Citylghts

If you're arriving at 9 AM, you'd miss most of the morning commute crowd on the trains.

A cab would take about the same amount of time as the shuttle.

I forgot one more option that comes in the middle of the others at around 75-minutes. You can catch the X54 bus at the Midway transit center. It leaves about every 12-15 minutes and goes express up Cicero Avenue to the Jefferson Park Blue Line Station. From there, Rosemont is 2 stops on the Blue Line. The bus leg would take an hour and another 10-15 minutes on the train.

You can buy visitor passes at the Midway station. The vending machine accepts cash and plastic.

Whether the savings is worth the extra hour of travel is a personal choice. I'd have to think about it if it were me.

Not to confuse things more, but another option would be to take the Orange Line into the loop and spend a couple hours exploring before heading out to Rosemont. You could check your bags at one of the larger hotels as though you were going to check-in later, then claim them when you head out as though you'd checked out earlier in the day. You're paying for the service so it's not as though you're stealing anything and the bellmen mind if you add a couple bucks for tip.

dmlove

And of course, are all of these extra steps worth saving $80-$90?

It's not.

Spivonious

Good news! The fares for the flight I was interested in to ORD dropped by $40 per person, so the decision was much easier. To O'Hare it is!

(planning trips is so exciting! )

Nevisian

You can't do it. O'Hare is too far out of the city. You should plan on attending your three day conclave and then moving to a hotel downtown for three days to accomplish what you have programmed for yourself. The Shedd, Field Museum and Planetarium are campused together. The Art Institute, Millenium Park, and the Achitecture tour as well as enjoying the Loop area (Sears Tower, State and Randolph Streets...) are another day. N. Michigan Ave, The John Hancock, Chicago Historical Society and the Lincoln Park Zoo (+ Lincoln Park) are a third day. Maybe you could snag tix to the Cubs (and hope for a night game). If you still have time, you can add Chinatown or Wicker Park to your agenda.

andrews98682

I agree with just about everything said here. Based on what you've written, I would put the Science Museum high on the list. Also, you might want to check out some of the music clubs like Buddy Guy's or Schubas or Kinston Mines. Another thing: Do you need to spend that much time at the convention?

5alive

I would still go to the Art Institute even if some of the good Impressionist works are gone. Be sure to see Picasso's The Old Guitarist and Hopper's Nighthawks.

cd

Sppivonious
I also recommend a river Architectual Tour. I've taken two of them and really kind of liked this one the best: http://www.seadogcruises.com/Chicago...eArchitect.cfm

It's on a speed boat, you first tour and learn about the river and buildings and then go thru the locks and take a speed boat ride on the lake. It's nice to see Chicago from a lake view and in August when it's hot the speed boat ride is cooling.

Also, The Signature Lounge offers a buffet Mon thru Sat for $18.00 pp. It's not bad at all, we enjoyed it! and the view is wonderful! Ask for a window seat. http://www.signatureroom.com/Cuisine/lunch.cfm?PID=4

Also, if you go to Shedd (which I think is great) or Field (I found Sue interesting)They are both close together and near a bike and walking path around the Marina.

madgirl

Navy Pier

dmlove

Navy Pier is a waste of time (IMHO of course !).

Spivonious

Good to see that my thread is still getting views!

Is there anything at the Science Museum that sets it apart from similar places like the Franklin Institute in Philly? If so it might be interesting to stop by.

We definitely want to spend some time at a blues club too, I think the smaller the better, but definitely in a friendly place (maybe the movies have jaded me, but being the suburbia-type person in a tough-looking crowd isn't too appealing). I read that a lot of people go to Buddy Guy's...is it too touristy?

I hear the Architecture Foundation river tour is the best. Can anyone compare that one to the one cd mentioned?

The Navy Pier seems a lot like Baltimore's Inner Harbor or Philly's Penn's Landing, i.e. a waste of time. Is there something different here?

Again, thanks for everyone's help! It's nice to have this resource.

Citylghts

I'd recommend the Chicago Architecture Foundation's cruises. Their guides undergo rigorous training that isn't necessarily required of the others.

The lake cruise is ok, but you spend a great deal of time going through the locks between the river and lake.

You could go to Navy Pier if you wanted to take some great photos of the skyline otherwise, it's mostly overpriced food and souvenir shops. There's a good stained glass museum, but given your tight schedule, you may want to save that for next trip.

cd

Spivonious
Most people do recommend the Architecture Foundation river tour. We're boaters, so I admit I'm biased. I love being on the Lake!

laurieb_nyny

Another Architectural river cruis is conducted by the Chicago Historical Society. It is excellent. Between that & the Architecture Foundation, I think, just depends on your (& their) schedule.

andrews98682

Spivonious,
To answer your question about the Science Museum: Yes, plenty.
The Silver Streak train.
The German U-boat (even if you don't tour the submarine, the exhibit surrounding it is worthwhile).
The mine tour.
The dollhouse (which was a silent movie star's. The house and everything in it is made of, like, 24K gold and silver).
The world's fastest automobile.
That's just a very short list of the permanent exhibits, and they usually have good traveling exhibit, like the recent CSI. You can easily spend a day there. Also, the science museum is the last remaining building from the world's fair.

Lexma90

I would also say the Architecture Foundation's river cruise is very good, and I'd pick it over the others, because of the quality of the guides and their information. Their tour that I've taken goes primarily up and down the Chicago River, though I believe you also spend a short time out on Lake Michigan (which is a fabulous view).

I haven't been to the blues bars in Chicago for a LONG time (pre-kids), but as I recall, it's not a rough crowd. It's just a bunch of people who really like to listen to blues. That's not really "rough types" kind of music.

The biggest down side to the Museum of Science and Industry is that it's quite a bit farther south than the other attractions. Look at the website to see if their exhibits are worth your time. We hadn't been for years, then took our kids during a visit to Chicago several years ago. We ended up spending much more time there than we originally planned, we all enjoyed it so much.

Navy Pier, IMHO, is a big waste of time. It's like all those other cities with their cookie-cutter tourist attractions with cookie-cutter stores.

dmlove

Their tour that I've taken goes primarily up and down the Chicago River, though I believe you also spend a short time out on Lake Michigan (which is a fabulous view).

They have a river/lake tour and a river only tour. We took the river only tour in September and it was excellent. You get a much different perspective from the river side, and the information is very interesting. Chicago's architecture is awesome!