The Field Museum

1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, USA

Address:	1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
Phone:	+1 312-922-9410
Site:	fieldmuseum.org
Rating:	4.6
Working:	9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM 9AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 4

Matt Uhlman

It been a long time since Ive been to the Field Museum, however as soon as we showed up, the memories came flooding back! This place really is the standard against which all of the museums are based, at least in my mind. Upon entering, you are greeted by a number of folks who would love to sell you a family membership. We may actually consider this if we were here more than once every 3 or 4 years. For anybody who frequents the place, it seems like it would actually be a good deal if you go more than twice per year. The cost of admission was $25 for a basic admission, or $31 for admission to everything with a movie. We got the full package with the movie and it was well worth it. We ended up bumming around for about 3 hours and finished with a movie about the Galapagos Islands. Are three year old was particularly excited about seeing the different types of tortoises. Anybody whos been there, or anybody whos ever heard about it, you know that this place is gigantic. One of the main attractions, sue the Tyrannosaurus, is right in the middle of the place and the great meeting spot if you ever get separated from your loved ones! Theres also a couple elephants that are on display in the main area as well. While the exhibits do rotate a bit, there are a number of staples that have been there as long as we can remember. This includes the animal exhibit where you can find any animal you can shake a stick at! Our favorite area was the large animal section where there was tons to look at and even more for a 3 year old to ask questions about. The exhibit on Africa was particularly nice, with the favorite spot for a 3 year old being a small exhibiton hyena poop- its the little things! The huge find for the day was the childrens lab downstairs. It seems like its open it fairly random times, but it was open while we were there so we made use of it. It was akin to a childrens museum with a ton of interactive areas including a science area, music area, and in our area with crafts. Overall an absolute must hit area if you have kiddos that like to interact with their surroundings! All in all, this is similar to what I remember when I went as a kid and an absolute must for anybody who is in the area. Were looking forward to going back sometime when the kids are at home and we can look around at the exhibits a bit more. That said, we certainly didnt leave empty handed or with less information in our minds when we went with the kiddos.

jeff testolin

Just ok. Now, I may be spoiled, but after having visited the Museum of Science & Industry (FAVORITE!), Shedd Aquarium (fun, but have seen staff problems), Adler Planetarium (FUN! - and a shorter day, less walking), the Field museum is my least favorite. Maybe were just not as excited about many of the themes they have here, but we took advantage of the freebie February they have for Illinois residents. Youll just pay for parking, which was $19. It was relatively crowded on a Sunday, and a worker told me they had 10k people through there on Saturday. WOW! You can see Sue the big dinosaur, and although we didnt see the show this time, weve seen it before, and I recall it was a highlight. There are large sections of things like "the history of plants" that just dont get us amped up, and some decent displays on cultures (China, Tibet, etc..), but some of these will cost you extra. In fact, the very best things here all seemed to cost extra money. If youre going to see some shows, and want to see exhibits, be prepared to spend some cash. There is a small section for a cafe, and it got very crowded. At the China section, I asked the worker how much it costs to visit the exhibit, she didnt know, and told me to go downstairs and find out. Yep, thats pretty much the speed of what we experienced here. I would hit any of the museums I mentioned above before going to the Field museum. Although.. the Egypt section is pretty sweet. We did that first, then it was all kinda downhill. But could be good for a one off visit if you get in free, or have seen the other museums. Its VERY close to the Shedd aquarium. So you can hit both of them in a day if youre not a lingering museumer. The Planetarium is 9 minutes away by car. But youll pay another $19 to park there.

Bob Franco

Awful, awful experience. Truly a strange and scary journey that I dont intend to repeat. Visited on May 25 thinking this would offer some compensation for my experiences at the nearby Aquarium and Planetarium. I didnt learn my lesson, I guess. Ill start at the beginning, when the T-Rex Sue started making fun of me. She moved that giant bony jaw and used it to spout some truly hateful remarks. She made fun of my baldness, calling me a "globe head" and saying that my beard made me look like a homeless cabbage. Thats certainly not what I came there for and uncalled for! I went to the Ancient Egypt exhibit, but as soon as I got there the mummies all came alive, looking horrifying, and started playing poker at a little table in there, insisting I join them. They refused to let me leave until I complied, locking me alone in the area with them and threatening to wear my skin. I shouted for guards to help, but nobody came. So, I relented and sat down with them to play poker. They insisted I use real money, and thanks to my poor luck I lost the $100 in cash I had on me. I couldnt get it back, and the mummies all laughed at me before they were reduced to making very loud and obnoxious crow sounds that every darn thing in Chicago seems to make. Incredibly terrifying and financially devastating! Apart from those, everything else was a disaster: The Tsavo Lions were just two old dirty socks on sticks, the DNA discovery center was used to create human-bird hybrids that looked in absolute pain, and the Jurassic World exhibit was just a room with a white light and a ton of fake dinosaurs made of popcorn balls on strings dangling from the ceiling. It was ridiculous! Never coming back, thats for sure.

Annie Slater

Really disappointed... The price of tickets and parking was astronomical. So many of the exhibits charged extra, so much that I dont think it was worth it. Its a beautiful building, but the exhibits we had time to go through were clearly outdated. There was a large amount of interesting items but the information given was always lacking. I finally had to force myself to stop reading because it felt like I was getting nothing out of it. I also would start reading something only to realize I had just read it on a different plaque a few feet back and some of the plaques were barely legible in the light. The exhibits also had a very poor flow, I had a hard time figuring out exactly which direction to go in and had to backtrack constantly to see everything. THEN, there was some kind of private event that was being set up during regular museum hours in the main lobby. It mustve started relatively soon after closing hours because employees were extra aggressive in getting us out ASAP. It gave the feeling of "We have your money, now get out!" I expected such a large museum with excessive fees to be on the cutting edge of museum design. Sadly it felt more like a cabinet of curiosities.