Reviews from others who have enjoyed the spectacular Skydeck Chicago...
Fantastic View
Great view
Great Views!
Breathtaking Experience!
- This is a wonderful way to get a great 360 degree view of the city of Chicago. It was really amazing. We liked that the Go Card got us into the video quickly. However, we were still bunched into the elevator with a lot of people and the area was very crowded. Overall it was well worth it because when we finally got to the Sky Deck it was a gorgeous view of the city. Well worth the time we spent here.
Great view
- My son insisted on going up the tower to stand on the famous Skydeck. He didn't find the preadmission "tour" interesting as it was quite over his head for a 9yr old. But once we took the fast (and nauseating) elevator ride up the view of the city was all I cared about. It was a wonderful view of the lakeshore and the downtown. Just fantastic. My son was a bit disappointed in the "Skydeck" as he was expecting it to be a bit bigger, more dramatic, but he still was quite fascinated with being out away from the building, "floating" above the street. It wasn't a big day filler, only about an hour of our time was spent there, but it was a good experience.
Great Views!
- Our family always enjoys observation decks and Willis Tower certainly delivered - the views were fantastic. I definitely would recommend splurging (a few extra bucks) for the headphone/commentary. Knowing what we were looking at made this a much more enjoyable experience. Otherwise, you're just looking at a lot of buildings and water! I would have never known about, or found the site of Mrs. O'Leary's barn without the headphones! I purchased tickets in advance online that had a designated entry time, so we didn't experience any of the long wait times mentioned in some other reviews. As for the "cheesy and expensive" photos offered at the Tower...unless you have a GOOD camera with a detachable flash unit, you're not going to get a decent photo of both the people in the Skydeck and the scenery outside. I typically don't buy the photos offered at these attractions, but I bought the photo of my family on the Skydeck because 1) I wanted to be in the photo, 2) I just couldn't get a decent, well-lit photo with my point-and-shoot camera and 3) it's a very good, professional-looking photo of a great family memory.
Breathtaking Experience!
- Had been to the place day after the long weekend, was lucky enough not to find a huge crowd. the line was short and we moved to the elevator pretty fast. the lift to reach 103 floors was awesome - took only 60 secs to be on the top.
i had been to the NYC top buildings and really understand the pain it takes when the place is crowded. :)
willis tower has glass windows to look at the entire chicago downtown from above. the audio tour is a waste of money - they charge extra 4 to 5 bucks. i was lucky to grab a free coupon from airport and got the tour free.. but they gave a old cell phone type device and it wasn't friendly to hit numbers to get the history of the place.
the glass balcony on the 103rd floor is a master piece, but i believe it needs to be more organised. with the small crowd we had on the day everyone were busy posing and the rest were waiting for there turn - may be a strict duration of max 5 mins per family would solve the purpose better.
all in all - its a great place to be .. if you are lucky spend as much time as possible standing on the glass and experiencing the view high up the streets :)