I-Day Arrival

U

USNA29

NROTC(WIN) AFROTC USAFA(LOA) USNA(Appointee)
Joined
Sep 30, 2024
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I know it’s early, but I want to have the general plan in order so when the time comes it’s just executing what is already decided. Also, before hotels start selling out/algorithmically increasing their prices after sensing an event is occurring near xyz dates.

I couldn’t find any posts when I searched regarding this.

IDAY this year is 26 Jun. Based on this, when is the ideal time to arrive in Annapolis? I live close to an Amtrak station that can take me to the BWI station. On that note, is it better to Amtrak or drive? Additionally, does arrival method influence when to arrive?
 
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They already know when to up their prices.

Everyone is different. We drove in the afternoon before, had a great dinner, walked around a bit, and stayed at the Historic Inns, and walked.m the next morning (had an early time to report).
 
There are threads upon threads each year for Induction Day or I-Day. Try using a targeted external search in Google if the SAF search tool isn’t bringing up much:

Try a search string such as:
site:www.serviceacademyforums.com Naval academy USNA Induction Day I-Day schedule

Of course, www.usna.edu is your primary source. Go to Plebe Summer Home and scour every link and hamburger menu item. The info for Class of 2028 is still there and will gradually be updated for 2029 in April and May; much does not change from year to year. The Permit To Report (PTR) is the fat To Do list.

www.usna.edu

Plebe Summer Home

Plebe Summer Home page for Plebe Summer at USNA.edu. Updated Thu May 16 09:14:05 EDT 2024.
www.usna.edu

Appointees are given report times staggered throughout the morning. I believe most arrive the day before to get oriented to Annapolis and to get some sleep the night before. It’s never too early to make reservations, as 1200 or so families and appointees all descend on Annapolis at the same time.

And, just for fun:

Class of 2028 playlist
youtube.com

Class of 2028

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world
youtube.com youtube.com


Class of 2027

There are dozens of official and unofficial YouTube videos on I-Day.
 
Capt MJ said:
There are threads upon threads each year for Induction Day or I-Day. Try using a targeted external search in Google if the SAF search tool isn’t bringing up much:

Try a search string such as:
site:www.serviceacademyforums.com Naval academy USNA Induction Day I-Day schedule

Of course, www.usna.edu is your primary source. Go to Plebe Summer Home and scour every link and hamburger menu item. The info for Class of 2028 is still there and will gradually be updated for 2029 in April and May; much does not change from year to year. The Permit To Report (PTR) is the fat To Do list.

www.usna.edu

Plebe Summer Home

Plebe Summer Home page for Plebe Summer at USNA.edu. Updated Thu May 16 09:14:05 EDT 2024.
www.usna.edu

Appointees are given report times staggered throughout the morning. I believe most arrive the day before to get oriented to Annapolis and to get some sleep the night before. It’s never too early to make reservations, as 1200 or so families and appointees all descend on Annapolis at the same time.

And, just for fun:

Class of 2028 playlist
youtube.com

Class of 2028

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world
youtube.com youtube.com


Class of 2027

There are dozens of official and unofficial YouTube videos on I-Day.
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Understood. Thank you. Are there any events at USNA prior to IDAY for appointees like USAFA ice cream social? Didn’t find anything about it in the schedule linked above, but just want to make sure in case it’s run by someone else. Sorry for all the questions.
 
A1Janitor said:
They already know when to up their prices.

Everyone is different. We drove in the afternoon before, had a great dinner, walked around a bit, and stayed at the Historic Inns, and walked.m the next morning (had an early time to report).
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Already sold out (unless I looked wrong. I checked on their website) but thanks for the info.
 
USNA29 said:
Already sold out (unless I looked wrong. I checked on their website) but thanks for the info.
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I looked more into it. They appear to have a 3 night minimum only for IDAY week, and you were right about the prices. Already very high.
 
There are different price points available. The further out you go, the cheaper it gets. If you need less expensive options, we have stayed at the Comfort Inn Conference Center in Bowie. It’s older, but a great hot breakfast is included, big rooms and wonderful customer service. We always ran into other USNA families any time we stayed there.

If you are a small party of 1 or 2, you can find a close-in stay in a room in an Airbnb for pretty affordable.

Book something now, refundable. Maybe even a couple options until you decide what’s going to work. The least stressful for your Mid that you can afford is my advice. We have done this twice, the stress level was there each time. Even if you think it won’t be stressful. Pinky swear, it will be.
 
justdoit19 said:
There are different price points available. The further out you go, the cheaper it gets. If you need less expensive options, we have stayed at the Comfort Inn Conference Center in Bowie. It’s older, but a great hot breakfast is included, big rooms and wonderful customer service. We always ran into other USNA families any time we stayed there.

If you are a small party of 1 or 2, you can find a close-in stay in a room in an Airbnb for pretty affordable.

Book something now, refundable. Maybe even a couple options until you decide what’s going to work. The least stressful for your Mid that you can afford is my advice. We have done this twice, the stress level was there each time. Even if you think it won’t be stressful. Pinky swear, it will be.
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Got it. Trying to stay walking distance to USNA cause I’m gonna be coming in on train.
 
USNA29 said:
Got it. Trying to stay walking distance to USNA cause I’m gonna be coming in on train.
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If you were mine, and are coming solo, I would (and have done so) book you into an Airbnb room downtown. Within walking distance to everything. Alternately, if price is no option, I would book a DTA hotel.

The rooms above Chick and Ruth’s Deli are pretty neat. Amazing breakfast included. Pricier side. Another option is that you (solo) can actually stay in Bancroft.

But look at past threads for tons of ideas. Congrats on the appointment.
 
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Some pro tips:

Try calling the hotel property directly and see if they offer “USNA friends and family” discounts. They want your family’s business for I-Day, PPW, 2/C Parents Weekend, football games, Comm Week, other visits, reunions and weddings down the road.

The Fairfield Inn on Taylor Ave is a new property not well-known as yet.

Many Annapolis hotels offer free shuttles to DTA (downtown Annapolis(), which you can ask about.

Don’t overlook B&Bs. There are many scattered throughout DTA.

On I-Day, there is parking and shuttle buses at the Navy Stadium, which is off-Yard. You can look for AirBnBs in that area.

There is always Uber/Lyft to Gate 1.
 
Capt MJ said:
Some pro tips:

Try calling the hotel property directly and see if they offer “USNA friends and family” discounts. They want your family’s business for I-Day, PPW, 2/C Parents Weekend, football games, Comm Week, other visits, reunions and weddings down the road.

The Fairfield Inn on Taylor Ave is a new property not well-known as yet.

Many Annapolis hotels offer free shuttles to DTA (downtown Annapolis(), which you can ask about.

Don’t overlook B&Bs. There are many scattered throughout DTA.

On I-Day, there is parking and shuttle buses at the Navy Stadium, which is off-Yard. You can look for AirBnBs in that area.

There is always Uber/Lyft to Gate 1.
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Don't forget about the free shuttle bus (pink bus). It runs from just in front of the Westin to DTA with stops all along the way. It'll take you right to the City Dock, which is only about a 5 min walk to Gate 1. It's quite convenient!

 
And it is never too early to book for PPW, which is a date you usually cannot find but seasoned pros here know how to calculate. It’s usually the weekend before Reform of the Brigade (when the other 3 classes return to the Yard to warmly greet the plebes).
 
Capt MJ said:
Some pro tips:

Try calling the hotel property directly and see if they offer “USNA friends and family” discounts. They want your family’s business for I-Day, PPW, 2/C Parents Weekend, football games, Comm Week, other visits, reunions and weddings down the road.

The Fairfield Inn on Taylor Ave is a new property not well-known as yet.

Many Annapolis hotels offer free shuttles to DTA (downtown Annapolis(), which you can ask about.

Don’t overlook B&Bs. There are many scattered throughout DTA.

On I-Day, there is parking and shuttle buses at the Navy Stadium, which is off-Yard. You can look for AirBnBs in that area.

There is always Uber/Lyft to Gate 1.
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Called. No discount. I will look into what you said above.
 
justdoit19 said:
If you were mine, and are coming solo, I would (and have done so) book you into an Airbnb room downtown. Within walking distance to everything. Alternately, if price is no option, I would book a DTA hotel.

The rooms above Chick and Ruth’s Deli are pretty neat. Amazing breakfast included. Pricier side. Another option is that you (solo) can actually stay in Bancroft.

But look at past threads for tons of ideas. Congrats on the appointment.
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Thank you. I am coming with family. I will looo into the options you said above.
 
Hey dude, congrats on the appointment! I'm a current youngster (2nd year) and I came to Iday on my own, so I wanted to contribute to that part. I had never traveled on my own and my parents stayed home. I stayed at the Inn on Main, a bed & breakfast. It was perfect, really. Close enough walking distance that I could go for a run on the Yard the day before, walk down by the waterfront, and run into and meet up with other plebes to be, most with parents but some on their own. A bunch of us got dinner the night before. Have a credit card, ideally in your name. See you next August!

ETA: ah, I see you're coming with family. I'd still recommend someplace walkable or with a shuttle, I know a lot of the local hotels run a shuttle on big academy days.
 
Capt MJ said:
And it is never too early to book for PPW, which is a date you usually cannot find but seasoned pros here know how to calculate. It’s usually the weekend before Reform of the Brigade (when the other 3 classes return to the Yard to warmly greet the plebes).
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What is the estimated date right now?
 
USNA29 said:
Also does USNA reimburse Amtrak/Acela?
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In about March or April, USNA will post a link for the "Permit to Report" for C/O 29. There will be tons of forms to fill out and return and there will also be info about reimbursement for travel. For now, you can see C/O 28's PTR link here: https://www.usna.edu/PermitToReport/index.php

You can see there were links last year with instructions for travel. The Navy has instructions for EVERYTHING. Start reading through all of that, and also do some searches for I-day, I-Day, Iday (etc.) threads here and you'll get 95% of your questions answered. Happy holidays, future shipmate!
 
USNA29 said:
Also does USNA reimburse Amtrak/Acela?
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Read the PTR, might be in there. I did post Plebe Summer Home link for you and suggest you read through every bit, even though it’s still 2028’s info?

They should reimburse up to the govt allowed rate, similar to airfare. People going into the military - “accession” - typically get reimbursed from home to point of induction. Standard mileage rate, airfare, etc., at the govt rate. If you charter a private jet from your summer getaway in Jamaica, it will be the difference between allowed airfare between home and Annapolis. Uber fares. Tolls. Keep receipts in hard copy.

Another strategy.
Amtrak to BWI station.
Free shuttle from BWI rail station to BWI air terminal.
Free hotel shuttle to airport complex hotel.
Uber to USNA Gate 1.
 
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