PIR - Just my 2 cents worth!

[Carol F.]

I attended PIR on Sept. 26th. These are just my 2 cents worth. Take them or leave them.
But I really am glad I did take a few tips from here, N4M. So read them and decide yourself on what you want to do.

1. Do rent a car! - I just like the freedom of being able to go wherever my sailor wanted to.
To me, it is necessary to be able to get your sailor back to base on time! If for anything! You want the whole weekend with your sailor and not have them lose liberty. It helps you get from the airport to GL, you can drive wherever you need to like the mall, food, etc.
I got pretty good at driving around between hotel, base, mall, etc. The roads are pretty easy to get around tho the roads are in horrible shape! Being from the west coast, I guess I am not used to such awful pavement.
Traffic lights - these are NOT synchronized at all so give yourself plenty of time to go thru these. You will wait (Navy way, remember? LOL) at the lights forever and no traffic is going the other way!!!

2. Night before PIR -
Do a drive by so you know where you will be going on the morning of PIR.

3. Hotel -
We stayed at the Residence Inn. It was a great place and location! Was between the base, food, and mall. Like 7-10 mins. from the base each time you picked up your sailor.

4. Chicago -
We drove to Chicago on Sat. morning and no problem. Took like 1.25 hrs to get there. Make sure you have your car rental map to follow tho. Plus some change for a tollway. We parked in a parking lot near the Navy Pier. It was expensive but..............not worth wasting time trying to find a cheaper place and deal with the traffic.
My son had heard on Friday that the train took hours to get to Chicago so this is the reason why we drove.

5. Metra station -
Best tip I got from N4M was to park at the train station on the morning of PIR! I am an able body person and I know everyone can’t park here if you need to be able to walk only short distance. But it saved me time getting into the base that morning and also when my sailor wanted to get the heck out of there after graduation!

6. Early -
As everyone says, GET THERE EARLY!!! I was there at 5:50 am and cars were already lining up to get into the gate. I was the 1st one in the door to the graduation building and I saw that it took a long time for others to finally come into the building.

7. Seating -
I really liked being down below on the lower bleachers. But they do fill up fast.

8. Get your sailor back to base on time!

9. NEX -
Visit the NEX as soon as you can. I realize that it would be very crowded on Friday but we went to the large NEX on Green Bay Rd. on Sat. morning and they were already out of a lot of sizes of Navy clothing. We went back to the NEX on base later and they did have a bit more selection of sizes.

10. Which highway to drive North from airport?
We flew into Miday airport. We asked the car rental guy about I-94 (thru Chicago) & I-294 (in land hwy. which is the tollway). We were to be driving at 3:30 pm on a Thursday. He said they would be similar in driving. I asked if I-94 would be bumper to bumper and he said YES. So we decided to drive I-294. It only had tolls of $2.10 (3 tolls the whole way). No big deal.
The traffic wasn’t bad at all and it took 1.25 hrs to get to the hotel. I will say I drove fast because I wanted to and wanted to out of the rush hour traffic.
When we drove on Sat. morning to Chicago, the I-94 does have tons of construction so only 2 lanes most of the way. But it wasn’t bad at all.

11. Food -
There is so much to choose from that you can find anything to please your sailor. I am not going to list the places. You name it, they have it!

12. Gurnee mall - It was a good place to go to shop and get any items your sailor needs.
You just need to watch the signs off of the highways to turn off tho. I almost missed several exits this way since one of the sign was under bushes almost where we were to exit on the left hand side to get to the mall.

13. Division shirts - these do sell out fast so try to get them as soon as you walk in the door.

14. Sailor back to base - Go ahead and drive up to the far parking lot to drop your sailor off. Traffic isn’t bad and you can save a bit of time for them walking across the base plus spend time saying goodbye too.

Enjoy the PIR. I am so glad I attended the PIR and would tell you all you NEED to go! It was the best experience I could have ever had and the weekend with my sailor was awesome!!!

Any questions, just ask.
Carol

[Char]

Thanks a bunch Carol:

I hope to see my son in November's PIR. I'm excited..and I printed out your information so I won't forget it. Again, thanks a million.

[Amanda M]

Just a little input from my experience. We did rent a car, BUT we took a shuttle from the hotel. We stayed at the Navy Lodge $62 a night, which anyone with a family member in the Navy can do, and they had a list of the shuttles. Our driver dropped us at the curb so we just walked in past all the waiting cars. So quick. I would have freaked out if I had wait in the line of cars. And yes it was a long line of cars. We took the shuttle at 6:30. Then you just call them again when PIR is over and your sailor can go back to the hotel with you then plan where you want to drive from there. We found a really good quick food place called Five Point. They have a little of everything, its very quick and the food was Fabulous. We actually ended up there 3 times in the 4 days we spent out there. Yummy.
BTW Navy lodge is about 1 mile from the base. It was a nice place, not the Hilton, but very clean and Very friendly. Took about 3 minutes to get my sailor in the morning and to drop him off at night. There is a Dunkin Donuts on the corner as well.
The only disappointment with PIR is not getting to see my sailor before PIR. I could not even pay attention to what was happening, I just wanted a glimpse of him, and its very hard to pick out your sailor. PIR would have meant alot more if I could have seen him first. I spent the whole time trying to figure out where he was.
But do enjoy! Its an experience.

[Leslie]

Amanda,
We are staying at a different hotel, but will that list of shuttles you have pick up from any hotel? My son's PIR is in 2 weeks and I am so nervous and excited at the same time! I rented a car but I would sure like to miss sitting in line. Thanks ! Leslie!

[Amanda M]

Yes leslie, they pick up from any hotel, kinda like a taxi

[Leslie]

Do you have their contact info? I would love to have it..Thanks!

[Leann <3's Douglas]

Hi Leslie, we drove to PIR,,,if you go early, it goes very fast. The lines move quick.

[Leslie]

Like how early? I plan on being the first in line!! LOL!!

[Robin]

Just a quick note on the Navy lodge.. you DO NOT need to be a member of any branch to stay here... especially for PIR. When calling the lodge, make sure to tell them you will be there for graduation,provide your son's/daughters information and they will let you stay there. If you are going up there just for a casual trip to see a service member in YOUR family, then they absolutely HAVE to be there to sign you in or you cannot stay there.

[Dianne]

LOVED the Navy Lodge, it was so close.

[Bonnie - (Melissa's Mom)]

Do you have a phone number for the lodge? My daughter left today for boot camp and just called to say she was there. Does the lodge fill up fast? I would like to make reservations as soon as I have a PIR date. Maybe the 1st or 2nd week of December. I hate waiting until the last minute.

[Robin]

I believe the number is 1-800-Navy inn. When you call they will ask you what state you would like to book in and make sure you specify Great Lakes IL. And remember to mention that it is for bootcamp graduation, and give them your sailor's info. I think it was just the name and address of where they are.. it's been a while (April was son's pir).

https://www.navy-lodge.com/

[Leann <3's Douglas]

OMGOSH!! I had to laugh, I did the same thing as you...I spent most of the time looking to see if I could find which boy was mine...they look so different, it's really hard to tell.