If your travels often take you through O’Hare Airport, odds are at some point you’re going to find yourself grounded with some extra time on your hands. Overpriced food, harried airline employees and CNN’s Airport Network don’t fairly compensate travelers for wasted hours awaiting flight connections or weathering storm-caused delays.
However, down time doesn’t have to be wasted time at for travelers of all ages at O’Hare. The terminals for domestic flights and the O’Hare Hilton Hotel play host to many interesting, if not downright fun, ways to make time fly when your plane isn’t.
Fore!
Play 18 holes of virtual golf ($15 per hour) on one of four world-class courses at Mulligan’s Bar, a smoker-friendly lounge located on the arcade level of the O’Hare Hilton Hotel by Terminal 2. Two pool tables are also available ($4 per half hour). Full bar service runs from 4 p.m.-midnight Monday through Friday and, when the bar is closed on Saturday and Sunday, the health club next door provides access to the golf and pool tables. The bartenders will also check your flight’s status through the bar’s closed circuit television monitor or by calling the airline directly.
Entertaining exhibits
Extended layovers and flight arrival or departure delays can really test the patience of kids, and therefore their parents.
Seven interactive exhibits turn the controls of O’Hare Airport over to your child’s imagination at the Chicago Children’s Museum “Kids on the Fly” center in Terminal 2. (The free museum is a branch of the Chicago Children’s Museum, located at Navy Pier.) At O’Hare, kids can sit in the pilot’s seat of a mini-cargo plane or helicopter, direct air traffic from a control tower, go on a cargo treasure hunt, fuel the plane and build DUPLO skyscrapers in the shadow of a ceiling-high model of the Sears Tower.
Air travelers seeking a nostalgic voyage into America’s broadcast past will enjoy the permanent exhibit of vintage televisions and radios courtesy of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Terminal 2. Take a seat and watch the informational video short that highlights the rotating exhibits at the museum’s main Loop location in the Chicago Cultural Center.
Work off that stress
Delayed travelers can ease their rising stress levels at the O’Hare Hilton Athletic Club on the arcade level of the hotel by Terminal 2. Buy daylong access to assorted exercise machines, free weights and a 40-foot lap pool for just $9. There’s also a spa, sauna, steam room and massage therapy ($65 per hour, $35 per half hour) if you really need to work the kinks out. When your workout’s done, fully outfitted showers will get you squeaky clean and ready to go. Open 5:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Airport edibles and ‘altitude adjusters’
If airport food turns your stomach more than turbulence, take heart: a number of quality restaurants offer decent dining options at O’Hare.
In Terminal 2, two full-service restaurants and a food court can be found in the Restaurant Rotunda. Peggy Sue’s Diner slings dinner entrees, sandwiches and salads from 6 a.m.-9 p.m. daily in a hip 1950s setting. Breakfast selections are also available all day. The Chicago Bar & Grill features salads, sandwiches, entrees, a peel-and-eat shrimp bar and a selection of more than 30 domestic and import beers from 6 a.m.-9:30 p.m. daily. Breakfast is served from 6 a.m.-10 a.m. The Rotunda Food Court sports a deli, a hot entree line, a salad, pizza and pasta bar, and an ice cream shop from 5 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
A triumvirate of full-service restaurants lies just off the lobby of the O’Hare Hilton Hotel. Andiamo Restaurant dishes out Italian American cuisine including pasta, steak, salmon and swordfish from 6 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. The aptly named Sports Edition Bar serves appetizers, sandwiches and pizzas from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 a.m. and broadcasts major sporting events as well. The Gaslight Club appears to be in a ’70s holding pattern as waitresses don “playboy bunny” costumes to serve single businessmen in an ornately decorated restaurant and lounge. Essentially a steakhouse, the club’s menu also includes seafood entrees. Dinner is served from 5 p.m.-midnight and the lounge is open until 1 a.m.
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night …
Need a stamp for that last-minute postcard? The U.S. Post Office maintains a full-service branch in Terminal 2. It’s open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday but closed Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
If it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight International Package Express can help it on its way. Federal Express, UPS, DHL and Airborne Express all use this location as a pick-up point. Other on-site services include packing, copying, faxing, printing facilities (PC-based) and a messenger service to Chicago. Located on the arcade level of the O’Hare Hilton Hotel, International Package Express is open 6:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
More stuff to carry
From snowglobes to Michael Jordan’s basketball jersey, you can find plenty of standard souvenirs and gifts in O’Hare’s shops. However, for some slightly different offerings you might want to check out the following options.
ORD Chicago has been specializing in aviation-related memorabilia and clothing for fans of flying since 1992. Selections include desktop models of classic jets and prop planes and vintage advertisements. Located on the arcade level of the O’Hare Hilton Hotel, it’s open from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Find everything you need to “Be like Mike” on the golf course — drivers, putters, balls, clothing and sunglasses — at Michael Jordan Golf. Located on the main concourse of Terminal 1, the shop is open from 6:30 a.m.-9:15 p.m. daily.
The Wall Music Store features tapes and CDs in a variety of musical styles from classical to country and pop to rock. You’ll also find everything you need to play them, including Walkman-style personal stereos, portable CD players and batteries. Located on the main concourse of Terminal 1, it’s open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
Light entertainment
One of the more spectacular works of art commissioned for O’Hare Airport graces the ceiling above the moving sidewalks linking concourses B and C in Terminal 1. The 744-foot neon sculpture titled “Thinking Lightly” by California artist Michael Hayden sends a dance of colorful shapes racing overhead with an ethereal escort of new age music.
(The O’Hare Station for Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line elevated trains is a sight in itself. Architect Helmut Jahn’s undulating glass-block walls are backlit in various colors.)
If God is your co-pilot
On the mezzanine level of Terminal 2, travelers will find a chapel open around the clock. Services are held throughout the week for a variety of religious backgrounds. Catholic mass is held at 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, 4 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 6:30, 9 and 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. Sunday Protestant services are held at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Sunday. Islamic Juma prayer is held at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Other comings and goings
While there is no main observatory from which to watch airplanes, the airport’s Department of Public Relations recommends walking to the end of any concourse to get the best view of the airstrips. A recent spot-check found the ends of concourses E, F and G to be among some of the best perches to watch jets take off and land.
For information on group tours, call 773-686-2300. The airport’s general information phone number is 773-686-2200.
