Weekend with teenage son

Hi, I%26#39;d like to visit July 6-8 with my 16 year old. I%26#39;m thinking Museum of Science and Industry as he%26#39;s never been there. He%26#39;s been to the aquariam and the art museum so unless there a special exhibit or something I%26#39;d rather do something else. He likes music and art. I%26#39;m also hoping to get suggestions on lodgin. I thnk we%26#39;ll fly into O%26#39;Hare Friday morning. I want to stay downtown of course.

Thanks in advnace for any help. I%26#39;ve had such positive experiences with TripAdvisor.

Sarah

Weekend with teenage son

What would be your budget for hotel per night?

Weekend with teenage son

The zoo would certainly be a good possibility. You could also do something like seeing a performance at Second City (www.secondcity.com/?id=theatres/chicago) and going to the Hancock Observatory. The Field Museum would also be a great choice if you%26#39;ve never been.

I%26#39;d like the best location for $125-$150 a night.

I%26#39;ll check out the Second City shows. Also, do you have any opinion about Supernatural Chicago?

Thanks,

Sarah

If you don%26#39;t already know, there%26#39;s a special exhibit going on at the Museum of Science and Industry called ';CSI: The Experience'; where you get to play the part of a CSI investigator and try to solve a crime. (It opened with some of the stars of ';CSI';.) If you think this would be fun for you and your son, I%26#39;d book your ticket online before you go. (There%26#39;s an additional fee for admission to ';CSI';.) I%26#39;d also suggest going at the first available time. We were there a few years ago when they had a special exhibit on movie-making and got in with the first group. We were really glad we did because it got so crowded afterwards and by being there first, we got to see a lot of the exhibit without the crowds.

I also second the idea of taking your son to see Second City. Our teens had a great time!

Gosh, maybe I have to pick a different weekend. The mainstage show is already sold out for Saturday night ;-(

Any other comedy clubs in town appropriate for teens? He does like that kind of thing.

Also, thanks for the advice about doing the CSI thing early. Does anyone know if it would appeal to older teens?

Thanks,

Sarah

Another comedy club suitable for teens - comedysportzchicago.com/site/…3328_245.htm

Regarding Second City, the shows on the other stages (ETC) are really quite good, too.

Blue Man Group might be fun as well.

Chicago White Sox have home games that weekend.

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I%26#39;ve changed my travel dates to Aug. 10 -12 in order to take in Second City show. Any hotel suggestions for that time? Anything special going on that weekend?

For $125, I would recommend considering use of Priceline. If you have never used Priceline before, it is a deep discount, non-refundable service that allows users to ';bid'; for a hotel in a certain area at a certain star rating. For example, you could bid for a 4* in the River North/North Michigan Ave. area or the Millennium Park/Loop/Grant Park area. Those are the two downtown areas on Priceline.

The service searches if any of the hotels at that star rating in that area will accept your price. If one will, you are automatically locked into that hotel for the rate you bid for those dates. If not, then you can do that same bid again in 24 hours. Keep in mind that you do not select your hotel, the service does and the reservations cannot be changed and are not refundable. The benefit is that you can often get a much lower rate than regular rate.

In your case, I would recommend starting bidding at $75 a night for a 4* in either (whichever one you would like to try for) of the areas mentioned above (River North/NMA or Millennium Park/Loop/GP) and, if that is not accepted, bid $80 a night 24 hours later.

Given the non-refundable nature of the service, please ask any questions about Priceline *before* trying the service for the first time.