Experienced parents- please help with arrival time question for PIR

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Permalink Reply by Pam on July 12, 2008 at 9:41am

Joanne No there is no perfect time to arrive..what i would suggest is there are going t;o be some thing's your sailor want's to do but for the most part he or she is going to be very tired. alot of sailor's just wanted to " chill" in the hotel room. Mine was one of them... so if you want to go sight seeing then it is best you go early like two day's before PIR and get in all the sight seeing before hand. If not then i would just suggest going the day before .. but get there early enough to check in at 3 to the hotel and relax cause with out any rest the next morning will be pretty rough...
go 2 days before if you want to sight see
go day before if not
but make sure you get there early enough to get some rest.

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Permalink Reply by Pam on July 12, 2008 at 9:43am

There is a lot to see. Navy Pier - chicago
Sear's Tower - chicago
Gurnee Mall - Gurnee
6 flag's - Gurnee

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Permalink Reply by joanne on July 12, 2008 at 11:05am

Thank you, Pam! Our son did say he wanted to relax by the pool with us. Would you kindly advise a good time to arrive at the actual graduation ceremony?

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Permalink Reply by Pam on July 12, 2008 at 2:09pm

Joanne, I would arrive at least by 6:15 we got there at 6 and the line was not bad at all. We went right through but don't get there any earlier they will turn you away... alot of people went before 6 and they told them they had to leave and come back... Each division has their own place's to sit and you got the bottom of the bleachers and then you got the up stairs part... the bottom half fill's up pretty quickly. Now getting there at 6 you will have to sit and wait a long time for the graduation to start but I personally was glad cause at least we were sitting down and not waiting in that long line ...LOL So if your son want's to relax and you really really want to do sight seeing i would either get there early early the day before grad.. or get there 2 day's early

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Permalink Reply by Laura on July 12, 2008 at 11:08am

Hi Joanne,
If your talking about the morning of PIR. I would leave a little early. There are many gates to the base, it's a pretty big base. We went to the wrong gate first, by the time we found the right one there was a line. They randomly pull cars over and make the people get out and search them and have a dog go over the car, which can be time consuming. We lucked out and got right in.We sat up in the balcony and could see just fine. Your sailor will be too busy marching and stuff to worry about where you are. When you enter the drill hall, there are signs where each division will be standing so if you sit in front of the sign you'll be o.k.. Have a fun time, it's well worth the journey and bring klenex. Good luck to your sailor and family.

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Permalink Reply by Pam on July 12, 2008 at 2:12pm

Laura we too were lucky enough not to have had to go through all the security check's. They walk the dog around all car's i think but we didn't have to go to the other lane where they were pulling car's over and checking every inch of them... we got through really quick. Also there were a few that did what you did and went to the wrong gate's. If you go the day before it is best if you have time to ride down there and find the right one which is what we did ... We went the night before and looked around and found where we needed to be ... that way we were not searching for it that morning.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on July 22, 2008 at 8:54pm

Although we rented a car, we took a taxi to PIR. It was $6.00! We stayed at the Navy Lodge, which was less than 5 minutes to the gate. We left at 6:30 AM, and sailed right through! Also, my teen daughter wasn't on the list and was admitted without any problem.

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Permalink Reply by Tina -- James' mom on July 24, 2008 at 12:38pm

We got there WAY too early and sat around for several hours. I wouldn't recommend walking in at the last minute, but really if I had it to do again, I would NOT be there at 6:30! Between 7 and 7:30 is plenty of time.
tina

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Permalink Reply by Pam on July 24, 2008 at 8:31pm

I agree with Tina 6:30 is probably way to early...

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