help - surpise stop in chicago

[alicia1506]

hi all,

so we have always wanted to go to chicago and i'm thinking of adding a suprise stop in chicago for 3 nights between our east coast cruise & our disneyland visit...

thought i'd come to the DIS for advice if any fellow DISers have visited chicago for hotel/attraction/dining recommendations.

it is only 2 of us this time, so a standard hotel room will suit us fine. the one thing i especially want to see is the christkindlmarket as i was thinking of swinging through chicago dec 1-4

any help???

 

[maryr1oz]

Hi Alicia,

We spent a week in Chicago during summer a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. It's such a beautiful city!

We stayed at the Hotel Seneca - it had good Trip Advisor ratings and the location was fantastic. It's right off the Miracle Mile. We spent the trip doing alot of walking around the city, the Millenium Park is great, as is Navy Pier and the Miracle Mile area. We spent a day at the Field Museum, and took an architectural tour cruise on the river. There are some amazing restaurants there too.

I guess travelling in winter would make it a different kind of experience to the walking we did everywhere, but there is just something really special about that city that really made me love it. It's also the city my husband proposed to me in

We had a rental car and drove down to Chicago from Milwaukee, driving in the city was fine too, although we didn't need to do it much.

Hope that information helps you a little...

 

[queenie82]

Look up these guys about tours of the city.

I do know they run the walking tours in winter weather pending...but the rostering will all vary...

http://www.architecture.org/

Become a member if you will be doing lots. But they are worth EVERY PENNY!!!!
Do the river cruise if it is running. But as I say. I'm not sure if they run in winter.

Chicago is one of my all time favourite Cities. It is currently bitterly cold...which is why people don't go there in winter. When you say 'swing by' to you mean flying through o'hare airport?

Do understand weather will cancel and delay flights through o'hare. It may be a hub for United...but you do have weather issues that COULD happen.
Of course fog around california last weekend diverted aircraft to LAX...so it can happen anywhere. But do be prepared for IF you might miss something important if you are delayed.

We stayed at the Homewood Suites which were AWESOME!!! Taxi drivers are crazier than NYC but they will get you around quickly and easily...

 

[alicia1506]

thanks for the suggestions so far...

we are looking at flying in & out through midway, and travelling with southwest who offer about 10-15 flights per day and lots of alternatives/changes if the weather does go bonkers.

we will be there from dec 1-4, and we'll be just off a cruise in the caribbean from nov 24-dec 1, so the change in temps will be horrendous... but it's something we have always wanted to do and i'm very conscious of the fact that if i keep pushing it to the next trip & the next one... it will never happen.

so i've decided i'm surprising carlo with it this trip... he won't know until we're on the ground as he isn't involved in the planning and i told him our flight from orlando to LA involved a stopover in chicago airport anyways

 

[alicia1506]

so i've done my sums... and the flight from MCO-MDW and then from MDW-LAX is the same price as the original flight we were going to do from MDC-LAX.

the accomodation we are looking at works out as relatively cheap, as we got a great deal, and since we'll be spending those 3 nights in chicago, our disneyland vacation accomodation just got cheaper, as those first 3 nights were at a premium rate... now the chicago accomodation + the disneyland accom = our previous disneyland accom rate...

it's almost like we're going to chicago for free clearly this part of the trip is meant to be.

we're thinking of visiting the christkindlemarket, wrigley field, the science museum, milennium park and union station as our 'must-do' list...

i want to do some shopping in mag mile & we want to see some other arts/cultural events/shows etc while we're there, but if we can do the above 5 things in 3 full days in town, then we will be happy with our time.

just checked the weather and for december (based on historical figures) it's looking to be around -1 degree C to about 8 degrees C. lol. just a wee bit chilly. but you know... it's good to experience different climates.

now, to buy a tablet comp so we can skype on the trip, save all our $$$, put down all our deposits and plan, plan, plan