Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL

I found this place to be not worth of my time. It had some cool exhibits like pieces of meteorite, but generally there wasn't anything worth the time. The worst part was the shows. I attended a show that was supposedly about different multiverse theories that turned out to be pure political propaganda, while discussing the theories in very generally (and not very accurately) for 4 out of the 30 minutes. This is a summary of the ridiculous show: It started and the presenter was a black teenager. It started suggesting that ancient African religions could be connected to the multiverse. It talked about the different outdated African religions and how they are very important and could be interpreted as scientifically valid multiverse theories. It talked about past civilisations that contributed to science, but didn't mention any civilisations considered white or European, only African and middle eastern ones. At one point it included a portrait of important scientists of the past and I remember seeing Einstein (maybe a couple more white scientists) and the rest were sketches of black people. At some point it introduced an Egyptian boy with they/them pronouns. It closed with the black girl looking at her future self being a theoretical physicist that creates her own multiverse theory, as if theoretical physics is a game. Overall, it was a waste of my time and I was disgusted that I went to a planetarium to learn about planets, solar systems and physics, and I was bombarded by extreme political propaganda. Do not go, it will be a waste of your time and money.

If you don't get there early enough to get tickets to the shows, which all require additional purchase, don't bother. I can't believe I wasted our time at this place.

We loved this planetarium and our young boys loved it even more! We haven’t been to a planetarium since grade school but Adler was amazing! We didn’t have enough time to see everything but we definitely will be coming back. The gift shop isn’t ridiculously priced either.

We absolutely loved Adler! It wasn’t at all crowded, the sky shows were great & the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon show to wrap up our day was perfect. Lunch at the Cosmic Cafe was delicious, if a bit pricey. But that’s to be expected. The view of the city & Lake Michigan makes it worth it. The exhibits are fascinating too.

There is no doubt, this is a World-class attraction in Chicago ... and people LOVE it ... and speak highly of it, too! I wish I could say the same and, before I go much further, I will admit to my own complicity in what turned out to be a poor experience at the Adler Planetarium! We left our hotel in Deerfield and traffic - from CONSTRUCTION of ALL things, in the middle of the day on Monday - caused a 25 minute trip to take more than an hour. We got to the Adler, paid $25 for parking and walked up the stairs to the entrance. We were met by a pleasant enough young man, asking us if we already had tickets. It was approximately 2:40pm when we arrived. At no point did the young man who met us encourage us to come back on another day? I think that should have been the FIRST sentence out of his mouth! You see, the Adler closes at 4:00pm sharp and there is nobody allowed to stay in the museum after closing time. So, this young man walks me through how to purchase tickets online and once I bought them, I was directed to the left of the entrance to "check-in". Now, I expected we might be Welcomed to the Adler but, sadly, we were not. We were told, in a perfunctory tone, to be prepared to line-up for the show we were scheduled to see at 3:30pm. We were also told, at that time, and for the first time, that we would be expected to leave IMMEDIATELY AFTER the 3:30pm show ended. How ridiculous is it that the Adler Planetarium cannot or will not allow paying customers to hang around for a few minutes AFTER closing to enjoy the exhibits we paid admission for? And they mean business, too!!! From the moment our 3:30pm show ended, there were people on the intercom telling us to leave and there was also a LARGE Security guard, who I would not suggest disobeying, shooing us out the door. It would make sense to offer people arriving later in the afternoon one of two options .... 1) give those arriving later a discounted admission price based upon the fact their late arrival will prevent them from FULLY enjoying the Planetarium or 2) give those arriving later an opportunity to stick around just a little after 4:00pm to enjoy the Planetarium. As it stands, my wife and i paid $89.00 for parking and admission and got to spend a whopping 1 hour in the Planetarium. Like i said, I will cop to the fact that I did not do enough research on the Planetarium and their policies. But I went to visit a Frank Llloyd Wright site that closed at 2:30pm and they did NOT rush me out or tell me I had to go! I did not even have an opportunity to check-out the Planetarium store because it would have caused us to miss the 3:30pm show. I was ... and remain ... VERY disappointed! I certainly do not think I will come back and I know I will NOT recommend the Adler to anyone I know visiting Chicago!!!