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Chicago long layover - sights help? (1 Viewer)

Sand

Sand

Footballguy
Greetings,

United (swell guys these are) switched my flights and my layover is now 10 hours in O'Hare. With kids. I was thinking they might like the Field Museum and wondered if Chicago folks could pop in and comment. If we were to do this I'll be trying to make darn sure I get back to the next flight, so the layover is more like 7.5 hours. Possible to get to the Field, wander around for 4 hours, and get back? Train the best way? Taxi? This is on a Sunday, which (I hope) helps.

Anyone with local knowledge here - help would be awesome.

 
O'Hare really isn't in Chicago... it's more out in the suburbs. So planning to go into the city seems like a hassle to me. If you're just looking to kill some time I would check out some of the nearby suburbs.

 
Blue line is pretty easy to take into the city - figure about 1 hour each way when allowing for departure wait. That will put you right next to the Loop at Union Station. From there, you can do short taxi to Field, Shedd, Mag Mile etc.

Taxi would shave off about 15 minutes on the way into downtown on Sunday morning. Train is faster than taxi anytime after noon due to traffic. Looking about ~40 via taxi and $3 or 4-ish person via train.

 
There's a Gino's East not too far away from the airport in an office building and it's right near the Cumberland stop on the blue line.

 
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Probably looking at 90 minutes or so to get from O'Hare to the Field museum if you take public transportation. Could probably shorten that to 45 minutes or so if you took a cab during non-rush hour times.

It's a huge museum, so you could spend days there and probably not see everything, but 4 hours or so seems fine.

 
Thanks, folks. The thought of ten hours in the airport is awful (I asked United for lounge passes for them screwing with my reservations and they hung up on me - again thanks, United). This will help in figuring out if we really want to head out that way.

 
Depending on your layover time, Arlington Park (racetrack) has Family Day on Sundays. Free petting zoo and pony rides for kids, bands play. Will be much easier to get to from OHare and it's family friendly (not seedy).

 
Brony said:
Depending on your layover time, Arlington Park (racetrack) has Family Day on Sundays. Free petting zoo and pony rides for kids, bands play. Will be much easier to get to from OHare and it's family friendly (not seedy).
Click to expand...
Arlington rules if you like the ponies

 
Aaron Rudnicki said:
Brony said:
Depending on your layover time, Arlington Park (racetrack) has Family Day on Sundays. Free petting zoo and pony rides for kids, bands play. Will be much easier to get to from OHare and it's family friendly (not seedy).
Click to expand...
Arlington rules if you like the ponies
Click to expand...
Drinking and gambling while having fun with the family? Big fan. (also a fan of drinking and gambling without the family btw)

 
Sand said:
Thanks, folks. The thought of ten hours in the airport is awful (I asked United for lounge passes for them screwing with my reservations and they hung up on me - again thanks, United). This will help in figuring out if we really want to head out that way.
Click to expand...
Yeah, United is something else... I had passes to Red Carpet Club a while back and they wouldn't let me into the one in Houston because it was a former Continental club (they had merged already). So stupid.

 
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.

 
The blue line is the easiest way to get downtown, and is more reliable than a cab in terms of timing. Find a good stop in the loop and grab a cab from there to wherever you're going. The Field is excellent, but the lines can be crazy on the weekends. If the weather is nice, I might prefer just hitting Navy Pier and walking around, checking out the Children's museum there (depending on kids' age), get a nice lunch downtown, maybe do a bit of shopping, and you've filled up most of the layover.

 
urbanhack said:
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.
Click to expand...
Yes, the blue line from O'Hare (very easy/convenient) will get you directly to the east edge of the 'loop.' Millennium Park is right there as well as Buckingham Fountain and, beyond that, the lakefront. You could cab down to the Field Museum or just walk down along the lakefront (1 1/2 miles scenic miles).

But ..what Sunday is this? I'm out of town the next two Sundays, but I would be happy to pick you guys up and play chauffeur (at a minimum, to get you into town or back to O'Hare). We could catch a quick meal along the way.

 
17seconds said:
Sand said:
Thanks, folks. The thought of ten hours in the airport is awful (I asked United for lounge passes for them screwing with my reservations and they hung up on me - again thanks, United). This will help in figuring out if we really want to head out that way.
Click to expand...
Yeah, United is something else... I had passes to Red Carpet Club a while back and they wouldn't let me into the one in Houston because it was a former Continental club (they had merged already). So stupid.
Click to expand...
One time I was on a United flight to Houston, a good while after the merger. The flight crew was Houston-based. They went out of their way to stress that they were a Continental flight crew on the PA announcements.

I was a long-time Continental frequent flier who avoided United like the plague until they merged. It seems like the corporate culture of the two met somewhere in the middle, which was a huge improvement for United.

 
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RedmondLonghorn said:
17seconds said:
Sand said:
Thanks, folks. The thought of ten hours in the airport is awful (I asked United for lounge passes for them screwing with my reservations and they hung up on me - again thanks, United). This will help in figuring out if we really want to head out that way.
Click to expand...
Yeah, United is something else... I had passes to Red Carpet Club a while back and they wouldn't let me into the one in Houston because it was a former Continental club (they had merged already). So stupid.
Click to expand...
One time I was on a United flight to Houston, a good while after the merger. The flight crew was Houston-based. They went out of their way to stress that they were a Continental flight crew on the PA announcements.

I was a long-time Continental frequent flier who avoided United like the plague until they merged. It seems like the corporate culture of the two met somewhere in the middle, which was a huge improvement for United.
Click to expand...
That's all a union solidarity thing. They both had very senior flight crews who believed in their own company and way of doing things. In the end the merger was good, but holy crap that first year of merger limbo was pretty bad.

 
tri-man 47 said:
urbanhack said:
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.
Click to expand...
Yes, the blue line from O'Hare (very easy/convenient) will get you directly to the east edge of the 'loop.' Millennium Park is right there as well as Buckingham Fountain and, beyond that, the lakefront. You could cab down to the Field Museum or just walk down along the lakefront (1 1/2 miles scenic miles).

But ..what Sunday is this? I'm out of town the next two Sundays, but I would be happy to pick you guys up and play chauffeur (at a minimum, to get you into town or back to O'Hare). We could catch a quick meal along the way.
Click to expand...
The 24th. Another lunch with you and the wife would be awesome, though it sounds like you're out (bummer).

As far as United they were (sadly) significantly cheaper over to Europe. Multiply by 4 tickets and it really added up.

 
Sand said:
tri-man 47 said:
urbanhack said:
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.
Click to expand...
Yes, the blue line from O'Hare (very easy/convenient) will get you directly to the east edge of the 'loop.' Millennium Park is right there as well as Buckingham Fountain and, beyond that, the lakefront. You could cab down to the Field Museum or just walk down along the lakefront (1 1/2 miles scenic miles).

But ..what Sunday is this? I'm out of town the next two Sundays, but I would be happy to pick you guys up and play chauffeur (at a minimum, to get you into town or back to O'Hare). We could catch a quick meal along the way.
Click to expand...
The 24th. Another lunch with you and the wife would be awesome, though it sounds like you're out (bummer).

As far as United they were (sadly) significantly cheaper over to Europe. Multiply by 4 tickets and it really added up.
Click to expand...
Yes, we're up in Michigan for the long weekend. Darn!

But again, the blue line will get you into the heart of the city. You'd get some nice skyline views, and a feel for the diversity of Chicago, on the ride in (it's a safe ride). Once in the loop, you could also transfer to a north-bound red line up to Addison St. and be right at Wrigley Field. Despite the construction, it's fun to see it from the el platform and then walk a block and see the stuff around the ballpark.

In the city, a quirky option for a burger: Cross the Chicago River to the Wrigley building and take the stairs down to the river level. Walk north, underneath Michigan Ave., and you can catch a meal at the Billy Goat Tavern (from the original SNL skit). That first time feels a little crazy to be going to a restaurant that's under the city.

...stuff your boys might enjoy if you can't talk them into the museum. Too bad you're not around long enough to spend a day at the Museum of Science and Industry! That'd be right up your alley.

 
sublimeone said:
O'Hare really isn't in Chicago... it's more out in the suburbs. So planning to go into the city seems like a hassle to me. If you're just looking to kill some time I would check out some of the nearby suburbs.
Click to expand...
Well, that's just stupid. It's a 40 minute train ride into the Loop. 10 minute walk and the kids can run through Grant Park, see any number of museums and great food in every direction.

 
urbanhack said:
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.
Click to expand...
That's what we did - Millennium Park, then went to Lou Malnatti's.

 
If it's nice outside do what urbanhack suggested. My kids love the shedd aquarium. But that's as far as the field museum.

 
Judge Smails said:
urbanhack said:
You can still take the blue line downtown and get off at Washington or Monroe. Walk over to Millennium Park, hangout and take some pictures by the bean and then walk through Maggie Daley kids park. Grab lunch and then get back on the Blue line.
Click to expand...
That's what we did - Millennium Park, then went to Lou Malnatti's.
Click to expand...
This may be what we end up doing. Likely not enough time to do the Field museum justice (unless we get great timing). Just wander around a bit, eat, and haul ### back so as to make sure that we have lots of time before the next flight.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Maybe save Roscoes for next time.

 
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