Your 3-Day Chicago Tour is designed to give every participant an exciting experience that combines many of the most popular attractions in Chicago along with an opportunity to explore many of the city’s unique attractions. Below is a sample itinerary of how you may want your tour to look. Since we customize each tour we offer, feel free to request changes or substitutions that will best fit your needs.
1
Museum of Science & Industry
This exciting museum has three floors of more than 800 exhibits. Among the many exhibits are a WWII German U-505 submarine, the Apollo 8 Commando Module, a cantilevered Boeing jet, a British Spitfie plane and a 1914 Ford Model T. The museum also has a large section on the human body. Among the items on display is a 20ft tall walk-through model of a heart and there’s also a permanent exhibit covering AIDS. The energy section includes a reconstruction of a 1933 Illinois coal mine which allows people to descend 50 ft into the mine. In the environmental section there is an interactive display explaining the ozone layer and pollution. Other attractions include a Fairy Castle (a dollhouse with working electricity and plumbing), a 3,000 sq ft model railroad, an Omnimax theater, flight simulators and even a baby chick hatchery. This is why the museum attracts more than 2 million visitors a year.
Navy Pier
MARVEL * RIDE * PLAY at Navy Pier’s IMAX Theatre Chicago’s largest flat movie screen soaring six stories! RIDE the Ferris Wheel and see Chicago on this 15 story-high ride. PLAY in the Amazing Chicago’s Funhouse Maze and experience the sights and sounds of Chicago life. Spend time shopping at Barbara’s Bookstore, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Navy Pier Store, The Sports Store and many others. Navy Pier also has great places to eat such as Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. & Marketplace, Chango Loco Mexican Cantina, Billy Goat Tavern & Grill and Capi’s Italian Kitchen. And if you can, experience a dinner cruise, shoreline sightseeing, or a Seadog Speedboat ride available at the Pier!
2
The Field Museum
Spend about 3 hours at the Field Museum without one minute of boredom as you walk through scores of permanent and temporary exhibits spread over 9 acres of floor space. First see the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever unearthed named Sue for the paleontologist who found the dinosaur in 1990 in South Dakota. The real skull is so heavy that a lighter copy had to be mounted on the skeleton and the actual one is displayed nearby. Visitors can explore aspects of the day-to-day world of ancient Egypt, viewing 23 actual mummies and realistic burial scenes, a living marsh environment and canal works, the ancient royal barge, a religious shrine, and a reproduction of a typical marketplace of the period. The Underground Adventure is a “total immersion environment” populated by giant robotic earwigs, centipedes, wolf spiders, and other subterranean critters. That and much more can be seen at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Shedd Aquarium
The Shedd is a city treasure and well deserving of its title as the world’s largest indoor aquarium. The Caribbean Coral Reef entertains spectators with divers feeding nurse sharks, barracudas, stingrays, and hawksbill sea turtles. A crew of friendly trainers puts dolphins through their paces of leaping dives, breaches, and tail walking at the Oceanarium. And a visit to the Wild Reef-Sharks at Shedd brings you up close and personal to sharks and other predators as you observe them through a floor to ceiling window.
Grant Park/Millenium Park
Grant Park is Chicago’s principal downtown park. It is located between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan. The main attraction in Grant Park is the Clarence Buckingham Fountain. The fountain was commissioned in 1927 by Kate Buckingham to honor her late brother Clarence.
Ed Debevic’s
Orchestrated ’50s mayhem recalls the diner in the old television series “Happy Days.” Ed’s is jam-packed with action: period decor and memorabilia, deejays spinning gems from the ’50s-’70s (“Tutti Frutti,” “The Twist”) and gum-cracking wait staff, who shtick it up by dishing out rude comments to all — don’t worry; the sass is all in good fun and part of the joint’s appeal . The “”Route 66″ is available for private parties of up to 35 people, the “Elvis Room” handles groups of up to 40. The bustling corps of valet parkers outside are an amusement in itself. Ed’s is one of the city’s best bets for visiting families.
ComedySportz
ComedySportz is a hilarious audience-interactive comedy competition between two teams of professional comedians, who perform a series of scenes and songs, all based on suggestions from the audience! It is fast paced, upbeat clean fun for your group!
3
Magnificent Mile
Shopping The Magnificent Mile, the northern part of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Lake Shore Drive, is Chicago’s version of the Champs-Elysees: a grand wide boulevard with exclusive shops, museums, restaurants and ritzy hotels.
360 Chicago (Hancock Observatory Deck)
360 Chicago delivers an excellent panorama of the city and an intimate view over nearby Lake Michigan and the various shoreline residential areas. If the view isn’t enough, experience the “talking telescopes” with sound effects, history walls illustrating the growth of the city, and the Skywalk open-air viewing deck which allows you to feel the rush of the wind at 1,000 feet. The Hancock, also known as “Big John” has a high-speed elevator which carries passengers to the observatory in an impressive 40 seconds.