Friendly people/staff Although the llamas spit a lot :) its a good time for toddlers!!read more

Such a fun little find!! This is a zoo, a park, a little history lesson and an overall great place…read moreto visit!! Best part, FREE!! Now, this is not a huge zoo, but man do they pack a lot of love into a little spot. Food selection of animals, very friendly staff and cute well maintained facilities! Then, there are multiple large parks on site!! Perfect picnic spot for place for large family gatherings!

I've been here multiple times with my family. It's a nice small zoo, but the first time I've been…read morehere with the new setup this year. If you're in the area and you need a place to bring your little ones highly recommend. We can at bad time while it was lunch time and the workers needed a break but always a good walk as a parent and a lot to see.

This is a cute little zoo that's best for kids under 5. It's very small and takes less than an hour…read moreto go through if your kids are older. I'm docking a few stars because they let way too many people into the petting zoo area at one time, especially when they only have a few goats to pet. I also docked a star because the walk over to the playground and picnic table area is unnecessarily long because they have the shortcut path blocked off.

This place is a hidden gem.... literally. Well, not literally a gem, but literally hidden. GPS told…read moreme to make a right, where all I saw was a Nissan dealership. Nope, and instead I ended up circling around. But sure, enough, make a right when the GPS tells you too. Ignore that the car dealership is there, and pay attention to the fact there's a giant sign letting you know Vogelei Park is there. We had a barbecue at one of the seating areas with a roof and it was OK. The engineers who designed and created the shelter's roof apparently didn't like the sunrise, as the way it was angled, the unusual early June 90-degree heat and sun shone right on us during the early evening. After it got dark, the shelter had lights that illuminated, which was a bummer. Overall though, it's a great place to consider for a BBQ. BATHROOM REVIEW: Located in the building, the bathrooms were good, for a public park bathroom. It had a couple of urinals and stalls. Sit or squat? Squat.

HIDDEN PARK ALERT!! HIDDEN GEM ALERT!…read more When the sun came out one afternoon after a cloudy, dreary week, I knew I had to find some outdoor spot to frolic about in. Since I was in Palatine at the time, and wanted to go home to Roselle without driving too far out of my way, I pulled up the Yelp app and typed in "park." Too many places popped up, none were what I was looking for. So I tried, "zoo." One of the first things to pop up was the Northern Illinois Raptor Center. What!? I did a quick search on what it was, expected there was some kind of magical owl zoo somewhere, and headed out this way. The drive to this park is very easy to miss. I did miss it, and had to do a long turn about through a neighborhood to get back to the entrance, which is located off of Higgins at the intersection of Golf, in between a couple car dealerships. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Hoffman Estates Park District sign and turn RIGHT THERE. Then you'll see a barn at the end of the drive and a park. Whew. I got out of my car, walked over to the barn and older building, found locked doors, wandered over to a map, scanned the map, saw absolutely no mention of any raptors or owls or birds, and decided, "Screw it, I'll just go walk around the park since I'm already here." Fortunately, my disappointment was quickly dissolved after one leisurely lap around the park. Here's what Vogelei has: - A pond that's part of the Bio Swale Water Quality Initiative. I'm still not quite clear on what it is, but it's a water system that cleans storm water runoff of man-made chemicals while providing a habitat for animals and helping the environment. Whatever it was, it sounded and looked awesome -- grassy, marshy areas, a walking path, a picturesque bride and gazebo. And white birds with long legs that fly away when I try to take pictures (darn bird). - A rose garden. Not a very big rose garden, but it's a nice little rose garden with blooms bigger than my hand. I kid you not. Crazy giant flowers. - Lots of grassy areas for picnicking, hooping, and running around like crazy. The park district also holds concerts (mainly for kids) here sometimes. - A playground jungle gym that's shaped like a barn. Sweet. - A splash pad!! It's basically a large, squishy pad with sprinklers. It's turned on during the day -- all you have to do is press down on one of the buttons on the padded surface to activate the water that shoots up. Yes, there is a chance you could get wet doing this. It's fun. Take it from this lady with the crazy hair (oh, what a sight that must have been)! - A conifer garden: an area with a bunch of tiny pine tree bushes. - Safety town. One of those little set-ups where kids can ride their tiny bikes around a little town and learn how to be safe when they cross the street and all that fun stuff. - The barn. Apparently the barn holds some kind of banquet room that you can rent for events. Cool. The park district's summer camp also uses the building for the kids -- I kind of felt like a creep walking in there. Not sure what that other, seemingly abandoned building was for. I probably spent a good forty-five minutes lurking around the park. Not bad. Still no awesome owl zoo, though. Disappointed, I left and wrote this review. As I was finishing up this review earlier this morning, I decided I really needed to go back and find that mysterious magical bird zoo before finishing this review! Back I went... and instead of an empty park, I was greeting with a full parking lot and tons of camp kids. Definitely not the kind of scene for aimless wandering with a camera. Fortunately, someone pointed me in the direction of the raptor center... YES! IT EXISTS! ... which was in a cluster of tiny house-like buildings, surrounded by a fence to keep people out. There were no birds. The birds will be on display later this year or something. Bummer, but so glad I figured out this mystery! SO. This definitely isn't your typical suburban neighborhood park. I won't go out of my way to come back here again (OK, maybe I will -- because I already did), but if I'm in the area and looking for a quiet park to hang out in, I'd re-visit. Nice job, Hoffman Estates.

We just had a great day at Santa's Village with our two granddaughters. They're 5 and 7, and really…read morea great age to visit the park. Not only is the park one of the cleanest that I've seen in a long time, it's a mix of nostalgia and value from years gone by. You can tell that the park does a great job of hiring and training their team for patience and attentiveness to their guests of all ages. Nobody ever seemed distracted by there cell phones which is so important in an environment that caters to young children. Food and beverage wasn't cheap, but just above today's fast food out on the street, and quite frankly portions that could be shared. Last but not least, the rides all seemed to be in great working order. We never felt any concerns with the girls riding any of them. I strongly suggest a family visit if you're going for your first time, or returning again with the next generation.

This place was a very fun and family amusement park. My 3 year old was a big fan and she did not…read morewant to leave The location was very easy to find. It is conveniently located off of I90 and Dundee. The parking lot was pretty good for its size and, while we did arrive right when they opened, we had no issues finding a parking spot. Plus, as we were leaving, we saw a lot of open spots. The place does have a few restaurants but the food is decent for what it is. It will not be a 5 star groumet meal. We had the pizza and it was delicious. It reminded me of a school pizza growing up and a little bit of Sbarro. It filled us up and our picky 3 year old loved it so that was a bonus. We also went to a different location to get freshly squeezed lemonade and iced coffee. Both were delicious and perfect mid day snack during sunny afternoon The bathrooms were clean enough. The rides were fun and staff was very friendly. At the end of the day, we stopped and greeted Santa. I loved this experience since he was very patient and kind to our daughter. And it was very personalized. I was under the assumption was simple, and pose for photos but no... he talked to her and read her signs as to how comfortable she was. I appreciated Santa so much since he could tell she was getting a little scared and nervous. Overall, it is a fun place to be especially as a child. This one visit convinced us enough to become season pass owners as we left the park. We will be back in the near future.

Great family owned spot! Very helpful every time I come in with any questions I may have.read more

A young man from Fish Island, Eugene, came to my home and removed a horrible amount of green algae…read morein my 36 gallon aquarium. I learned a lot from him. He showed me the best green algae killer device on Amazon. All is well now!

Great little zoo. Stay for the zookeeper talks, very informative. Great little place to support!read more

Haven't used the park much at Randall Oaks Park, but the petting zoo/barnyard is a fun place to…read moretake a kid if you want to kill an hour or so. Cheap to get in - $2.75 for adults, $2.00 for kids I think. You can buy bags of feed for the animals - those are $.75 per bag (usually need about 5 bags, depending on how generous you are to the animals!). It's not really a place to spend the whole day, but it's nice for an afternoon out. They have a couple of playgrounds for the kids, and it's my understanding they have party pavilions for rent - like at a forest preserve. Easy drive from Chicago - 90 W to Randall Rd. north; go about 5 miles and it will be on the left.

"Tank It Easy" helps me take the ideas I have for my home aquarium and realize them while making…read moresure I maximize my enjoyment of it while sharing it with others. First of all, the owner and head of the design team, Brian, always provides excellent advice on equipment, aquarium fish, invertebrates and especially corals - and the supply in his store is outstanding! (Take a peak at the picture I took of a scene in one of the shop's display tanks as an example). What's really great is his vast knowledge on the behavior, dietary needs, and compatibility with other tank mates you can choose. He's so generous in helping you learn and he does so while always thinking of you first, and what's right for your aquarium and your budget! I sincerely feel I have a friend in the business, which is why I prefer to "Tank It Easy"!

My tank looks great. Water's clear, fish are healthy, and it's been holding up way better since he…read moretook over. Knows his stuff. Would recommend.

Had a great time and the information was good. The sound out of the ear buds was not good at timesread more

Looking for something new and different to do on Black Friday we took…read morethe Holiday lights tour this year. We have a tremendous driver, he was a lot of fun and really made the night. The tour goes the Christkindlmarket market at Wrigley and then the zoolights at Lincoln park zoo. I wish we got to see more lights around the city, but I don't know how that would work. It was allot of fun anyway. we got to spend a good amount of time at each stop. In between on the drive our driver told some great stores, some history and sang Christmas carols. A fun thing to do even if your not a tourist but a local like us. Make be a new family tradition.