Converting Discounted Tickets to AP

[hayesdvc]

I have only ever purchased discounted tickets, used one day, then "upgrade" to an AP. To upgrade, each time I pay the difference between the value of the ticket based on the current Disney price and the current price of the AP.

Since you cannot purchase a "discounted" AP, is there ever a reason to purchase an AP direct?

Assuming the answer is no, is there a particular number of days and whether to include park hopper you purchase to get the best "upgrade" value?

I have always just purchased the maximum number of days I need since this would effect pre-booked FP+.

 

[awestbrook23]

We are purchasing ours direct, but only because we are getting a bigger discount that way by combining credit card 5x categories and gift card promotions. The best we have been able to save is about 6% on an AP using discounted park tickets from authorized resellers. Instead, I am using my Chase Freedom cards (I have more than one) to purchase Disney gift cards at Kroger this week. I'll get 5% back on the grocery category from Chase, then transfer the points to my Sapphire card, which increases the %back to 7.5%. Also, Kroger is running 4x fuel points on gift cards from now through Father's Day. $3330 in gift cards (approx AP for my family of 4) will give my family 13 fill-ups at $1 off per gallon through the end of July, which = $260 in fuel savings. I could stretch this further if I filled up a few extra gas cans at each fill-up. Altogether, I'll save $507.50 on my $3330 in APs, which translates to a more than 15% discount.