TZDugong goes to Chicago

TZDugong

TZDugong

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5+ year member
So in just over a week I will be off to Chicago on a short 4-day trip that should hopefully be filled with some great zoos and animals. I know, exciting right!

The 3 zoos/aquariums I intend on visiting are the Brookfield Zoo, Shedd Aquarium and the Lincoln Park Zoo, 3 large attractions that I can't wait to visit. This is my third time visiting Chicago so none of these zoos will be new too me, but my last visit was back in 2012 which was before I became a real zoo enthusiast.

Anyway, the reason I started this thread a week before my visit was so that I could get some feedback/advice on what animals are must sees, best time to see certain animals (hint hint, Pangolin:D) and general advice about the 3 places. Also, what are some good non-zoo things to do in Chicago? I'm leaning heavily towards doing the Field, but is the planetarium nearby also worth seeing? So that's about it, I'm super excited to go to Chicago, it should be great!
 
I've never been to the Planetarium. The Field Museum is a must-do for anyone into wildlife. I also suggest that doing a day of Lincoln Park Zoo/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is usually cool.
 
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If you want to see an active pangolin, its usually wake around 4 PM for about 15 to 20 minutes. This is from personal experience and there is also a "zoochat" at that time as well. Both the field museum and planetarium are excellent places, though I haven't been to either in a few years so I can't help much there. If you do have some time, may I recommend that the cosley zoo in Wheaton is not that far of a drive and is very small. Its a splendid little place that you could squeeze in if the time allows.

Have a great trip! :)
 
birdsandbats said:
I've never been to the Planetarium. The Field Museum is a must-do for anyone into wildlife. I also suggest that doing a day of Lincoln Park Zoo/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is usually cool.
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Hmmm, I've never heard of the Peggy Notabert Nature Museum, what kind of stuff does it have? And I'll almost certainly go to the Field Museum.
 
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TZDugong said:
Hmmm, I've never heard of the Peggy Notabert Nature Museum, what kind of stuff does it have? And I'll almost certainly go to the Field Museum.
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It has lots of cool taxidermy and a cool herp and invert collection. Parts of it are basically an indoor zoo. It is a short walking distance from LPZ.
 
pachyderm pro said:
If you want to see an active pangolin, its usually wake around 4 PM for about 15 to 20 minutes. This is from personal experience and there is also a "zoochat" at that time as well. Both the field museum and planetarium are excellent places, though I haven't been to either in a few years so I can't help much there. If you do have some time, may I recommend that the cosley zoo in Wheaton is not that far of a drive and is very small. Its a splendid little place that you could squeeze in if the time allows.

Have a great trip! :)
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Thanks for the Pangolin tip, I will definitely use your advice! Unfortunately I will be relying on public transport so I can't really do anything outside the city. Maybe next time!
 
To remind you that the times for the trains to brookfield zoo are different on weekends.
 
I'm looking forward to reading your review, this was one of the trips I strongly considered doing last month (ended up doing Omaha).
 
The_UltimateBea said:
The planetarium isnt that large but it has a great scale model of the solar system. Worth a visit.
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Yep I bet it’s worth a visit, but I’m pretty stretched for time already on this trip, so I probably won’t make it to the planetarium.
 
carlos55 said:
To remind you that the times for the trains to brookfield zoo are different on weekends.
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I’ll probably visit Brookfield on the Friday (less crowds!), so I probably won’t use this information, but if my plan changes then thanks for the advice!
 
Only one day to go before I leave for Chicago (:)), and my final question is, can Shedd and Lincoln Park be done on the same day? This would certainly free up some time to do some interesting non-zoo things, but I want to know if anyone has done it and if it's doable.
 
TZDugong said:
Only one day to go before I leave for Chicago :))), and my final question is, can Shedd and Lincoln Park be done on the same day? This would certainly free up some time to do some interesting non-zoo things, but I want to know if anyone has done it and if it's doable.
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No. At least not in my experience. Shedd takes an entire day. You could do something in the same day as Lincoln Park, but not on the same day as Shedd and certainly not on the same day.

However, the experience of other ZooChatters may differ.
 
birdsandbats said:
No. At least not in my experience. Shedd takes an entire day. You could do something in the same day as Lincoln Park, but not on the same day as Shedd and certainly not on the same day.

However, the experience of other ZooChatters may differ.
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Thanks for your information, although I'm not a fish fanatic (I like them but don't love them) and I have been before. Could Shedd combined with the Field Museum work?
 
Went to the Brookfield Zoo today, the in-depth review will come later, but this post will be my general impressions of the zoo. Overall, the zoo was surprisingly excellent, much better than I expected. Highlights included an overhead Prevost Squirrel tunnel in the Clouded Leopard Rain Forest, an unexpected Pigmy Loris (first time ever seeing this species!) in TropicWorld, and of course Phataginus Tricupis, a truly exceptional animal, well worth the 30 minutes I waited before it was fed. Tomorrow is the Shedd and perhaps Lincoln Park, hopefully as great as Brookfield!
 
I would agree about trying to reserve a full day for the Field. You can spend the bulk of a day there without visiting the taxidermy section, which makes up a massive share of the main floor. Also, be sure to stop in the basement, where there are a few notable taxidermy displays separate from those on the main floor, including the Arctic display which has always been a favorite of mine. If you like dinosaurs, the Field has a special exhibit right now in addition to their usual Dinosaur Hall and the new titanosaur in the Main Hall.

There's not much I can say about Lincoln Park that you probably wouldn't already know from here., but I hope you enjoy the visit and look forward to your thoughts!

If you get a chance to try some Chicago-style deep dish pizza, I'd probably recommend it. Lou Malnati's is the most famous choice, and I know many non-residents and people who've left the city who still swear by it. There's plenty of other places if that one's too inconvenient.
 
JVM said:
I would agree about trying to reserve a full day for the Field. You can spend the bulk of a day there without visiting the taxidermy section, which makes up a massive share of the main floor. Also, be sure to stop in the basement, where there are a few notable taxidermy displays separate from those on the main floor, including the Arctic display which has always been a favorite of mine. If you like dinosaurs, the Field has a special exhibit right now in addition to their usual Dinosaur Hall and the new titanosaur in the Main Hall.

There's not much I can say about Lincoln Park that you probably wouldn't already know from here., but I hope you enjoy the visit and look forward to your thoughts!

If you get a chance to try some Chicago-style deep dish pizza, I'd probably recommend it. Lou Malnati's is the most famous choice, and I know many non-residents and people who've left the city who still swear by it. There's plenty of other places if that one's too inconvenient.
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Thanks for the Field tips, I’m definitely visiting the Shedd and Lincoln Park today (leaving right after this post!), because I really want to see the Field properly.

As for the deep dish pizza, I did that yesterday, taking the Metro train to Union Station (super busy!) and then taking a 25 minute walk to Pizzeria Uno, which I think is one of the more famous ones (I went fairly early but when I left the line was huge). The pizza was pretty good, deep dish reminds me a bit of quiche for some reason.
 
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