“Shipping/handling and applicable fees” is doing a lot of heavy lifting with the new D23 tiered memberships that the Official Disney Fan Club has rolled out effective January 1, 2025.
As part of the restructure to their program, the Mouse is giving fans more custom-tailored options to suit interests of what they may want from their membership. However, the fees tacked on to the top of the sticker price are not exactly a “benefit” we were expecting — especially a whopping 36 percent difference in the final cost, if our math isn’t Mickey Moused here.
It’s always said caveat emptor so we’re hoping to help members be aware of what we found on the first day of rollout for the new membership tiers of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club .
When D23: The Official Disney Fan Club first launched in 2009, the membership program was largely a one-size fits all approach with all members getting the same benefits and access. As time went on, the club rounded out its membership offerings to adjust to the preferences and needs of its fanbase. One of the most popular updates was a free version of D23 membership which largely stripped out any tangible benefits but still let everyone get in on the fun. Meanwhile, fans who wanted a little extra could opt for added-cost memberships.
The newest changes, which go into effect starting today, continue in that evolution with one slight glaring omission… it appears that any clear indication is missing of exactly how much Disney is going to charge for the nebulous “+shipping/handling and applicable fees” that they caveat for the paid versions of membership. As far as we could tell from perusing the D23 official website, there’s no clear amount listed. As of press time, the D23 FAQs also do not give any clear picture of the amount of fees and shipping or handling costs.
As part of the restructure, all D23 Gold Members who have automatic renewals setup on their accounts are having their D23 Gold Memberships automatically converted to the most equivalent tier in the new system, the D23 Gold Member Choice Plan. This was all clearly communicated by Disney beforehand. Also, the price of the plan is exactly the same as it was the year before, $99.99 but aside from some feature updates, the big surprise here was the “shipping/handling and applicable fees.” The final amount was almost a third higher than advertised with the final amount billed on our credit card statement being $135.23. It’s cute that they made the cents end in 23 but we’re not swooning here from the surprise.
Of course, Disney is hardly the first company to vaguely reference shipping, handling, or even sneaky junk “applicable fees” with online purchases but we truly were not expecting such a big jump in the final cost. It’s not a great look, especially without offering members a clear indication before hand of what the final amount would be before they are billed (or offering a chance to change their minds about renewing knowing the final cost).
At face value, it’s not unreasonable to charge shipping for tiers in which Disney is sending out any sort of “gift” items in return. However, those costs should either be baked into the price of the membership or explicitly and very clearly outlined on the website when you are either selecting renewal or selecting your membership gift. As our membership was a renewal, we are unclear if any new membereships starting today are being given a clear indication of the final cost but it would be hard to imagine they are not. So largely, this issue should only be affecting members who are automatically renewing.
At any rate, it’s not quite a sweet start to 2025. Happy New Year, pal.
