I don't understand the 14 day rule. Why does it matter to Disney when you first used the ticket if there are days stll left? Especially on a non-exp. ticket? That seems kind of silly to me.
The reason is that Disney does upgrades a little differently than most people expect. When you upgrade a ticket you pay the difference between the ticket you want and the ticket you have... no matter how many days have been used. Then, as far as the Disney systems are concerned, you have always had the new ticket.
For example, say you had a 5 day expiring ticket. If you used all 5 days, then upgraded to an annual pass 13 days after it was first used you would still get credit for the full price you paid for the 5 day ticket (even though all 5 days had been used), however, the expiration date of the annual pass would be based on the first day that you used the 5 day ticket... not the day that you did the upgrade. In the end, it would be the same price and you would have the same expiration date as if you had just bought an annual pass to begin with.
In your case, if they did allow you to upgrade that 10 day no expiration ticket that you first used last trip they would give you credit for the full price of the ticket, even though you had used some days, but the annual pass would expire one year from the frist day you used that ticket... it would probably already be expired and unusable.
The reason they don't just give you credit for the unused days is that the first few days are much more expensive than the last few days. On an expiring ticket, you pay $79 for the first day, $77 for the second day and $63 for the third day. Then it's just $6 for the 4th day and $3 each for the 5th through 10th days. If someone paid $237 for an 8 day ticket, then used 4 days and wanted to upgrade to an annual pass they wouldn't be happy if they only got $12 in credit as that was what the last 4 remaining days would be worth.
Each day is worth a bit more for a non expiration ticket, of course, but it's still front loaded in the same way. For example, a 10 day non expiring ticket is $452, but the first three days that you used are worth $243. So if they did allow you to get credit for the unused days you would only get $209... less than half of the cost of your original ticket, even though 7 days were still left on it.
Finally, if you're still following me here, if you're planning longer trips for this year then you're probably better off just purchasing a new AP and saving your non expiration ticket for future trips. If you're planning shorter trips this year, though, you might be better off if you can divide your remaining 7 days between two of your trips, then just purchase an expiring ticket for the third trip.
HTH,
Brett
