I started with a gold. If I decide I want to visit the water parks, it would be cheaper to just get a separate water parks AP (549 and 110) than pay for a Platinum Plus pass (729). I saved a few dollars by starting with a 7 day hopper from UCT that I upgraded to the Gold AP after first use.
DVC can get Gold which includes the 4 theme parks but has blackout dates. Next for DVC is the Platinum which includes all 4 parks with no blackout dates. And finally the Platinum plus which includes the them parks and the water parks. Depending on the dates you go you might look at the Gold pass plus a separate water park pass. I haven't priced it out but I think it might be a savings over the Platinum Plus.
I was looking at the new ticket prices and took a quick look at the AP's. The Gold pass is $549 and the Water park pass is $110 so $659 plus tax. If the blackout dates did not affect you then it's a better deal than the Platinum plus which includes the same but has no blackout dates for $729 plus tax.
We just bought Annual water park passes a few weeks ago. They haven't gone up in price. But with the price of the water park ticket around $50, you can go three times and still save money, especially if you get the gold ticket (because you don't want Easter or Christmas which are way too busy for me).
Yes, but not at the Florida Resident price. The chart I linked was for available Florida Resident priced passes. I linked it because the OP mentioned Silver Passes, so I assumed he was a Florida Resident.