After 2012, will there be any dates people can get excited about?

Sure. People will get excited about the near approach of asteroid 99942 Apophis in 2029. It doesn't matter that astronomers already know it's a miss, these people make up the science as they go along. And it also doesn't matter that the next time astronomers had thought might be an approach, in 2036, is now known to be a miss by a huge margin. Nevertheless the rumors are already flying that "NASA says" we'll be hit directly in 2036.