July 27th, 2008 larry
LEGOLAND Discover Center Chicago formally opens this Thursday, but is open all week as part of a soft launch. We were lucky enough to be invited to a preview for the media on Friday to try out the new place. It is easy to see that LEGOLAND is going to be a huge winner. There are two distinct experiences at LEGOLAND. There is the part that showcases amazing LEGO creations by Master LEGO Builders and the play space where children get a chance for hands-on LEGO play. All of this is included in the admission price of $19 for adults and $15 for children (2 and under are free). If you think you’ll frequent LEGOLAND, annual passes are $67/$53 for admission for everyday, and $48/$38 for weekdays only.
The entire first floor is dedicated to LEGO creations. It is educational and beautiful. You enter into Miniland Chicago. The LEGO people surveyed locals to find out which buildings were most iconic to Chicagoans and scaled them down perfectly. These replicas are stunning and it’s fun to go through and pick out your favorite architectural landmarks — brownstones, Sears Tower, John Hancock, and Museum of Contemporary Art are just a few. The space then flows into the Jungle Expedition, again a mind-boggling display of LEGO art. You can choose to pick up an age-appropriate scratch card so you can look around the Jungle and answer questions with your kids.
Next is the Hall of Fame with pop culture characters made of LEGOs, which brings you to the Dragon Ride, a tame amusement-parkish ride through a medievil world. The woman giving the tour let us know they had made the Chicago ride more “magical” then the Darker version in Germany which had been too scary for some children. It’s not scary, but does include a Dragon and a dark space with bats on the ceiling. Nothing looks too realistic since,
of course, everything is made of LEGOs.
Upstairs is the LEGO Factory, which briefly and comically (almost Willy Wonka style) shows how LEGOs are made. All children get to take a souvenir LEGO as they exit. The 4-D movie Spellbreaker 4-D is an enjoyable 14 minutes. You wear 3-D glasses and the 4-D effects are added with blowing air, spraying water, and falling snow. At the end of the movie, the Dragon sneezes, getting everyone a little wet in the audience. A pretty hilarious ending. There is an evil wizard and some skeleton type ghosts. The animation is very simple, so nothing looks very menacing; but if your child is at all sensitive you may want to skip it.
The play space is where all of the action is, though. There are six different areas, organized by age, to support your LEGO making artists, a climbing maze, and the cafeteria. From the largest, softest LEGOs for very small kids to the smallest LEGOs for your serious builder. LEGOLAND has done a great job offering something for everyone.
Though you could build anything, there is definitely quite a bit of raw material for building cars and trucks. Wheels of all sizes — including monster wheels, chasis, parts to make pullback cars, and car bodies are available to create your automobile creation. Once you have made a car, the real fun starts. You can climb stairs to two different ramps to zoom your cars down. Cars jump or fall into a hole at the bottom of the ramp. Really fast cars jump over the entire hole onto the floor and race across the place. For little kids, you may want to help your kid out by standing at the bottom of the ramp to retrieve their car because it is quite competitive and kids swarm the cars at the bottom.
Even better than the ramps is the race track. The race track is also a ramp with a silver gate that you place the cars behind. There are 5 or 6 slots for cars to race at a time. Pushing a button on the track causes a timer to count down from three (Listen to the kids shout at the top of their lungs, “3, 2, 1!”). The light goes from red to green after the screen says 1, the silver gate lowers and the cars race down the track. Kids cheer on their cars, there are crashes, and the pandemonium to retrieve the car and place it back on the track for the next race is on. Sometimes, kids line up cars two or three deep for the race. If my kid zoomed his car down the ramp 100 times, he must have done 500 races. Watching kids sprinting to line up their cars in the best positions (you don’t want to be the last slot on either side because the cars usually just run into the walls) with a huge smile on their face was awesome.
But let’s face it, the best part of building a LEGO structure is knocking it down. This fact is not lost on the LEGOLAND designers who created an earthquake station. You can build a structure as large as you want and then you can start an earthquake at your specific station. You can even regulate the “size” of the earthquake with a dial to increase or decrease the amount of shaking. The way we played the game was we started with a small building, started an earthquake, and watched if our building fell down. If it didn’t fall, we would make it bigger and bigger until it fell in a giant crash that ends in giggling. In some cases, I had to hoist my kid up because he couldn’t reach the top of his building.
Though this might all sound very masculine, there is a girl specific area of the play space called LEGO Girls. All of the LEGOs are some shade of pink, and cars are replaced with dolls, houses, and animals. I would not say that all of the girls were playing in LEGO Girls, but definitely the majority. Right in this area is also a Model Workshop. Model builders will teach kids how to build complicated LEGO structures every 60 minutes or so.
Of course, no LEGOLAND would not be complete without the huge LEGO blocks. There are two areas that store the huge LEGO bricks where you can make extremely large creations. Though there is no earthquake in this area, the LEGO bricks are spongy because, of course, the best part is knocking these things down as well.
The climbing maze is a fairly small structure with a couple of climbing pieces, a small slide, and a slightly larger slide. It seems a little out of place, but LEGOLAND management told us that their research unanimously recommended that the kids need some physical activity to burn off their energy after an intense day of LEGO building. It seemed to me that running back and forth to get your cars serves the same purpose, but maybe more of a side effect than an intention.
LEGOLAND is also going to be a popular birthday party venue. There are 3 price categories: $19.95, $22.95, and $29.95 per person. All parties include admission to LEGOLAND and 50 minutes of time in one of their 3 party rooms. You can choose either the Jungle Room or the Castle Room. Each holds up to 50 people and the Jungle rooms can be combined for a maximum of 100 guests. These rooms are small, so expect to use them only for meals, cake and sit down entertainment. One cool offering is having a Model Builder come to your party room, to teach the guests how to make something fantastic out of LEGOs. If you think you might be interested, book ASAP. They aren’t sold out, but some people have parties booked as far out as September 2009.
Though the event was supposed to be an intimate gathering for the media, 200 kids from the YMCA also attended. This allowed us to see what the venue will be like when it is crowded as well as a more relaxed environment. What we saw is that LEGOLAND’s major challenge is going to be crowd control. When the place is crowded with kids, it is very difficult to get access to LEGOs, cars, ramps, and race tracks and there is a huge anxiety for kids not to give up their toys. LEGOLAND management is already thinking ahead on this issue as well. On-line purchasers will be able to walk right into the facility, while visitors who purchase tickets at the store may have to wait in line on crowded days. We think the price will help control the crowds as well.
The event was scheduled to go from 10-12. We did not leave until 1:00pm and after 3 hours we still had to drag our kid out, (”Just one more race!” he lied several times). LEGOLAND is a place you will have to visit and LEGOLAND is going to encourage you through a variety of promotions and discounts in August. Crazy Kids will be giving away some tickets as well. LEGOLAND is professional, educational, and an enormous amount of fun. Your kid will have an amazing time and you’ll find yourself giggling as well during LEGO earthquakes.
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Larry and Donna
Mom Says: The Cafe will be offering a full range of food for adults and children. They promise healthy options to go along with the pizza and hot dogs. The tables are set up so that parents can watch their children while enjoying the free WiFi, magazines and newspapers provided by LEGOLAND. There is ample seating all around the play space if you prefer to be closer to where your kids are playing.
Dad Says: Based on the decibel level, I thought I was actually at a Nascar events watching these kids race cars. It is actually 3 races in one: First, the car race down the ramp. Second, the race to retrieve your car. Third, the race to get your car in the next race. My kid asked on Saturday and Sunday when we are going back. I see an annual pass in our future.
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July 20th, 2008 larry
One of the most unique ideas we have seen in a while is The FireZone in Glenview. Run by active firefighters, the FireZone teaches fire safety and firefighter techniques in a fun (and sometimeshysterical) way. The FireZone is mostly targeted at birthday parties and private events that range in price from $295 to $375, but they also have some 1 hour Drop-In Adventures that are $9.
The FireZone is an intimate venue that is set up like a firehouse. The front area is used forinstruction, coloring, and eating lunch and birthday cake. The back area is where all of the action is. There is a pair of ladders where the kids can learn to hoist and lower the ladders. There is awooden house with fake fire. Kids are given a water pump and hose to pretend to put the fire out. There is a full size fire engine that kids can play with the steering wheel, push buttons, ring bells, or climb on the back of the engine where the hoses and ladders are. There are complete firefighter outfits for the kids including the helmet, boots, coat, and overalls. Finally, there is a back room that simulates rescuing a child from a smoky house.
These features on their own are a pretty fun hour of entertainment. We did a Drop In Adventure and dressed up our kid in the firefighter outfit, which is worth the price of admission itself. You really can’t take enough pictures of your kid with over-sized firefighter garb and boots they can barely walk around in. If it is possible to get your kid out of the fire engine (which was not easy for us), putting out the fires is usually a pretty good team task as most kids won’t be able to pump the water and aim the hose at the same time. Watch out as there are some firefighters with poor aim from time to time.
But using the FireZone as a playhouse is not the purpose of the place and you really don’t reap the benefits or the fun. It is the scheduled events that really show the FireZone’s value. Taught by active firefighters from the area, the FireZone’s goal is to teach fire safety and maybe more importantly, team work. As team work is essential to real life firefighting, it is natural for the instructors to reinforce these principals with the kids. The party works as follows:
* First the kids gather up front and do some coloring as they get acclimated to their surroundings and wait for all the guests to arrive.
* The instructors then provide some skills training around how to use the equipment in the back room and give a preview of what they are going to do for the rest of the day. Groups are then split into teams and get dressed to go put out fires and saves lives.
* Then they get in the fire engine in a mock ride to an incident.
* Kids learn fireman techniques as they raise ladders and use the water pumps to put out fires. One kid pumps and the other one aims the hose. Then they switch. If the kids are older they have mini competitions and relay races.
* But the finale is the best part. The back room is set up like a child’s (Timmy) bedroom and they start a smoke machine. The smoke machine sets off the smoke alarm and that is the cue for the kid firefighters to bust in the room. Kids are helping to carry the heavy, real-life hoses and they have to stay low, because it is smoky of course. The instructor has hid Timmy in the room some place and the kids need to find Timmy and carry him out as a team.
The firefighters are absolutely great with kids and they make the learning fun. They create relay races with the water pumps and ladders and try to explain all of the details of the job. Our kid kept putting on his helmet backwards until they explained that falling debris from the ceiling needs to fall off the back of the helmet, not down the back of your coat. As adults, the place seems a bit small and the special effects quite simple, but I don’t think the kids really notice as it is all new to them. If your kid likes to sit in the fire engine on the playground or he has more than one fire engine at home, this is a great event. You can do birthday parties, play groups, school field trips, or invite them to block parties. They’ll even bring the whole event to your home.
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Mom says: The Drop In Adventure is a great opportunity to check out the place before you book a party. They do them a few times a month so refer to the website. Don’t expect the full experience though - they save that for the parties.
Dad says: When I was kid we used to play Emergency! on the couch and used a paper cup to call Rampart. Now you can actually run into a smoke filled room with a hose and eat chocolate cake afterwards.
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July 13th, 2008 larry
The new production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has just opened at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. We got tickets for our nearly four year old grandson and took him to a 2:00 matinee. It was packed with kids, parents, grandparents and camp groups. We enjoyed it very much. The show is $23 for adults, $18 for kids, and parking at Navy Pier is painfully expensive. Shakespeare validates parking at 40% off and if you eat lunch at Riva’s, they valet for $10 and you can leave your car during the show.
We’d seen the original movie with Gene Wilder and the man playing Willy Wonka reminded us of him. He was very talented and kept the show moving at a brisk pace. The production runs about an hour no intermission. There are lots of memorable songs and it seems like one pops up every few minutes. The play opens with the lights off and a spotlight on Willy Wonka singing “Pure Imagination”, a song adults will immediately remember. Chocolate factory workers run down each of the aisles and dance and sing on the stage. It’s a show stopper and it’s the first song! “The Candy Man” is another song everyone will remember, and we walked out of the play singing this one. Each of the children sings a solo, all of which are dance numbers too.
There’s an extensive use of puppets and masks which we found a little strange. In all the scenes at Charlie’s house, the four grandparents who are supposed to be in bed all the time, are actually puppets with real people standing behind the bed manipulating them and saying their lines. Also all the parents of the kids with the winning tickets, are wearing strange masks. And the Oompa-Loompas are also puppets who are attached to real people who guide them along. We just found the whole use of puppets and masks to be disconcerting. I liked the mechanical squirrels who are nut-testers for the chocolates. And at the end of the show, some of the actors came out to talk to the kids and pose for pictures.
The set of the Chocolate Factory is very cool and it’s introduced with lots of strobe lights and sounds. The chocolate factory is a large contraption of tubes and wires and flashing lights, with lots of sound effects. Then the sets change as Willy Wonka takes the kids from room to room. The room with all the bubbles is very cool, where lots of bubble configurations seemingly floating around. It’s also fun when Violet turns into a huge blueberry, which they show by lighting her all in blue and having her blow a giant bubble from her bubblegum. When Mike throws himself into a miniaturizing machine and comes out as a doll, the audience cracks up. Augustus, who can’t stop eating chocolate, gets rolled up into a giant piece of brown fabric that represents a chocolate river. So all the children disappear in imaginative ways. And they all come back at the end so there’s nothing to worry about.
There’s also a nifty bubble-making machine and other fun things, such as a scene with a boat that’s rowed with giant lollipops instead of oars. The kids seemed to laugh the most at Willy Wonka throwing up (pretend) after he finds a sneaker in the vat of chocolate. Another popular scene is when Charlie can’t stop burping after he’s swallowed some of the bubble potion. The Shakespeare group has done a great job updating the production to modern times. For instance, Mike walks around with a remote control that he aims at everything he can.
This is a fantastic interpretation of the original movie. The one hour show goes by really fast and the kids laughed and giggled the entire time. Shakespeare Theater has a great cast, has done a great job with the set, and puts on a very enthusiastic show.
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Grandma and Grandpa
Grandma says: I love the story of Willy Wonka and had taken my kids to see the play when they were little. It was really fun to see it with my grandson. Be sure not to miss the fun kid activities inside the program.
Grandpa says: I expected this show to be just another kids’ show but I really enjoyed it. The music was great and I really enjoyed our pre-performance lunch on the Riva patio on the pier.
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July 7th, 2008 larry
If it goes Choo! Choo! it has to be on the radar of things to do. We ride the train at Navy Pier, and the Lincoln Park Zoo, and Kiddieland. But one day a year, you get to ride the Prince of all trains, Thomas, at Day Out With Thomas in Union, Illinois. This year Thomas will be in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday August 15-17 and Saturday and Sunday August 23 & 24. Tickets cost $18 for each person 2 years and older. The admission includes a 20 minute ride on Thomas. The train runs every 1/2 hour and you must buy tickets for a specific time. So if you prefer to go on a particular date or need to work around nap schedules, buy your tickets now because they go fast.
As you approach the event, you will cross railroad tracks where you might get a glimpse of Thomas chugging toward you. He’ll come right at you and it’s worth timing it just right so your kid can get a clear glimpse of Thomas. If your kid is like ours, he may be slightly freaked out when he sees Thomas for the first time. Though our kid saw many different replicas on a small scale, seeing the full size Thomas struck a combination of awe, excitement, and bewilderment. I remember him saying “Why is Thomas out of the TV?”
Once you get into the grounds, it is train utopia. The main event is your 20 minute ride on Thomas which is cute and exciting for the little guys. There are exhibits with electric model trains that the kids can watch, Thomas train tables to play with and you can meet Sir Topham Hat. In addition there are puppet shows, magic shows, live music and storytelling.
Day Out with Thomas is held at the Illinois Railway Museum, so aside from the Thomas related activities there are many trains on display that you can learn about and climb on. There is a non-Thomas train you can ride that takes you around the event grounds. This is a nice ride on a steam engine, but beware that it is a 30 to 40 minute ride. We were shocked and our kid was a little antsy when it took an unexpected amount of time, so you have been warned.
You won’t be raving about the food at Thomas’ Day Out and it is not a bad idea to bring with some of your kid’s favorites. We would recommend any of the barbecue sandwiches and there is always ice cream.
If your kid wants to be a useful engine, Day Out with Thomas is a quick burst of excitement. There aren’t a ton of things to do, but you’ll get some great pictures, some great laughs, and a pretty happy kid. For Thomas fanatics, it is worth the ride on a nice day in August.
Review Day Out With Thomas Here
Larry and Donna
Mom Says: For the years in our son’s life when Thomas was his favorite toy and favorite TV show, this was a fabulous event for us. It was really exciting for him to see the engine in person and overall is was a fun day for the family. If your child is in the “Thomas Stage”, I would definitely recommend this event.
Dad Says: Our Thomas phase might be coming to an end as things like Buzz Lightyear and Speed Racer are becoming more exciting, but every year we look forward to seeing his face when he sees Thomas for the first time of the day, and we are not disappointed.
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