Some more
Gasdoc has it right. We took our son to Doolittle Hall at about 8:30, which meant a few hundred were ahead of us and several hundred behind him. After parking the car in a large grass lot, we were guided to long line so our son could drop off his belongings, we then waited in another long line that eventually got us into Doolittle Hall. Just outside Doolittle, representatives of the AOG give a little pep talk to break the tension and keep the flow of people into Doolittle orderly. Once inside Doolittle, it's time to say goodbye. Parents and sons/daughters are hugging, wiping back tears, and then the son/daughter walks up a flight of stairs inside the building to begin inprocessing. A few minutes later they descend another set of stairs and exit the building. While waiting, we suddenly met General Gould who offered words of encouragment, and his wife assured my wife that it'd be okay to hug our son "one last time" as he came down the stairs. After exiting Doolittle, the students are then escorted in groups of about 40 to certain honorary locations adjacent to Doolittle Hall. After about 15 minutes, the students are led across a small foot bridge, retrieve their belongings and get in line for the buses. One by one the buses fill and slowly pull away. Parents are yelling encouragement and waving as students step onto the bus and disappear from sight. Everyone knows that as soon as the bus doors close, the proverbial organic matter hits the fan.
One important note: Make sure you find out the color of the lanyard of your son/daughters BCT squadron. It will be around their neck as they descend the stairs. (I think the colors were also posted somewhere near the souvenir stand.) Those lanyards are a big help in spotting your child in webguy pictures.
We bought some USAFA items from the stand in the parking lot and then attended the picnic at the nearby campground hosted by the Colorado Parents Club. Throughout the morning we met parents from every corner of the United States.
After the picnic, we drove to the Visitor Center (which was packed) and then walked to the Chapel Wall. From there you can see groups of cadets being led into Mitchell Hall for a bite to eat, they later exit and are escorted towards Sijan Hall (?). A short time later, smaller groups of 3 to 6 cadets are then escorted across the terrazzo in front of the Chapel Wall. By this time, they are in ABU's, carrying a duffle bag, wearing boots, and sporting fresh haircuts. Suddenly, they all look alike and you'll need to rely on parental instinct to recognize your son or daughter. (After watching for two hours, my wife said, there he is, "that's the way he walks".... and we then saw our son walk by. It was quite a sight.)
After seeing him walk by, we drove back to our hotel and spent a quiet evening. The next morning we got to the Chapel Wall by 7:30 and it was already lined shoulder to shoulder with folks waiting to watch the swearing in ceremony. At that point you can see the freshman class being trained in marching, saluting, etc and then lining up for a march onto the grass in front of the Chapel. By 9:00am, it was 3-4 people deep along the wall. Many had signs or balloons (good idea to let your son or daughter know ahead of time so they can spot you.) Make sure you have binoculars and pick a spot along the wall that matches up with your son's squadron location when they march in. Even with all of that, it will be very difficult to spot your son/daughter.
Swearing in lasts a few minutes and then the cadets march away.
We later flew out of DEN on a 2:00pm flight and had no problem getting there in time.
Bring: camera, binoculars, water bottle, sun screen, hat, sun glasses and enjoy one of the biggest events of your family's life.
Do: Join the AOG so you have access to the thousands of webguy pictures. Hundreds of pictures are posted daily during beast and many parents spend hours playing "where's waldo" in looking for pictures of their son/daughter. Again, this is where knowing the lanyard color is a big help.