what is the anticipated A-Day schedule?

WayneH

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can anybody shed some light on what to expect for the class of 2013 A-Day schedule?

We are planning our visit and need to know more on the schedule to plan our time...we are flying from across the country (from WA state) so it is important to plan this properly.

We have been planning on checking into our motel near WP on friday evening of Aug 14th and had planned to fly out sunday evening on Aug 16th

We need to know if we will be missing anything important or a chance to be with our cadet if we are not there for friday DAY...and also if we are leaving too early on sunday.
Should we be there for friday DAY and should we say over sunday night and plan to fly home on monday morning?

Also, any recommendations for a reasonably priced hotel/motel near to WP? We want $ value but dont want a dump either.
Does anybody have any input or experience with the "West Point Motel" ?
Suggestion please.
 
Your plans sound prudent and reasonable.
If they follow the same schedule as last year -
you won't need to be there for Friday DAY. You won't be able to see your cadet until after the parade on Saturday.
Your cadet will need to be back for formation on Sunday evening - probably around 6 but may have duties and even homework. I think my cadet returned to barracks around 4 pm on Sunday.

Hotels right around West Point are limited. The nicest is probably the Holiday Inn Express down in Fort Montgomery (about 4 miles from Thayer gate). I have never stayed there but from what I hear the West Point Motel is ok. It will be full of other parents there for A-Day, so you will be in good Company. A lot of families will stay farther away - in Newburgh or Central Valley but if you can afford it, closer is better.

If you are campers you can came at the campground at Round Pond. They have tent sites, cabins and RV spaces available. It is beautiful and nearby.
 
thank you Just A Mom,
I appreciate your reply....I have read several posts and replies in the past that dealt with stay over info such as motels and travel but when needing the info it can be hard to locate the posts again.

I have heard pretty good comments about the Holiday Inn Express and that chain is a very typical kind of place we are used to staying at and have almost never been disappointed. In this case it was about double the price of the West Point Motel so....I am hoping the WP Motel is that much less because it is a motel as opposed to being a hotel, but I guess we will know when we get there (will cross our fingers and think positive thoughts). The WP Motel IS very close to WP, like 1/2 mile from my understanding so it should even be within walking distance.
At least will will know whether to stay there or not for when we return for plebe-parent weekend!

Maybe somebody should start a permanent thread dedicated to this topic and there could even be some 'sticky' posts placed at the beginning with some of the pertinent info readily available

Thank you again
WH
 
Wayne,
I live in WA state also. When we went out for A-day we arrived on Friday and left on Monday. Our son chose to stay with us as long as possible on Sunday rather than go back early. We could have caught a flight on Sunday night but we would have had to check out of the hotel by 11 a.m on Sunday. Since we had a room we were able to allow our son to take a nap Sunday afternoon, and we had take-out pizza for dinner before returning him to West Point.

The Holiday Inn in Ft. Montgomery is within walking priviledges also. If you can't stay there I would pick either the West Point Motel or the Econolodge. We stayed at the Econolodge for A-day. It is nothing fancy but it is not a dump.
 
thank you WAMom68,
We will probably stay the extra night and leave on monday morning based on what your experience was. We want to get as much time as possible with our cadet...if by chance he has to return to WP early, we will just take the extra time to rest ourselves.

How about plebe-parent weekend schedules...it is slated for 12-14 March 2010 (friday, saturday & sunday)
I am already expecting to stay over sunday night on that trip.
Do you anticipate cadets having any time to meet on thursday or will it strictly be friday-sunday? Even if we leave home on thursday morn we cannot make it to Newark/WP until late evening thursday which means a thur night motel. But that is fine since we will be available at WP all day friday for whenever our cadet is able to break away.
We dont want to fly and stay over on wednesday if cadets cannot leave until friday.

WH
 
You won't want to walk from either the West Point Motel or the Econolodge. It's pretty far.
PPW is so far away - it could all change. I wouldn't buy plane tickets or book a hotel for that one yet.
This year, I am going up Thursday night - it starts on Friday. The cadets are dismissed Sunday morning and most likely your cadet will want to leave ASAP.
 
You won't want to walk from either the West Point Motel or the Econolodge. It's pretty far.

I don't want to mislead you, JAM is correct. None of these hotels are truly within walking distance unless you want a long walk. That 1/2 mile to the West Point Motel is misleading, you will see what we mean when you get there. When I said walking privileges I meant they were within the boundary the plebes are allowed during A-day weekend.

The only scheduled event during the weekend is the parade on Saturday morning. We had a lot of fun walking around Highland Falls on Saturday night. We got to meet several of our son's friends and their parents. If you have time check out the West Point Museum right outside Thayer gate behind the visitor's center. You can spend a long time in there so we broke it up into two visits.

Spending Sunday night is a good idea if you can afford it. I was exhausted by then and was in bed by 9 p.m. It made the trip home a bit easier. :smile:
 
How far away from post can a plebe go with parents during A-Day weekend? Do privileges extend as far as Newburgh?
 
thanks to all...great info and assistance is most appreciated
 
How far away from post can a plebe go with parents during A-Day weekend? Do privileges extend as far as Newburgh?

The boundaries for walking privileges do not include Newburgh. They can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/57p5nh

In past years plebes were allowed to go with parents to hotels outside walking privileges but were not allowed to go anywhere else. No stopping to eat, shop, go to movies, etc. Parents would get take out food and bring it back to the hotel room so they could eat as a family. What is allowed can change at any time so you can't count on this but it is a possibility.
 
Wayne,
Even though you are very close to the gate at a Highland Falls hotel, it's still a significant walk from the gate to where the cadets are. However, I prefer staying as close to the post as possible. We have stayed several times at the Econo Lodge. It's clean and provides breakfast. When we stayed there for A day, they offered us a PPW discount if we paid in advance (it was like 40% off). Everything in HF will gouge you on big weekends, unfortunately. Our friends stayed at the West Point motel on a recent visit and actually preferred it to the Econo...so if you have a reservation, you're set. As far as leaving on Sunday, we flew out too early...we wish we had either a late Sunday flight or early Monday. We messed up, thinking our cadet would want to get back and study...he wanted more time with us, but we couldn't change the ticket at that point. If you can fly out on Monday, do it. Even if your cadet chooses to go back and study, you can go tour some part of the post and see the sights.
 
thanks mom3boys
Yes we already have reservations at the West Point Motel...still need to make our flight reservations and based on all I have been told on this forum we will def stay over sunday night as well

thanks for the great input

WH
 
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