I was the same with advance tickets, until then we'd been every year for about 15 years and chosen the day at the time, based on the weather.
The positive tone doesn't surprise me either.
It was the same with replacing Friends of Duxford with Friends of the Imperial War Museum. Even with a special discounted deal for existing members they got about 15% take-up. I imagine that was considered successful and the "genius" that thought of the idea was probably promoted.