I'm planning a 5 day trip to Chicago in June with a group of older Girl Scouts (all Seniors in high school). I've done a lot of research on Fodor's and elsewhere, but still have some questions.

We will be staying at the Super 8 Motel north of the city (7300 N Sheridan). I know this isn't ideal and that we would be better off staying in the city, but we are on a very limited budget (no more than $150 a night). Priceline won't work because we have a group of 12 people, and Hotwire has nothing for less than $200 a night. We won't have a car, and are planning on getting a transit pass and using public transportation.

So here are my questions:

I have allowed an hour each way for transportation to and from the city, is this enough time?

How late do the stores in and around the Magnificent Mile stay open during the week?

How much time should I allow for each of the following activities: Art Museum, Museum of Science & Industry, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

We have tickets to see Wicked on Thursday night, and plan on taking a cab back to the hotel. Are cabs readily available after the show near the theater or do they need to be prearranged?

The girls want to eat at the "original" Pizzaria Uno, where is this and what is it close to?

Thanks in advance for any help!

As you are on a budget... Chicago Cultural Center is in the center of the city, 3 or 4 levels of FREE art exhibits, paintings and what not.

When I was there, they had a bamboo baskets exhibits, photos from Lithuania and painting from Ukraine - and all for free! It was really priceless.

Also, the stained glass museum on the Navy Pier, free and very interesting. There is at least one line of free shuttle, in June maybe 3 lines, can help you get around.

When my husband and I were in college, we spent a semester break in Chicago and decided to see everything in the Museum of Science and Industry. It took us three full days and was a lot of fun.

Water Tower Place Stores are open until 8 pm Mon - Thurs and 9 on Friday so I assume that are the hours of most stores.

I would say to allow one day each for each of your activities except for maybe the Zoo & the Planetarium (each a half day).

I don't see the Field Museum on your list. That is really a great Museum. The Field Museum is the home of Sue, the world's largest, most complete and most famous T. rex. The Field also has a great Egyptian Exhibit with lots of mummys where you can walk into an Egyptian Tomb. It is very interactive & I enjoy it a lot.

There are usually a lot of cabs outside a theater when a show lets out.

Pizzaria Uno is at 29 E Ohio St, (312) 280-5120. It is 2 blocks west of Michigan Ave. 6 blocks south of Water Tower Place and 6 blocks west of navy pier.

I hope I was able to be of some help.

I live three blocks north of the Super 8 so it will take you about an hour to get to the loop from here. You have two options. You can walk north two blocks on Sheridan to Jarvis and 1 block west to take the Red Line.

Your other option is the Number 147 bus. You can catch it southbound in front of your hotel. It will run down Sheridan to Foster then run express on Lakeshore to the Mag Mile and south on Michigan Avenue. The Lakeshore section is very scenic.

To get back, you can catch it at State and Madison, Washington east of Wabash or anywhere on Michigan north of Randolph.

To get home after Wicked you can take either the bus or train and you'll be fine as a large group. Both will have a good-sized crowd on them and probably the worst thing you'll see is a homeless person panhandling. You'd probably need 3-4 cabs and they'd cost you about $15-20 each.

Most stores downtown are open until around 7 or 8 pm.

Pizzeria Uno is at the corner of Ohio and Wabash about 2 blocks west of the Marriott on Michigan Avenue.

Just another suggestion. Have you looked into a hostel? There's one in the SE corner of the Loop that has rooms that accommodate 6-10 people and their rates start around $29. Check their site at www.hichicago.org.

I'd suggest getting in touch with the GS Council servicing Chicago and see if they can help at all, there could be some sort of discounts at events/sites in the city through the Girl Scouts.

Also check some to the hotels in Chicago for group discounts and call the chains to see if they can do anything to help you out with your budget. There are a few discount hotels chains IN Chicago, one I remember on Ohio St that was very reasonable.

Also check expedia.com and hotels.com and hotwire.com for hotel rates.

Your kids might also enjoy meeting a troup from the Chicago area.

I'll see if I can find out anything and post back.

Hotels.com is showing the Congress Plaza has rooms available in the middle June, at 120 a night and they have over 800 rooms right across the street from Grant Park and close to everything. Staying there would save you so much time and money, and the hotel is probably ok for your trip. You may also be able to work a better deal directly with the hotel.

Many of the museums have free nights.

For example, at the Art Institute: Thursday evenings from 5:00-8:00 throughout the year are free.

At the Museum of Science and Industry:

2007 Free Day Schedule

General admission will be free on the following dates:
January 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29 and 30
February 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27
June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8
September 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25
October 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29 and 30
November 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20 and 22
December 24

General admission does not include parking or entrance to Omnimax® and 3-D Theaters, U-505 on-board tour and CSI: The Experience

At Shedd Aquarium:

Discount Days
On discount days, general admission is free, and admission to both the Oceanarium and Wild Reef is available for an additional fee. The discount day schedule for 2007 is:
January discount week (Jan. 13-19)
January, Mondays and Tuesdays (Jan. 9, 22, 23, 29, 30)
February, Mondays and Tuesdays (Feb. 5, 6, 12, 13, 26, 27)
February discount week (Feb. 19-23)
June Discount Week (June 17-21)
September, last three Mondays (Sept. 10, 17, 24)
October, Mondays and Tuesdays (Oct. 1, 2, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30)
October discount week (Oct. 8-12)
November, Mondays and Tuesdays (Nov. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27)

Go to Travel Zoo and click on Chicago/midwest hotels. On the site, Expedia.com is having a Chicago summer sale. Depending on your dates, there are hotels within walking distance to everything for $167 per night. May be worth a shot.

Wow! Thank you all for your awesome responses, I just love fodorites!

I'm definately looking into both the Congress Plaza Hotel and the Hostel now. Would we still need transit passes if we stayed at these hotels or would it be better to just pay any bus/subway fares as we go?

Travelbuff - thanks for the suggestion on contacting Girl Scouts. I did leave them a message last month (we even offered to help out with any service projects they might have), but noone got back to me. I just figured they were to busy to deal with these types of requests from out of state troops.

Here is a high level itinerary, any suggestions about timing etc... would be very appreciated!

Weds (we get into Ohare at noon):
Early dinner at Pizzaria Uno
Shopping at Mag Mile
Hancock Tower

Thurs:
Art Museum and Millenium Park
Early dinner
Theater (7:30 showing of Wicked)

Fri:
Museum of Science/Industry (looks like this will be free)
Navy Pier

Sat:
Field Museum
Adler Planetarium
Shedd Aquarium
(We'll most likely split up into groups and each go to two of these, they look relatively close to each other).

Sun:
Lincoln Park Zoo
Beach (which one would be a good choice)
Flight home at 6:00 (any recomendations on when we should leave for the airport?)

Thanks again for all of the great advice!!!

The Congress Plaza and the youth hostel are walking distance to a lot of things - they are both near the intersection of Congress and Michigan. The main benefit would be saving an hour's train time each dirsction. Ad, with a group of 12, you may have a hard time getting on a bus in a group, particularly at rush hour.

Sounds like a fun trip! Wicked is simply amazing.

Here are a few of my thoughts:
I'm not sure what your plans are for the Hancock, but rather than paying the admission fee, I would suggest going to the bar for drinks (soda, etc)/dessert. The Signature Lounge is on the 95th and has a stunning view, and this will most likely be much less expensive than the fee.

There is shopping in the Loop (Macy's, Nordstrom Rack, etc.) pretty close to the Art Institute.

I would definitely suggest the Field Museum and the Shedd over the planetarium. Much more to see, do, look at, etc. Keep in mind that 2 museums in one day is very tiring.

Lincoln Park (home of DePaul University) is a very cool area that I bet the girls would enjoy, and is easily accessible via the Red Line El. This has good shopping and dining, and might be fun - I'd consider it for Sunday.

Have a great trip, Chicago is a blast!

Transit passes are still a good idea because you'll need to get from the airport into the city, then to MSI and the zoo. The trip from ORD to the loop will take about an hour. You may be able to buy passes for a shorter period if you group all your trips into a couple of the days and pay cash either for your trip in or out.

I'm not sure about the recommendation on the Congress. I've heard nothing but bad things and the hotel has had ongoing labor problems for several years. I know there are 2 sides to every story but the strikers have a site at www.congresshotelstrike.info.

If you still wind up at the Super 8, you can save about 30-45 mins by not taking the train through the loop.

I's suggest calling the GS Council again and ask for the Exec Dir's office. Your initial request probably didn't get to the right person, and I'm sure someone there can give you some info. There used to be host troops in Chicago not sure if that program is still in existence.

When you call the hotel ask for group discount and Girl Scout discount, sometimes National even has discounts with hotels, you just have to ask.

Staying at the Congress which will be fine for the kids, you are very close to lots of shopping as well, as some restaurants and sites, and have alot more time to site see, since you won't be spending as much time traveling.

Have a GREAT trip.

Sunflower-- I would poll all of the families in your group to see if they have membership to your local zoo or to any science museums, children's museums etc. Most of these institutions have free reciprocal admissions, so that you could enter the zoo without paying. I don't know if Lincoln Park participates, but it is worth a try. We are working on a Seattle Itinerary, and were already interested in their zoo whene we figured out it would be free. Your girls are obviously too old to enjoy "children's museum" but their siblings may still be going to them. And our children's museum has reciprocal agreements with some science centers.

The trick is, you absolutely must have your membership card. Enjoy your trip!

No need for any membership. The Lincoln Park Zoo is always free.

science and other museums have similar cooperatives. I think I paid for the science museum there.

I am a Girl Scout leader in suburban Chicago. The reason you may be having diffulty getting a response from the council is that we are in the process of merging 5 area councils into 1. If you would like email me directly, I can try to use contacts at my council to get you in touch with someone at the Chicago council. All of the advice you have gotten is great, let's just see if we can't get you a bit of help from the Scouts here. [email protected]

Wow, you are going to have a great time.

The Congress is fine. And I second the notion to skip the Adler. The Shedd is at least 1/2 a day and the Field a whole day if you are at all interested in Natural History, Native Americans, Egyptians etc.

Navy Pier is primarily a good view and tourist type shopping kiosks / fast food, a IMAX theatre and some ships, one ferris wheel, people watching etc. You could spend much less time there if you have a shopping time set up already. Basically it is a good walk/back out to the end of the pier though- but takes no time as opposed to a museum.

Ask your young women to look at the walls in the Shedd and notice the genius designations. They are literally works of art and vintage etc. Not all the views are just into the depths or species "windows"/tanks or shows.

Also I don't see any time to view the Buckingham Fountain. They just started to do the show with colors every hour, and that might be a 4 star to see at the prime night showings or even in the day if coupled with Millenium and/or a serendipity time re shopping day. In June I would absolutely not miss it, AND it is something that can be done as a fallback or in a slot when meals take longer/shorter or some other delay or change in the plan occurs.

I'm so glad the Girl Scouts rep got to you- I know you can stay downtown without that commute with their help re logistics.