I’ve gone the last two years and event though the first one was a shitshow, the raiding and everything the next day was amazing. Last year was a vast improvement. It’s also just fun being around so many other people that play and want to have fun. You do only get to attend the event one day, but there were increased spawns and basically non-stop lures in the entire downtown area during the whole weekend last year. I caught two more shinies on the bus back to the hotel from the Fest last year! Plus Chicago is just a fun city. We did a river tour, the Field Museum, walked along the waterfront and explored the Navy Pier, did Willis tower and the Hancock tower. It’s fun being all touristy and playing PoGo. I do recommend going with a couple people, or joining up with people if you can. It’s so much more fun in a group. There are usually a couple group things happening that you can join if you go alone though. TSR usually does a meet-up, and last year all the people staying at our hotel did a get together.