You would figure that this being located near museum greats like the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium that this would be a good experience, but sadly I must give an honest review of this planetarium. We used Go Chicago cards throughout our stay which I highly recommend. Upon entering the planetarium, you go through the admission progress, in which they ask you to pick two shows which range from 30 minutes on up, and are given at specific times. What if all you want to do is see the exhibits and not the movies? The times for the next showings required us to stay there for another hour and a half, which we did not.
They then give you these little clip on tags that you clip to your shirt, jacket, etc. Which have a tendency to fall off. Around every corner there is an attendant looking for these little clip on tags. My wifes tag kept falling off, and one of the attendants asked her to please re-attach the clip to her shirt. This makes no sense. Why the need for the tags? Isn't that what an admission area is for? I really wanted our family to enjoy this attraction, but there just is not much to see beyond the movies. There is the gemini spacecraft which has been restored and is behind a glass wall, but the entire area was dark which prevented any decent photos of the ship. Try the Field Museum or the Shedd Aquarium instead.

Peronally this was not worth the price for us. we are 2 adults no kids and were pretty bored. I should have known when i went to buy my tickets and the person at the desk upon my asking which show out of 2 was better he said he had no idea he had never seen them ! Adler management listen up: Your Staff selling tickets and guiding people should see the shows so they can make recommendations and assist people to decide what show is for them. I was expecting the traditional planetarium experience of lying back on a chair and seeing constelations etc up on the ceiling. Instead i sat in a theater with a screen and 3D glasses on listening to classical music and watching some artists rendition of a montage of nebula and art. You couldnt even tell what was art and what was actual real constelations etc ??? It was weird and the 3D hurt my eyes. Personally I did not think that the museum part was all that good either, but i think young kids would enjoy it. Mostly i was disappointed in the show. The views from the planetarium cannot be beat. Step outside and look at the city views and take your pictures. It was very pretty !!! I wish we would have went to one of the other musums or aquarium, but those lines seemed awfully long and the planetariums was shorter. I guess i now know why !!!

We didn't get anything out of this place. It was boring. Unless you like this sort of thing you wont miss anything. We only went because it was on our summer value pass deal. If it wasnt for that we would not have went here at all. This was the most boring thing we did while in Chicago.

We bought the Chicago City Pass, at most attractions you get to go in ahead of the people who are waiting in line to BUY a ticket. Not at the Adler Planetarium. We had to wait in line with everyone else even though we already had a ticket with the City Pass. The first show we saw was not very good, I actually fell a sleep along with other people in the audience. Additionally, when we went to see our second show they played the wrong show for ten minutes until some guy yelled, "Can we see the show we payed for?". The second show was better than the first. Most of the display items on the top floor are faded from the sun and they have not bothered to replace them.