
Well, Disney has apparently heard the concerns and has attempted to resolve the issue. They have created new tiers of membership in D23. Now, for $34.99 a year, you can buy a Silver membership in D23 (they still offer the original terms now dubbed “Gold membership” for $74.99). What do you get as a Silver member:
D23 Members in both the new Gold and Silver tiers will receive a membership card; a suitable-for-framing member certificate (for new members); opportunities to attend special D23 Member events throughout the year; access to exclusive, limited-edition merchandise and collectibles; and 2010 gift of "Disney Undiscovered: A 23-Month Calendar of Disney's Unrealized Masterpieces."
Basically, Disney is offering D23 without the magazine. So, now for $34.99, you are getting what used to cost members an extra $11.19 (and still does in the gold level.) No thanks. At $15.00 maybe I would, at $10.00 I definitely would. Instead, Disney jacked up the price 312 percent as a punishment for not buying their magazine.
Don’t get me wrong, D23 are doing some fantastic event s (which I will list later this week). And if I lived anywhere near any of them, I might reconsider. I just feel that if D23 is truly for the fans, then Disney shouldn’t be pricing it so high. I don’t know if Disney is making any money off D23. What I do know is that D23 should be a loss leader and not a profit center.
The press release and details about the membership tiers after the jump:

D23 Announces New Tiered Membership Levels
01.07.10 - D23, which celebrates its first anniversary in March, has grown to encompass tens of thousands of members from more than 30 countries around the world. To mark the occasion, the only official Disney fan community introduced two tiers of membership, Gold and Silver, for the 2010 calendar year.
D23 Members in both the new Gold and Silver tiers will receive a membership card; a suitable-for-framing member certificate (for new members); opportunities to attend special D23 Member events throughout the year; access to exclusive, limited-edition merchandise and collectibles; and 2010 gift of "Disney Undiscovered: A 23-Month Calendar of Disney's Unrealized Masterpieces."
"D23 Members are the most passionate, excited — and exciting — Disney fans in the world, and D23 wants to constantly change, grow and expand to meet their needs," said Steven Clark, head of D23.
D23 Members in both the new Gold and Silver tiers will receive a membership card; a suitable-for-framing member certificate (for new members); opportunities to attend special D23 Member events throughout the year; access to exclusive, limited-edition merchandise and collectibles; and 2010 gift of "Disney Undiscovered: A 23-Month Calendar of Disney's Unrealized Masterpieces."
"Disney Undiscovered" presents rare and never-before seen images from Disney theme-park, live-action and animation projects that were not completed, many of which have achieved legendary status among Disney fans. The calendar features art from never-built project like the Mineral King ski resort and Walt Disney's St. Louis Project, theme park lands such as Discovery Bay at Disneyland and the Switzerland pavilion at Epcot, and unproduced films, including a watercolor from the original Little Mermaid that Walt had in early preproduction in the late 1930s.
In addition to all of these benefits of D23 Membership, Gold members will receive a one-year subscription to Disney twenty-three, a stunning, oversized collectible quarterly publication that brings new perspective and insight into Disney's past, present and future.
New in 2010, D23 Members will enjoy new discounts and offers. Members who show their valid D23 Membership card (with a photo ID) will receive discounts at many locations in the Downtown Disney® District at Disneyland and at ESPN Zone locations across the country.
Gold membership is $74.99 a year, and Silver membership is $34.99 a year.