<p>Paid the Money, went to the I- Day page and they still have 2011 kids
Not very happy, Not as advertised,
Lousy web page. links do not work</p>
<p>Is this normal or is it due to the Holiday weekend?</p>
<p>The site says it takes a while to get fresh pictures up and asks us to be patient. I'm sure they are working as fast as they can. I'm sure the links will work as soon as they are ready.</p>
<p>I am quite sure they will get the pictures up, especially at the prices! WOW.</p>
<p>WE never ordered from them . . . but I can say many parents have posted dissatisfaction w/ the company. For various reasons. Price of entry being high and then not seeing any satsifacotry photos which mattered to them. Delays in shipment, etc.</p>
<p>There will be MANY photos posted by parents and others on the web at various places.
At the end of the year, you will receive a CD/DVD from USAAA recapping the summer.
This not to say any photos of your kid wll be included, but there is a tremendous photo record of mid summer available for free through various sources.</p>
<p>If you go to the USNA Web site and in the search function type "gallery" you will see Plebe Summer including I-Day Photos for 2007. I do not know when they are posted. I do not know anything about Thorton Studios but I would beware prices are high. I think there is an offical USNA Parents web site you can join where photos will be posted perhaps someone else knows about this.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>We bought a few shots, yes they are rather expensive but....it's not exactly a reoccurring expense, and it is a once and a lifetime experience for him/her. </p>
<p>Not to mention the other aspect as in he saved us over $200k in real dollars for college tution by earning a slot there.... more like 300k in earned income so after that I can't see complaining about a few hundred bucks in photo fees assuming you feel they are of value to you. </p>
<p>My recommendation would be to pull down and save photos (you can set up a folder) with your s/d in them and wait until the end of the summer and then buy what you feel are the best shots. </p>
<p>We did pick up some shots of our son posted by other parents and were very grateful for their efforts in taking and posting them. For the most part parents aren't given the kind of access or proximity that Thornton gets so most of the parents shots are of the "where's waldo" variety. </p>
<p>We felt this experience is something our son would like to look back on, tell/show his kids someday and at the same time give our other sons a look into what big brother was going through, we probably ended up buying 10-15 shots and together with some of the parents shots we found ended up making our son a collage/poster "plebe summer class of 2011" etc. We did skip the DVDs etc. </p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>xchef-</p>
<p>You will hear a thousand differing opinions on Thornton. I am with rjzoom57. It was completely worth the money. As wonderful as the moms/dads who post pics throughout the summer <what godsends="" they="" are!=""> Thornton has access to every evolution the Plebes go through. In other words, they get up close and personal access no one else does. We bought t-shirts with awesome squad pics, a collage and yes, even the Plebe DVD's. Expensive? Yep. Worth it? Absolutely. Especially since we're not spending 40+ grand on tuition every year. ;)</what></p>
<p>Wishing you a great summer.</p>
<p>That's another thing VADM Fowler should restrict. Let Thornton Studios and USNA PAO provide the pictures. I don't ever recall hearing Great Lakes or MCRDs having photographers taking pictures and posting it on a website for parents to see, almost instantaneously. At least USNA is making a small effort to provide something. Meanwhile, there are complaints of not having photos up in a timely manner. Please take this as a gut-check....the next time someone wants to complain about photos from Plebe Summer, think of the recruits' and boots' families who DON'T SEE ANY PHOTOS of their child the entire boot camp experience.</p>
<p>They do take a few days to get going for the current class. Pay the Money. Even if you only order one picture to recoup your fee - look at it as paying for entertainment and peace of mind. Looking for Waldo will make the summer pass more quickly!</p>
<p>My, Jadler, have we already turned into a grouchy, ol' sailor who knows whats best for everybody? Even the eastern bloc countries have diverted from the idea that "YOU VILL NOT TAKE PHOTOS OV THE POLICEMAN! NYET!"</p>
<p>Remember that USNA is a public, open facility. So, parents AND tourists alike acan take as many photos as they like of whatever they can see from a public vantage point. That decision was made long ago.
Poking cameras through windows, etc. as has occurred is probably a bit much, but all it takes is some paper to control that.</p>
<p>Bill,</p>
<p>It is one thing to take pictures on a visit. It is another thing to go back everyday or almost everyday and take pictures to upload the photos to the internet.</p>
<p>Let me insert what Navy07 said...
[QUOTE]
Parents should be proud that their son/daughter is a mid. It is a great honor. Where the line usually gets blurred is when the parents forget that this is military training, and a different environment where their children are going to have things happen that are not easy.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I completely agree with this. Plebe summer is military training! Personally, I could do without any photographers....but the Administration decided they would hire a company....moot point in arguing that because that won't go unchanged.</p>
<p>You could say the same thing about Sea Trials. The Administration didn't invite parents, but every parent could have walked into USNA and said "I'm visiting." As I have said before, just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.</p>
<p>I'm just saying that you should be thankful that USNA provides a PAO and Thornton Studios. In boot camp, they don't have that option. I sure hope those parents aren't back again this summer taking photos everyday.</p>
<p>And, yes, if you would like to believe I know what's best for everybody, then you can think that way. It sure won't be the first time someone's pulled a similar card.</p>
<p>xchef--I'm not sure why you think those are 2011 plebes. Those are our 2012 plebes! The copyright date maybe threw you off-it says copyright 2007 instead of 2008, but they are indeed new pictures. We paid the fee, because I have turned compulsive about information and pictures!!</p>
<p>We logged in, searched by name, an got two pics of our new plebe!! YAY!!! One of him lugging his sea bag somewhere, and one of him learning to salute. Nice! He looks FINE in both. Whew! He doesn't look "happy" and he doesn't look "sad". He looks like "I am going somewhere" in one and "I will do this salute correct!" in the other.</p>
<p>I am impressed I could sort by name as soon as this.</p>
<p>no fair! Though I'm so glad to hear about the 07 copyright. I'm gonna go back and look.</p>
<p>I don't give a hoot where the photos come from. I wanna see 'em!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Jadler, congratulations on your rapid rise to such eminence. For many, the road is much slower. Your next step will be when these who have never experienced one day in Bancroft Hall will determined you dated and no longer relevant. It is a pity that you are not going to be with us for a while because the ultimate accolade will be when these self same experts will crown you 'Admiral Fowler in mufti'. Keep up the good work. Your meteoric rise is astounding. Your inability to distinguish between a military installation conducting military training and a national tourist attraction is, however, somewhat troubling.</p>
<p>wolfemom: I've signed up too. I have that same compulsion about info and pictures! </p>
<p>My son doesn't show up in the last name search yet, but I think I found a picture of him in all the I-Day photos. But it could be a false sighting; I thought I found him in the photos of someone who posts to DropShots, but when I looked at the high resolution version, I could see his name tag and he wasn't my son. Sure as heck looks like him though. Amazing that it's so hard to recognize your own kid!</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Your inability to distinguish between a military installation conducting military training and a national tourist attraction is, however, somewhat troubling.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I think you might be right about distinguishing the differences. I personally would like to see USNA move more in line with what is done at other naval bases and boot camps. I still think USNA should be open to visitors and such, but there should be some limitations that can be imposed. I don't think my opinion is troubling at all.</p>
<p>Me neither. This is exactly the same conversation we had last year about this time. I agree with you completely. It appears the freelance moms might be gone this year however.</p>
<p>We found Thornton to be fine to work with. There's a temptation to compare what they're doing with getting a class pic or prom foto. But they are spending days ... literally ... photographing 1200 giveortake Plebes ... JUST so you can have a few of yours. So lighten up on these guys. When you figure out what it costs them to get just YOUR pix, it's a bargain, imo. </p>
<p>And in the end, if you don't want them, don't buy. But let's quit bellyaching and go find your Waldo! We did ... and got about 15 or 20 absolutely priceless pix. Only problem is, they had to take a few thousand "sittings" to get him just the way the USNA likes him. Us too. ;) </p>
<p>Be cool. :cool:</p>
<p>We paid our fee to Thornton, primarily since it applies toward orders. We'll probably get the Plebe Summer DVD at a minimum.</p>
<p>We're finding navigation a little difficult, but are willing to be patient for a little while. We did already get one correct photo return on a search by last name, so there's no question 2012 photos are being posted.</p>
<p>Regarding DropShots, do you have to know the user name of the poster, or is there a search function? I've heard there are Plebe photos out there, but don't know how to find them.</p>
<p>Thorton is fairly legit. They had pages and pages on every plebe company. My parents even bought the Lima company video for plebe summer. They are very thorough in their coverage. I think my mother's only complaint (half jokingly) was that the girls in the company seemed to get alot more face time.</p>