<p>My husband and I would like to visit our OOS S and attend one of the 2013 Alabama football games.
<p>Our OOS Freshman NMF son absolutely loves attending the University of Alabama. ROLL TIDE!!!</p>
<p>It is generally easiest to get tix for nonSEC games. So, likely the CSU game or the Tenn-Chatt game or the Georgia State game.</p>
<p>As for getting the tix. If you’re on the Quad early in the day and hang around Denny Chimes, there will be people selling tix. Or, Stub Hub is another way to get tix.</p>
<p>Many decent hotels are already booked for high prices. I was checking the other day and was surprised to see that even the non-SEC weekends are booked. </p>
<p>Hopefully, someone here can recommend a B’ham hotel.</p>
<ol>
<li>The games with Georgia State and UT Chattanooga (this might be the homecoming opponent) would be the easiest to find tickets for. It depends on how well the team is doing. </li>
<li>Tickets aren’t mailed until late August, so that would be the earliest. But really, you can just arrive and buy them from somebody outside the stadium. If it’s a minor game, there may even be tickets available through rolltide.com. Stubhub.com is a re-sale site, and tickets are usually legit. E-bay - beware. Counterfeit tickets are not uncommon.</li>
<li>All hotels in Tuscaloosa are outrageously expensive for all game weekends. Think $250 per night and up, two or three-night minimum, even for a dumpy hotel. If you stay in B’ham, the hotels in Bessemer are closest, and they have the same rates as in Tuscaloosa. Try the Hoover area. And reserve, say, NOW. I would call the hotel directly, during the day. Sometimes online prices are not correct.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, prices are very high. just checked for CSU weekend. Super 8 is $250 a night! lol and it’s a dumpy motel. Ambassador Inn is over $400 per night. Capstone Hotel is $1000 per night.</p>
<p>When we went to the Miss game this year I found our tickets online about a month before the game and booked our hotel at the same time. We stayed in Hoover at the Embassy Suites. Very nice hotel!</p>
<p>Okay, when is Parents Weekend for 2013? Need to book a hotel asap if someone knows when the date is. It may be the only game we can attend being it her freshman year and my other D will be a fresh in high school and in the band and I’m in charge of feeding the band on game days. Going to have to find a fill in for that weekend to go to Parents Weekend.</p>
<p>I don’t think Parents Weekend has been determined yet. </p>
<p>I’m guessing it will be the Georgia State game because of its date. The CSU game would be a bit early, but that’s happened before, too.</p>
<p>as soon as the date is determined, any remaining hotel rooms will increase.</p>
<p>When we decided to get our daughter an apartment for her remaining 3 years at Bama, the $$ saved by not having to purchase hotel rooms was definitely factored in. :-)</p>
<p>LSU here we come!</p>
<p>Then maybe I should just go ahead and book something that I can cancel. 
</p>
<p>I’ve already given the hubs and D some options for us to heavily consider:
<p>I’m thinking both options should be heavily considered :)</p>
<p>I’ve already looked for rooms for the Georgia St. game, thinking it will be parent’s weekend, unbelievable what the hotel rates are on dumpy, distant rooms. I checked VRBO and saw where you can rent a house on Lake Tuscaloosa for a decent rate. I know there will be traffic, but will it be a nightmare going in to the game??</p>
<p>The Georgia game on Oct 5 would be GREAT! Our ISD is out of school on the 7th and 8th and we could visit longer :). That is the same weekend we visited this year. </p>
<p>Going to look for hotels now And praying for a Thursday night high school game for the 3rd :)</p>
<p>interesting idea TXNewCollegemom…if you went the RV route, where would you park it for game wekeends, when you want to stay there?</p>
<p>txdoula, there are RV parking lots for games that open the day before the game. Look up the map for parking for the games as it should show on there. I have even thought to rent one and take it for that weekend. We could rent one somewhere between Dallas and Jackson, MS for far less than getting one for the weekend in Birmingham. We could use D’s car for running around while there. Hubby just bough a 24’ enclosed car trailer and I am even tempted in taking a small portion of the front end and enclosing it for “living”. I don’t think he would go for it but it sure is tempting :)</p>
<p>Hotel booked for the GSU game. Staying at the same place as last year, Embassy in Hoover. It really was not that bad of a drive last year. About 45 min each way.</p>
<p>The RV spots in those lots are sold for the season.</p>
<p>There are free RV spots, I’m pretty sure near or at University Mall. Check rolltide.com. I know there is a service or two that will store your RV, pull it out, stock it, park it, and then come get it after the weekend, but I don’t know any specifics. Maybe you can google that.</p>
<p>We have more than one set of friends who bought a two- or three-bedroom condo for the child to use with a bedroom for the parents to use. A second and/or summer semester rent-paying roommate helps meet the mortgage, and the condo can be rented after said kid graduates. Or you can sell the condo. </p>
<p>I also have friends who get together with other couples to rent a small 1 bedroom apartment to use as a gameday headquarters. Clean bathrooms, kitchen, secure place to lock up your purse during the game etc. </p>
<p>Another set of friends bought an old house close to campus, furnished it with furniture from the Gulf Shores condo they sold, and use it for game weekends!
Somehow those friends never invite us along for the party…:-(</p>
<p>[UA</a> Gameday](<a href=“http://uagameday.com/football/off-campus-rv-parking.php]UA”>http://uagameday.com/football/off-campus-rv-parking.php)</p>
<p>Here are the off campus RV spots.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, an interesting option for visiting parents!</p>
<p>For those traveling with family members at game time (or other times), using VRBO can be an option when hotels are booked or when you need more than one room. Some of the homes on VRBO sleep 4 - 10+ people.</p>
<p>Which do you think is a better option, Yellowhammer Inn in Tuscaloosa (but several miles from UA) for 160/night, or Fairfield Inn in Bessemer for 119/night? I have no idea what to expect in terms of traffic, etc, and also how much of a pain it will be to be 45 minutes away (or however far Bessemer is). Fairfield Inn is more of a “known quantity” quality-wise, but the reviews for the Yellowhammer are pretty good for the most part.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>It’s hard to know without knowing the time of the game. When a game is early in the day, you don’t want to be too far away.</p>
<p>Turns out we have enough Marriott points to book the Fairfield in Bessemer for both the CSU game and the Georgia State game, so I just booked them and can always cancel. I had already booked the Yellowhammer for those weekends also, so I will have a lot of cancelling to do once we sort this all out! When do they usually announce parents weekend?</p>