Illinois Beach Resort

[Missy]

Has anyone stayed at the Resort. They are about 7 miles from the Grad site and offered me $84 for a standard two queen bed room or $99 per night for a 2 standard queen bed with a Lakeview....I looked at the website and it looks great! A nice place for a Grad to relax in comfort and very pretty. Any feedback would be great.

[Tamie (mom of Michael)]

The Navy Lodge is a nother good place, $65.00 a day some have kitchenettes, very close to the base. nice rooms, internet for the sailors. Tamie

[Steve's Mom]

I haven't stayed there, or heard anything about it since the site started. But here are a couple of reviews out on the web. It is about the same cost of other places that have pools, spa, workout room, a beach access. Sounds lovely when your sailor is wanting just to "hang out" as many of them want to instead of running around chicago. Plus the trolly goes right up there. It averages about a 3.5 out of 5 when I asked our travel agent. Just the fact that you have to be 21 to rent the room is going to be nice. Nothing worse then having a room right next to 10, 18 year olds crammed into one room running up and down the hallways :P



http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3714100019

http://dnr.state.il.us/LANDS/Landmgt/PARKS/R2/Graphics/ilb/RESORT.HTM

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-4128764-prod-hotel-action-read-ra...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g36922-d669070-r16451127...

[Missy]

Hi Lizzi,
Graduation is on October 3. Interesting that they advertised 59. I will have to go take another look.

[Carol]

Hi Missy, my son Ryan's PIR is this friday and i have 2 rooms booked at the illionois resort and they charged me 59.00 a room for graduation. you have to tell them your there for the graduation, i'll let you know how it was when i get home next week.

[Missy]

Hi again Lizzi, I looked again but didn't find this price anywhere - can you tell me the link that you used to access the site and where you found the price quote. Thanks! Missy

[Steve's Mom]

the navy lodge is clean but old. There is no breakfast in the morning, it is not free interent, no room service or pool. for 85 bucks you can get a great room in many places that have more where you can cross the street to grab a sandwhich. Remember that sometime during your weekend, your sailor may just want to "hang out" and enjoy the peace and quiet, take a swim or check his email. When researching hotels, remember wakegan (sp?) and lincolnshire (sp?)


here are some old conversations that I have bookmarked:

We stayed in Homewood Suites in Lincolnshire too. It was in February and the snow and trees were just breathtaking! When we called to make reservations they had no record of the code for PIR discount, but used our AAA and my mom used her AARP and we actually got even better prices then in the add sent with the graduaion info. My ex-husband came with us. He and my mother each got their own rooms and my husband, other son and I shared a room, so we got to see 3 types of rooms. Each was very nice with kitchen to boot. Ours had a beautiful view of the trees the snow. It was a 1-bedroom suite with 2 queen sized beds and a sitting room with pullout sofa, which my son said was surprisingly comfortable...and he is 6'2" and 220 lbs.

The breakfast was complementary to hotel guests. It was very nice each morning and had everything on a breakfast menu but oatmeal. After PIR, Michael got to go with us until 7PM Fri., Sat and Sun. My hubby would go pick up Michael at 0700 while the rest of us took our showers. He brought him back for breafast. When we asked if we could pay for him to eat there (since he was obviously not staying there) they said they would be honored to have him join us for breakfast free of charge. They sailors actually have to go to chow before leaving each day, so Mike just had a small glass of juice or toast or something very small as they must eat whatever they put on their plates.

Monday-Thursday Homewood provides a happy hour type deal, which is also part of your room deal. They have beer and wine if you drink, and they serve a snack that may as well be your meal! One night they had a baked potato bar, one night pulled pork sandwiches, I can't recall the other things they served, but it was pretty impressive.

The phone rates from the rooms were very high and my ex, who doesn't travel, didn't read about the rates. He spoke to his mother in California for about an hour or more on the room phone and was shocked to see a bill for well over $100. He told the manager he misunderstood the rates and they took the long distance phne calls off his bill, no questions asked!!!!

Also the place was spotless. Housekeeping was great and always friendly when we passed them in the halls. My mom swims every night at home (Santa Cruz, CA) and so took advantage of the indoor heated pool. The decor was very nice. The internet was free. The staff were good about giving tips, advise, and directions. As we drove around the surrounding neighborhoods were nice too. I just can't say enough good things about our stay there and would definatly go back if we were in the area.

Off the hotel subject, but about food...

There is a resteraunt nearby called Jimmy's Charhouse. The hotel can direct you. The place had wonderful food. We all got something different and shared bites. It was not cheap, but not outrageous. Yummy! Good thing we don't live there or

We stayed in Bannockburn/Dearfield at the La Quinta. Indoor pool and hot tub open 24/7. Nice people. I loved Lincolnshire. We got our rental car there from the Marriot. Lincolnshire has a very nice movie theatre with Imax. The Cheesecake factory...yummy is in that same area. The interstate there is a toll road so we drove the small highways that lead to base. We arrived in Chicago on Thurs morning after an overnight flight from Seattle. We used shuttle service to get us to the hotel and they let us check in at 11am. :) Our Hertz rental car started at noon (to get the weekend rate). We were going to use the hotel shuttle(10 mile radius for free) but Hertz picked us up. It was nice to have the GPS thing in the car. We practiced our route to the base...funny story. We took note of restaurants in the area. We got groceries and swam and went to bed early. The next day PIR was cold and icy (2-8-08) and wonderful. That day there was only 5 divisions graduating so there was no line at the gate. T wanted OFF base as soon as possible. He wanted to swim first then nap and eat and swim and nap and eat and it was back to base. It was nice having a rental car...totally worth the money. Definately Google map the base and your hotel. Search and print out any restaurants and activities you want to do. It was a great weekend!!!! Oh, and alot of Navy families meet at the Full Moon restaurant near the base on Thurs dinner time...6-8pm Good food. I had an omelett and blueberry pie. :)


1) A lot of us are staying at the Navy Lodge - $69 a night (no tax); off base, some rooms with kitchenettes Link: https://www.navy-lodge.com/ really, really close to the base, from what I understand

2) Ramada Inn - $82.00 a night is what I had gotten the room at; however, from what I've read, it is an older hotel, 2 stories, no elevator, and dependent upon whether you are in the newer area of the hotel or older, I've read of odors, thin walls, but good breakfast and shuttle to/fm PIR.
Link: http://www.ramadainnwaukegan-gurnee.com/door/

3) Homewood Suites - You can never go wrong with for all that you get.
Homewood Suites by Hilton® Chicago-Lincolnshire
10 Westminster Way, Lincolnshire, Illinois, United States 60069
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Link: http://homewoodsuites1.hilton.com/en_US/hw/hotel/CHILSHW-Homewood-S...
I just checked and they have a weekend rate of $99.00

4) Spring Hill Suites of Marriott in Licolnshire (13 miles 25-35 min drive to the base), but a KS Studio Suite for $89, and there is a $10. off weekend rate at a site I found so you can get a suite for $79. a night, includes Free WiFi, Buffet Breakfast, pool/jacuzzi and is away from the base to relax.
website you can dut and paste in your address line:
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chish-springhill-suites-chica...

[Steve's Mom]

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chiwg-springhill-suites-chica...

[Steve's Mom]

Lizzi, what place?

[Missy]

Hi,
Thank you for all of your information. I received my cpmformation in the mail today and they had messed it up. They booked only one night instead of the 5 nights......:(
I called and cancelled it and then called the Homewood Suites and booked a room there.
Thanks again,
Missy