McDonalds At 75th and Janes in Woodridge

When its a rainy day and you're in a pinch for someplace fun and cheap to take your kids to, sometimes McDonalds Playplace is the only  thing that comes to mind. At least, thats how it is for me! I don't always like to take the kids to the same old neighborhood McDonalds, though. I try to make things a little more exciting by finding new Mcdonalds to check out. You can easily find a list of McDonalds restaurants with playplaces by entering your zipcode into the McDonalds Locator.

The McDonalds I am about to review here requires me to give you a little bit of a background history!
You may remember that, in 2002, McDonalds was sued on behalf of a group of adolescents in New York, who claimed that they had become obese... and aquired related health problems... due to eatng McDonalds. The idea was that the kids were persuaded to eat so much fast food because McDonalds' marketing tactics convinced them that the food was nutritious.
The suit was dismissed, with a judge ruling that McDonalds was not responsible for what individuals chose to eat and how often they chose to eat it. But the case must have scared the McDonalds people, because in 2006 they unveiled plans for a new type of play place, called an "R Gym." The new play place would contain aerobics and sports equipment that would encourage kids to become extra active after they finished their Happy Meals.
Originally, seven R Gyms were created, including one in Woodridge, IL. If the R Gym idea took off, the gyms would replace play places in more McDonalds restaurants. However, apparently the idea didn't take off, because the traditional play places stayed in most restaurants, and no more R Gyms cropped up. But the McDonalds at 75th and Janes, in Woodridge, still has its R-Gym.
When I heard about this, I was intrigued, so the kids and I ventured to Woodridge to check it out.
The play place had a climbing structure, like most play places... but this one seemed to be on steroids!

I got Pufferfish to give me an inside tour. But keeping up with her to take pictures was kind of like trying to chase a leprechaun through an enchanted forest! However, here's what I got...

As you can see, there seems to be some different equipment an exercise opportunities inside the play structure,,, instead of just platform after platform for kids to climb over to get to a slide!

Outside the play structure, the kids enjoyed playing air hockey. (Although, does that really count as exercise?)

Can you see the mini running track in the background, where kids can have races?

They liked shooting baskets at the mini basketball court.

And there was some action-oriented video games, one with a bicycle and one with a skateboard. The exercycle seemed to be missing its handlebars, though, and the skateboard one wouldn't turn on!

 

The kids thought it was the coolest play place they'd ever been to. So, if you're out towards Woodridge, this might be one worth stopping for!

Place: Legoland Discovery Centre
Location: In the Streets Of Woodfield, 601 N. Martingale Road (Intersection of Higgins Road and Martingale Road near Woodfield Mall) in Schaumburg.Type of Place: Indoor amusement park.
Schaumburg
Secret: Buying your tickets online instead of at the door will save you a ton of money! You can even buy a one year pass (for one person) for only $25.00, which would be a great idea if you have some Legomaniacs in your family who would love to go there regularly! You can also usually find coupons in Chicago Parent Magazine or Family Time Magazine.
Cost: At the door, $19.00 for adults, $15.00 for children. If you buy online, a standard ticket is $15.00 for adults and $12.00 for children.

Legoland isn't actually in Dupage, but since its just a quick drive down I-355, I thought i might include it here. Besides, we got our tickets for free when we attended Woodfield Mall's Kid's Club, and I didn't want to waste the opportunity to give you the inside scoop on this place!
And the inside scoop is... I'm undecided on how I feel about this place.
I mean, the model Chicago built out of Legos was very cool...

 and Little Bear and Pufferfish enjoyed the jungle  made out of Legos.

As you walk through the Lego jungle, you can take a quiz on different types of animals. Little Bear, who is an animal lover and who is always eager to practice her newfound reading skills, liked this part!

After that, the next thing most people do is go on the Dragon Ride. I was expecting it to be like the Dragon Coaster that they have at the carnival, or at least like the smaller version some indoor amusement parks have. But it was more of a slow train ride through a dark tunnel with lots of Lego scenes set up. It was nice for us because Little Bear is afraid of most fast rides, and Pufferfish is too small for most. This ride, we could all go on together. I don't have any pictures of it, because you can't bring cameras on the ride... but I guess its a little like the Small World ride at Disney.
Next we saw the 4-D movie. Its only about twenty minutes long, but its very cute! The difference between 3-D and 4-D is that, with a 4-D movie, you also feel things in real life. For instance, if someone in the movie is spraying a hose, you might get wet in real life! Little Bear and Pufferfish thought this was very cool. I have trouble seeing 3-D because of my astigmatism, but it was funny to see the kids reaching out and trying to grab the 3-D images!
The next room we went into was the largest room, with tons of Legos in it! Little Bear and Pufferfish were first drawn to this corner of "girl Legos" where they could build pink castles.

But there were plenty of other things to do too!

I didn't get any pictures of it because by then the girls wouldn't hold still long enough, but Little Bear's favorite part was a section where you could build Lego cars, and then race them down different ramps. Little Bear spent a lot of time there! So did Pufferfish, although she thought throwing the cars down the ramps was a good way to race them!

We also signed up for a workshop on making tops that look like cheeseburgers. We didn't get to keep it, because if you want to keep it you had to pay $5.00, and I was broke! But it was still pretty cool.

The bottom line is, Legoland is pretty cool, especially if your kids totally love Legos. (Little Bear and Pufferfish aren't that into them at home.) But I wouldn't pay full price at the door to go there! If my tickets hadn't been free, I would have been kind of mad!
If you can get discounted tickets, though, this is an enjoyable place to spend a day!

McDonalds On York Rd In Elmhurst

When its a rainy day and you're in a pinch for someplace fun and cheap to take your kids to, sometimes McDonalds Playplace is the only  thing that comes to mind. At least, thats how it is for me! I don't always like to take the kids to the same old neighborhood McDonalds, though. I try to make things a little more exciting by finding new Mcdonalds to check out. You can easily find a list of McDonalds restaurants with playplaces by entering your zipcode into the McDonalds Locator.

The other day Pufferfish and I checked out a McDonalds we'd never been to before. It was at 920 N. York Rd in Elmhurst. I think the Playplace there was actually one of the cleanest McDonalds Playplaces I've ever seen! Maybe it is because York Rd is a little off the beaten path and this McDonalds is not as well known as some others. I'm not sure, but its definitely a nice one!
The play structure itself was very cool. It was tall, with lots of levels to climb around on, and a secret slide inside! At the very top, kids could climb into either a rocket ship or a helicopter, with working parts! We also liked the brightly colored seats.

Another impressive thing was the bathroom inside the playplace. Not only was it very clean, but there was a tiny toilet and sink alongside the regular sized toilet and sink. Pufferfish loved this because she could get on the toilet, and wash her hands, with no help from me. She still talks about this bathroom, saying, "Remember the time when there was a big potty and a little potty?" (Yes, I did take a picture of the bathroom this time!)

We liked taking pictures of each other with Ronald McDonald!

 

We ate inside the Playplace, but I saw that there was a really nice outdoor garden seating area. This would be perfect for parents who want to combine a nice meal outdoors with some time afterwards in the Playplace for kids. Plus, when you sit somewhere else, its a lot easier to tell kids that they can't go play until they finish all their food!

,
This is definitely a McDonalds we'll go back to again! Its nice to know that a clean, fun, and not overcrowded McDonalds Playplace is near by,

Kids Town In Wheaton

Place: Kids Town

Location: 1141 E Butterfield Rd, Wheaton (In the shopping plaza behind the Seven-Eleven.

Type of Place: Make believe village.

Secret: Remember to have your kids wear socks... but if you forget, they have brand new socks of every size, with Disney characters on them, for sale for two dollars a pair.

Appropriate ages: Its geared towards the six and under crowd, but older kids who like pretend play will enjoy it too!
Cost: $10.00 for kids over one year. Adults and infants under one are free.

Today was a dreary, rainy day, about the millionth one in a row! Pufferfish and I were in search of a new indoor place to go have some fun. We decided to check out Kids Town in Wheaton! It is a little more expensive than the make believe village we usually go to, Kiddie Klub Lane, but I figured we could spare the money this week.
I hadn't realized that they had a no-shoe policy (it keeps the floor cleaner for crawlers) so I had let Pufferfish wear her bare feet and sandals. Luckily, the people at Kids Town had an entire rack of socks in every size! It was an extra two bucks, but it was way better than having to drive all the way home to get socks, or even trying to find a near by store to get socks from. Pufferfish was excited to be the owner of brand new socks with Cinderella on them!

Inside, there were lots of little rooms decorated with different themes. Pufferfish was so excited to run from room to room! Her very favorite room was the one that had a tea set, beauty salon, diaper changing station, and lots of dolls. She can be a real girly girl sometimes!

There was also a police station...

...with a jail,

a little kitchen with a refrigerator, sink, stove, washing machine and dryer...

(the washer and dryer were cool because if you put doll clothes in and turned the cranks, the clothes spun around inside like in real life!)

a veterinarian's office...

...with live goldfish,

a construction zone with all different types of building blocks, trucks and tools,

a well-stocked library with kid-sized couches (there was also a train table in the library, for you Thomas fans out there!)

gas pumps to fill up your cars with,

a dance club with kid-friendly music videos playing on a TV screen and colorful strobe lights bouncing around everywhere,

a climbing structure with tunnels and a slide,

and way more!

Pufferfish is still in a stage where, when we go out places, she wants me to be right there with her at all times. But if you have kids who are old enough, and content enough, to play in your line of sight without you directly interacting with them at all times, there is a parent lounge with magazines and comfy chairs. Its right out in the open, so parents can sit there and relax while supervising their children. The place is small enough that you are able to see where your children are at all times!
I didn't get a picture of it, but there is also a special area for babies. It is matted, and blocked off from the rest of the room by low walls, so crawlers can move around on the floor safely without being trampled by the bigger kids! There are lots of soft toys and other baby things in there. They even have bouncy seats and exersaucers for babies to hang out in!

The one thing I wasn't as impressed with was the art room. I love doing arts and crafts, so I'm always excited to hear about a place that includes an art room! But all this art room included was a few coloring pages, and some cups full of broken crayons and dried-up markers. It would have been nice to see some supplies available for open-ended art projects. I realize they might not want to leave out messy things like paints for kids to use on their own. But craft sticks, pompoms, magazines, feathers, googly eyes, and even "garbage" like empty cereal boxes and coffee containers, could easily spark kids' creativity, and messes could easily be swept up.

All in all, though, Kids Town was a very cool place! I probably won't be able to afford it all the time, but I know Pufferfish will love it if I take her there once in a while for a special day!

Lil Monkey Bizness In Western Springs

Place: Lil Monkey Bizness

Location: 4700 Gilbert Ave, Western Springs, IL (in the Garden Market Shopping Center)

Type of Place: Indoor inflatable playground
Secret: Wait until about 11 am to go. Thats when many people leave for naptime,  lunch, picking up/dropping off preschoolers and kindergarteners at school, etc.
Appropriate ages: I'd say 6 and under.
Cost: $7.50 for kids over 1, $5.00 for kids under 1, and all adults are free.

The other day Pufferfish and I ventured out to Western Springs to visit Lil Monkey Bizness. I've been hearing about this place for years, but always imagined it to be too far away. (Now that we live in Lombard, we're a good 20 minutes closer than before, so that makes a difference!) 
I kind of expected it to be similar to Monkey Joe's, but it was entirely different. Monkey Joe's is a huge place full of inflatable jumpy things. Lil Monkey Bizness does have one inflatable thing, but the rest of the stuff is more like regular indoor playground equipment.

We arrived there at around ten in the morning. It was really crowded and noisy, and Pufferfish was having a hard time. She wouldn't play, kept hiding behind me, and even asked to go home. I was baffled, because Monkey Joe's was pretty crowded when we were there, and Pufferfish had had no problems there.

Then I figured it out... Lil Monkey Bizness is a lot smaller, and the equipment is closer together. When its crowded, it is hard to move around without coming close to bumping into other people. Its also very loud. I guess the accoustics are different from Monkey Joe's, maybe because of the size. With kids running around everywhere and shouting, Pufferfish was overwhelmed! If your kids have any sensory issues or get anxious in crowded places, you probably want to avoid this place during peak hours.

We went into the art room for a while to avoid the crowds. Sometimes they have organized art projects going on, but today they just had open art, with paints, rubber stamps, and stencils set out for kids to work with on their own.

Then we sat down and had a snacke. They have a coffee shop there where you can order lots of different coffee drinks, as well as smoothies, Italian sodas, hot cocoa, and other drinks. They also have some kid-friendly snacks like yogurt, cookies and crackers. Pufferfish ordered a hot cocoa and a package of goldfish crackers. I tasted her hot cocoa... It was delicious! Next time I'm definitely going to order one for myself! (I don't drink coffee, so I just had a boring Coke.)

By that time, it was around 11:15, and the place was much less crowded. We decided to try playing again. And this time, Pufferfish really got into it! She played happily until it was time to go get the older kids.

She always loves going down slides....

... and, like a true monkey, she had lots of fun climbing around on the climbing equipment.

The swings were also very cool!
The only thing I wish was that maybe they would have had an employee around the swings to help monitor the kids. The swings were one of the most popular things there, and there was usually a line of kids waiting. It is frustrating to wait in line for ten minutes with your little one for a ride on the swing, and then have some other kid push in front of you and take your kid's turn. I know they're just little kids and its not a big deal, except it is hard to try to teach Pufferfish, "We need to wait patiently in line for our turn," and then have her ask "Why don't those kids have to wait in line?" It happened about ten times in the first ten minutes I waited in line for the swings... and when I or other adults tried gently telling the kids, "You have to wait in line!" they would just stare at us like we were crazy and go on swinging. The kids in question were old enough to know better. Manners, kids, manners!
But I guess the swings were worth the long wait for Pufferfish!

Overall, we had a great time. I can easily imagine coming here once or twice a month! If you visit Lil Monkey Bizness, be sure to let me know what you think!