This is REALLY smart on NBC Universal's part. They are selling packages for the hotels and all kinds of things to tie in, and announcing it so far in advance means it should be a huge event all around. It's ten days before Thanksgiving which would normally be dead anyway, and now they'll have a huge spotlight on the park and promote it for the holidays.
I'm just so happy to see NBC/Universal really learning to leverage the parks for cross promotions as well as (or in some cases better than) Disney does.