Field Museum

This winter has lasted about 1000 years and the reign of the White Witch really needs to come to an end. Not to mention that we have a very limited discretionary budget right now, we are in desperate need of some family time that does not involve reruns of Avatar the Last Airbender or euchre, and we aren’t feeling real creative. Just leaving the house seems exhausting. General admission to The Field Museum of Natural History is free in the month of February so we gave it a shot. We hadn’t been in decades and it was way better than I remembered.

The Field Museum is open 364 days a year 9a-5p although we didn’t actually walk through the door until 10a (which apparently still seemed like the crack of dawn to the teenagers). We were shocked to find that even though it was a free day, there was NO LINE. Like literally no one was there. It proceeded to get more crowded as the day progressed but for the most part, pretty manageable.

Transportation:  It was 36 degrees and pouring rain so we decided not to SpotHero parking off Roosevelt for $12 and instead used Soldier Field parking for $20 / 4 Hours ($25 / Over 4 Hours).  We walked about a block in the rain and the whole experience was super easy.   You pull in on the east side of Soldier field, grab a ticket, park the car and pay for the parking on the way back to your car, stick the paid ticket into the machine to open the gate and there is easy exit access to 90/94/55/LSD.

Cost:  The regular general admission to the Field Museum (normally $24) is actually pretty awesome, especially for free. It includes all of the typical Field Museum stuff you remember.  The dinosaurs, plants, gems, evolving planet, those creepy taxidermied animals, etc.  Our family loves mythology and Smite so we are always on a search for all of the gods.  There are quite a few in each section with examples of sacrifices and their history.  The free day admission does not give entrance to the 3 special exhibits.  The Underground Adventure, China, and mummies are all extra.  Normally $38 for all of those and includes one 3D movie.  On free days, a full access pass is $23.  We bought it because we hadn’t been to any of the exhibits, but honestly, probably not worth it.  I wouldn’t buy it again.

Exhibits:  The extra exhibits are fine, but all in it was an extra $86 for the four of us.  I felt like that was pretty high. The underground exhibit was shockingly detailed.  In a weird way, seeing all of the tiny organisms working in our soil made me even more excited about gardening this spring.  China was cool.  Lots of interesting artifacts and an impressive map of how the dynasty spread.  The mummies were one of my favorite parts but unsettling.  I did have a moment of gratitude and thank the souls for the use of their body in a museum for our education.  We picked the Egypt 3D movie and enjoyed it a ton.  

Food:  The dining on the main level is considered gourmet and has some delicious looking food. The seating area has the feel of al fresco… but outdoors is the museum’s main area.  There is a cool bar that serves draft beer and I think a Field Museum branded vodka (which I noticed too late). I like the ambiance of the whole thing but a single serve of Gallo cab was $14!! I had bought it before I realized how much. Obviously in the future I would smuggle.  It seems like they let you bring in a lunch and have an eating area in the lower level with only vending machines.  The dining downstairs is more typical: Pizza, hot dogs, burgers, salads, mac and cheese.  Pretty much every item is $10, what one would expect at a museum.  There are at least six vegetarian options.  We didn’t eat there because we had already spent $106 on parking and the all access pass.  That was well beyond our “free day budget” so we went home.  We had also been there about 4 hours which was the max for the teens.  My lifemate and I could have stayed all day.

Basically, a good few hours that avoided the wet cold of winter.  If I went again, I would want to stay longer and I’d skip the extra exhibits.  I might hit another 3D movie because they are only $5.  Free day wasn’t as packed as I thought it would be and a good experience.  I think we’ll go again sometime soon on a free day.  https://www.fieldmuseum.org/our-events/free-admission-days

• Parking across the street for $20 is nice if you are with people who aren’t fans of walking or the weather is bad.  Our fam squad gets really tired of slow museum walking.  We would have preferred to save the $8 and get in a nice brisk walk straight down Roosevelt.
• Don’t miss the gems.  They are super cool.  There is dagger.
• If you have a sensitive kid, possibly skip the taxidermied animals.  It is interesting to see such a variety up so close but it is unsettling.
• Bring food and drinks.  They didn’t check backpacks when we were there and the food was too expensive to make it worth it.
• If it isn’t a free day, membership is probably worth checking before buying passes.  It has to be almost worth it.
• My teenagers decided that the museum isn’t great for little kids.  They felt like it was interesting as older kids.
• There are student discounts.  Make sure to bring student IDs.