I might be a little cynical about I-Day, but in all honesty, once you drop Joey or Sally off at Alumni Hall, you might - stress might - get a glimpse of him/her coming out the back end of the building and getting onto the bus heading for Bancroft Hall after 4 hours.
You might also get to see him/her unloading laundry bags full of issued gear before hitting "red beach" over the Mid Store where they wait in formation while reading Reef Points. You won't see your little darling again until after swearing in in T-Court around 1830(ish) - barring inclement weather.
Then, you get 30-40 mins with them along Stribling Walk for some cookies/lemonade, or whatever you haul in your cooler. One last kiss and hug goodbye, and it's 6 weeks until you get to see him/her again.
We did it two years in a row in '06 and '07, and if it hadn't been for my darling wife - who was not part of my Academy experience as a Mid - I doubt I'd have stayed after dropoff at 6:30 AM. She wanted to see the whole thing. We only live about 2 hours from USNA, BTW. We came for all the Plebe Summer P-rades just to catch a glimpse of the boys.
If you've never been to USNA, it's a nice day to get acquainted, but if you live a long way away, you might just want to wait until PPW. A typical late June/early July day in Crabtown is brutally hot and sticky, so if you're dragging rugrats like we were, it can be a long, whiny, painful day.
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't feel badly if you can't make it. You really won't see much of the new Mid once you leave her/him at the front door of Alumni Hall.
Of course, I'm not a "mom" either...
My two cents' worth