Probably not, I gave them money last year so I could have that in-game pet. The videos were up on various free sites a few hours later, and I'm not a huge fan of Ozzy's... so, nah, as far as the online experience goes, the only thing not available to freeloaders was the pet, and I'm not sure that's really worth the cost. I assume it'll be a similar deal his year.
Of course, if I lived close enough it would have been fun to go there in person and get some nice collectibles.