that players can get from completing special holiday quests can now be used on flying mounts. This will temporarily turn their flying mount into a flying reindeer that trails sparkles as it flies through the air
New cooking recipes will be introduced in 2.4 to remove all the "gaps" in cooking leveling requiring you to level your fishing as well if you want to reach 300 cooking skill.
Don''''t expect WotLK too soon. Even if Blizzard would like to release an expansion a year they don''''t plan to rush anything for the sake of releasing one a year.
World Events can be a double edged sword, they''''re a very enjoyable experience for players but they take a lot of development for something only usable once most of the time. there is also the problem of forcing an entire server into a one location and all the performance issues it causes. They aren''''t ruled out, they just have to be planned very carefully.