.
    • Tap Delete Account. If syncing Contacts, Calendar, or Bookmark data with iCloud, choose to keep the data on your device when prompted.
    • On the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars screen, tap Add Account > iCloud, and set up your account again. If you are syncing data with iCloud on your device, choose to Merge data on your device when prompted to do so after adding your account.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Cheers,

Pedro D.