Gallagher Way — Attraction in Lake View Township

Winterland at Gallagher Way. This year they let us onto the field inside Wrigley. We bought $5 entry tickets online in advance including the peppermint pass which gave us a slight discount on 10 ride tickets and parking in the (paved!) Camery lot which is a very short walking distance from the stadium. We arrived at 11:45am and first shopped in the Christkindlemarket and got lunch and beverages. It was less crowded without the ice rink in the middle of Gallagher way. The food was delicious, love getting the souvenir mug and started out sunny but the Sun soon went behind the building and it was shadow and colder. Then we headed into the Stadium - no line getting in and the bathrooms were a nice place to warm up. The stadium (it was 12:45 by this point) was nice and sunny. We headed to the line to get a time for the ice bumper cars. The ice skate rentals and bumper car line is the same. After standing in the line for almost 30 Minutes (most of the line was inside but it was only 50 degrees in the building according to the thermostat) I learned they were giving out time slots for 3:40 and later. I was told by 3pm they have usually given away all the time slots. They looked fun but we couldn’t stay that late. Head there first (although there is no free re-entry to Wrigley if you leave.) My kids had waited in line at the tilt-a-whirl in parallel. They rode that then we waited in a 30 minute line for the train. It was not super crowded. It was daytime and lots of families and strollers were there. Train was 4 tiny cars and you go around the baseball diamond 1 time. The line for the slide looked super short but in reality they make you queue at the bottom and only allow a few people on the stair ramp at a time. We didn’t have enough time to do that either. There was no line for ring toss so we did that. There were two other games but my kids can’t get a basketball into a net that high and the line to throw a ball to knock down pins on a “Christmas tree” was long. We went on the Hot Chocolate cups (tea cups) and the line moved pretty fast. Then we sold all but 4 tickets to others waiting in line and left. They did have some cute photo areas - a sleigh, a giant baseball you can stand in - and a Winterland sign. They had a tent with couches in it where you could get food. There were board games inside to play like Guess Who? And Jenga but we can play those at home. Only two fire pits set up outside. We used our 4 tickets for the girls to ride the Carousel 2xs there was basically no line for it. Lights definitely better at night. Dress warmly and wear boots - it was 33 degrees, no snow, and sunny but we all left with freezing toes due to wearing sneakers. I hope they continue to improve the experience with more rides and allowing us to reserve bumper car...

I had a terrible experience for my first time at Wrigley Field. I was alone on a Wednesday night. I went since my team was playing against the Cubs. Since I've moved to Chicago, I do root for the Cubs but I was born and raised in California and baseball is always something I have shared with my family. I am now over 2k miles away from them and went to a game to have a good time. I wasnt cheering or wearing gear, so the fans around me didn't even know I was rooting for the other team. A middle-aged man next to me with a group of his friends found out around the 4th inning and then aggressively berated me and intimated me. As he got more inebriated, he continued to tell me that I needed to cheer louder and I'm not even a baseball fan and questioned why Iwas even there. He didn't let up and got into my personal space and I even caught him watching me throughout the game. At about the 7th inning he verbally attacked me again and I ended up being so overwhelmed to tears and leaving. I reported him to security and have no idea if anything ever happened to him. I am actually a bit traumatized and sad that I let him get to me. But being a young woman alone, I figured I wouldn't get bullied at a public, family place. Security treated me with respect and did their best to make me feel welcome, but needless to say it was still a very negative experience. I commend the security liaison who I dealt with who was extremely kind. I've been warned about the fans before, but never assume anything. I had been looking forward to rooting for the Cubs at Wrigley many days in the near future. Not sure I can do that anymore and...

Not the best. First, had to wait 45 - an hour in line to get ice skates. Second, none of the ice skates couldn’t fit my sister’s feet since they were too wide. Third, the ice skates were in terrible condition and impossible to balance in some. I get it, I’m not an ice skater, this was for fun. But usually I am able to balance a lot better. And again, I don’t expect to have the skates in perfect condition since they’re rentals. I only expect them to work fine for an hour or so. Now, nobody can control the weather, but due to it being a little warmer than usually, the rink was FULL of puddles. Again, you can’t control the weathers, and there was one tiny entrance to the rink which was inconvenient. In all, I’m very disappointed and unfortunately it was terrible. Last year was a lot better in how it was run.

In all, very poorly managed, I expect better from these...