Big City Fun Draws Groups to Chicago

Big City Fun Draws Groups to Chicago Chicago, the Midwest’s largest city, immediately impresses first-time visitors with its world-class architecture and splendid setting on the shores of Lake Michigan. Bursting with 24-hour excitement, the Windy City has enough cultural attractions, shopping opportunities, dining delights and entertainment options to keep tour groups riveted for days.

Many travelers make a beeline to the “Magnificent Mile,” a fashionable stretch of North Michigan Avenue lined with upscale stores like Neiman-Marcus and Tiffany & Co. Fun spots include Hershey’s Chicago, The Disney Store and Niketown.

Water Tower Place, eight levels of familiar retail heavyweights clustered around a chrome-and-glass atrium with see-through elevators, is the most popular of the Mag Mile’s three enclosed malls. The six-level 900 Shops mall is anchored by Bloomingdale’s, while The Shops at North Bridge is home to Nordstrom and smart apparel stores like Ann Taylor Loft, Hugo Boss and Armani Exchange.

Contact Information:

Angela Ingerson Tour Illinois Chairman 1817 S. Neil Street, Suite 201 Champaign, IL 61820-7269 Phone: 1-800-369-6151 Angelai@champaigncounty.org Tourillinois.org

Big City Fun Continued...

Just off the Mile is ESPN Zone, a sports-driven attraction where you can pass a football, toss a basketball, hone your driving skills or play air hockey in the upstairs games gallery. With 100-plus HD TVs in the bars and dining rooms, the Ohio Street hangout is a great place to watch the game.

The 94th-floor John Hancock Observatory, a Michigan Avenue sightseeing highlight, offers panoramic views of the lake and city skyline. Brave souls who venture onto the tiny outdoor viewing deck can hear the commotion 1,000 feet below.

In the central business district, known as the Loop, State Street is downtown Chicago’s traditional retail corridor. Macy’s department store (formerly Marshall Field’s) is one landmark.

Bright marquees on Dearborn, Randolph and State streets mark the Loop’s Theater District, where magnificently restored theaters present plays, musicals and concerts.

Broadway in Chicago brings the best of New York to the exquisite Oriental, Cadillac Palace, Bank of America and Auditorium theaters. Awaiting tour groups in the months ahead are Elton John’s Billy Elliot The Musical, Shrek The Musical and The Lion King, plus a return engagement of Wicked, the longest-running musical in Chicago history. On tap for the holidays is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

The 103rd-floor Skydeck Chicago at Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) is the Loop’s top attraction. The newest feature is The Ledge, a series of glass bays that extend four feet from the world’s tallest skyscraper (110 stories). The enclosed boxes can accommodate four or five people at a time, providing unobstructed views of the streets 1,353 feet below.

Just blocks from Loop stores and theaters, tour members can enjoy free time to wander and take photos at Millennium Park, a downtown gathering spot. Everyone wants to pose at Cloud Gate, a shiny aluminum sculpture better known as “The Bean.” The park’s Crown Fountain features video-displayed faces of a cross-section of Chicagoans. Free concerts draw crowds to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an open-air concert venue designed by famed architect Frank Gehry. Save time to explore Millennium Park’s manicured gardens.

The Art Institute of Chicago, adjacent to Millennium Park, is one of the nation’s foremost art museums and famed for its collection of Impressionist paintings.

Last year it debuted the Modern Wing, the largest addition in its history. The new wing houses the Art Institute’s collections of modern European art, including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian and Salvador Dali, and contemporary art by such masters as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Andy Warhol. Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the Modern Wing is connected to Millennium Park by a pedestrian bridge.

Other nationally recognized temples of culture can be found along the downtown lakefront. Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Adler Planetarium are clustered around the Museum Campus, a tourist magnet located between Grant Park and Soldier Field, home of football’s Chicago Bears.

Contact Information:

Angela Ingerson Tour Illinois Chairman 1817 S. Neil Street, Suite 201 Champaign, IL 61820-7269 Phone: 1-800-369-6151 Angelai@champaigncounty.org Tourillinois.org

Big City Fun Continued...

The Shedd recently renovated its Oceanarium, home of the marine mammal amphitheater where dolphins soar, belugas dance and penguins parade in Fantasea, the new aquatic show.

The Field Museum, known for its dinosaurs, presents the exhibition Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age through Sept. 6. Visitors learn about the colossal mammals (early cousins to the elephant) that roamed the earth millions of years ago and meet 40,000-year-old “Lyuba,” the best-preserved baby mammoth in the world.

Upcoming exhibits at the Field Museum include Climate Change (July 2-Nov. 28) and Gold (Oct. 22, 2010-April 24, 2011). Gold tells of man’s fascination with the world’s most desired metal, offering displays of enormous gold nuggets, gold bullion, coins from shipwrecks, gold bars and jewelry.

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, a few miles south on Lake Shore Drive, just unveiled Science Storms, a new permanent exhibit that reveals the science behind some of nature’s most powerful phenomena—tornadoes, lightning, fire, tsunamis, sunlight, avalanches and atoms in motion. Inside the 24,000-square-foot exhibit, guests can immerse themselves in a 40-foot tornado to experiment with air pressure and wind speed inside a towering vortex of vapor; create a high-voltage lightning storm by discharging volts of energy from a giant Tesla coil to discover electricity and magnetism; trigger a 20-foot avalanche to reveal the beauty of granular dynamics; and discover the power and motion of waves by unleashing a tsunami across a 30-foot wave tank.

The stormy exhibit is part of an overall plan by the Museum of Science and Industry to change or update nearly 90 percent of its exhibit space by 2011. Old standbys include the underground Coal Mine, U-505 Submarine (captured from the Germans in World War II) and a Boeing 727 aircraft. The five-story Omnimax theater also is part of the 14-acre museum complex.

Navy Pier, a year-round visitor magnet, abounds with amusements, most notably its giant Ferris wheel. From the docks at Navy Pier, sightseeing and dining cruises set sail on Lake Michigan, offering grand views of the Chicago skyline. Tall Ships 2010, a spectacle of sailing vessels set for Aug. 24-29, will be one of the Pier’s biggest summer events.

Besides a food court and beer garden, Navy Pier has many other restaurants, including the new Harry Caray’s Tavern, the latest in a group of eateries bearing the name of the Hall of Fame baseball announcer. Its museum features a rotating display of sports memorabilia.

Contact Information:

Angela Ingerson Tour Illinois Chairman 1817 S. Neil Street, Suite 201 Champaign, IL 61820-7269 Phone: 1-800-369-6151 Angelai@champaigncounty.org Tourillinois.org

Big City Fun Continued...

In addition to street performers, entertainment at Navy Pier includes the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier IMAX Theater and seasonal shows like Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9 (June 2-Sept. 6), a Chinese acrobatic extravaganza at the canopied, open-air Pepsi Skyline Stage.

Along the lakefront north of downtown, Lincoln Park offers several top-notch attractions. Free-admission Lincoln Park Zoo is next to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a turn-of-the-20th-century greenhouse lush with exotic plants. Nearby, surround yourself with 1,000 free-flying butterflies at the Notebaert Nature Museum’s year-round Butterfly Haven.

At the Chicago History Museum, also in Lincoln Park, groups can view Abraham Lincoln artifacts, delve into sports lore, learn about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 or relive the 1893 World’s Fair. Guided gallery tours can be arranged as can historically themed bus tours for groups with their own coach.

Another city tour option is Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co., which operates hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours in trolleys and double-decker buses. There are 18 stops on the narrated, 13-mile circuit. Groups of 15 or more receive a 20 percent discount.

With its unsurpassed beauty and limitless list of things to do, Chicago keeps groups coming back again and again.

Contact Information:

Angela Ingerson Tour Illinois Chairman 1817 S. Neil Street, Suite 201 Champaign, IL 61820-7269 Phone: 1-800-369-6151 Angelai@champaigncounty.org Tourillinois.org