I'm looking into taking the family for the 2004 christmas season. I am aware that tickets go on sale on 4/18/04, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me how quickly they sell out and if there are any places to get discounted seats.

Thanks

Early sellouts depend on which performances you are talking about. Obviously, the busiest times are the week before and the week of Christmas.
There usually are some discount offers which would likely be for the less popular performances. Note that these discount offers are mostly publicized in the New York area.

Discount offers are ususally for the less popular shows - midweek and early in the day and the earliest in the run (farthest before christmas).

That is pretty mcuh what I expected, thanks for the confirmation.

when I booked in august, they were more than 1/2 booked for weekrnd in december

Discounts aren't usually great if available at all. My suggestion is pick your date and call right away when they go on sale and select the center of about the 12th to 15th row.
Do not sit closer than 5 or 6 rows!

most of the discounts that i saw were for november -before the tree and decorations go up.

I was there 12-27- 12-30 AND tickets were available at a discount. I even saw them one day at the TKTS booth. If you are flexable and there several times- you can probably wait, but if a must do- then book ahead. You don't want the back rows either.