<p>This will be our third W&M graduation - one in 2005 for d1, one for d3 last year when she got her BA, and one this year for d3's master's degree. I love the way W&M handles this - they do a wonderful job with an event that can be pretty challenging.</p>
<p>Sort of excited to hear Robert Mueller, FBI Director, give the address. He doesn't seem as if he'll be a terribly dynamic speaker and I'll be surprised if the speech contains much humor, but he's certainly a major name. </p>
<p>The best part of the two ceremonies we've attended has been the student speaker, so really looking forward to hearing another one.</p>
<p>Finally - has anyone else had a difficult time with hotel reservations? I started looking in December, which had been plenty of time in the past, but couldn't get the hotel I wanted at that point. Now I'm holding on to three different reservations to try to meet the needs of those who haven't yet committed to attending. I know we only get 4 tickets per student, but we have some family members who'll come for celebrating, not the ceremony. It seems to be impossible to get a room for just the night before graduation, at any of the Marriott or Hilton properties at least.</p>
<p>Hoping other parents and some students will chime in.</p>
<p>While I have not looked for graduation weekend as our son has one more year of Law school to go, have you looked in Newport News? Some of the NN hotels are actually as close to W&M as a few of the farther out properties that have a Williamsburg address (Pottery area) and typically are quite a bit cheaper on big weekends.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion, tjmom. The Marriott website is showing a Residence Inn in NN that still has rooms available; I just have to figure out how far my dh will be willing to drive without complaining about not being on Richmond Road. It seems new to me that the Williamsburg hotels are blocking out Saturday night before graduation. I can get rooms at a couple of Marriott properties for Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday, but not for Saturday only. Maybe they’ve done that all along and I never realized it.</p>
<p>I’m also behind the curve getting the dinner reservations we want for that weekend. I must be getting too old for all this.</p>
<p>For big weekends like Commencement, Move-in, etc, I usually just rented one (or more) of the many time-share condos in the area; you can usually rent direct from the community but I’ve also rented from owners, which was generally a bit cheaper. I’ve never had a problem finding one, (though a bit more work), and for a bit less than the cost of a standard hotel room, I found them much more spacious and accommodating - large enough for a small gathering, something you can’t do in most hotel rooms.</p>
<p>Gotta get the dinner reservations early; I remember the Fat Canary had a 60-day reservations window, and I forgot to call until a couple of hours after the phone line opening; by the time I got through, all the reasonable dinner times were gone already.</p>
<p>I completely missed the Fat Canary window but was still able to get a reservation there for graduation weekend by having the good fortune to call immediately after another party canceled. D3 is going to be standing in line when Blue Talon opens its reservations for graduation weekend (she did the same thing last year).</p>
<p>We had a wonderful time at Blue Talon after last year’s graduation. The crowning touch was Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Reveley being seated two tables away from us as we were about to leave. The dear man very graciously posed for a picture with our d3 and some of her fellow graduates, though he must have been exhausted.</p>
<p>If we see him this year, we’ll leave him in peace. :)</p>
It seems new to me that the Williamsburg hotels are blocking out Saturday night before graduation. I can get rooms at a couple of Marriott properties for Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday, but not for Saturday only. Maybe they’ve done that all along and I never realized it.</p>