Have you ever seen DVC direct prices decrease before?

[sethschroeder]

I don't think I'm ever going to want to stay in a future, new resort bad enough to want to pay the extra $13,000 - $16,500. Is there anything of value being lost buying direct, in your opinion, other than the ability to book future resorts?

APs will come back at some point IMO now that Chapek is gone. That can save a fair bit of money if its offered if you schedule your trips accordingly. Things can always change though.

That is honestly the biggest benefit of direct. For us with buying 6 APs it adds up very quickly vs the 2 or 3 separate ticket packages per year. Heck we are looking at doing a 2-3 week trip possibly next summer and I can't imagine how much those tickets would be (so much that we would likely skip Disney and spend the money elsewhere so "savings").