Saving Money at Chicago Unified Auditions?

I just returned from NYC unifieds (where money goes through your fingers like water!) and was wondering if people had suggestions for ways to save money (especially on food) for Chicago unified auditions. I saw a string from a few years ago but was hoping for the wisdom of the hive. Ask for a mini fridge to be put in the room? Good places to go for protein? Thank you!

FYI–I know there’s a Protein Bar location on Wabash within a block of the Palmer House.

A minifridge is a great way to save money…don’t laugh…but I’ve even brought my own mini fridge to some hotels… (when I’ve driven of course…). milk for cereal, yogurt, water(!), fruit, hummus, celery/carrot sticks, juice. Mostly for breakfast and healthy snack type items…we just like the convenience of having stuff on hand and in the morning it’s a big time saver and $ saver…good luck!

For those who are driving in, we’re going to try parking at a park and ride at the edge of the city and ride the L in. I know people who live in cities roll their eyes at my level of shock at the parking fees, but the parking through the hotel is outrageous. It was something like $40 or $50 per day. Self parking seemed stressful (never driven in downtown Chicago before) and still quite expensive. The park and ride is $13 for every 24 hour period at the end of the city we’re coming from.

We pre-purchased parking through Spot Hero and saved a few dollars. I ordered a mini-frig last time in Chicago (and did again) to keep cold waters and snacks (same as @MThopeful2022). I pack protein bars. Breakfast is included with our room. We tend to eat breakfast, snack during the day on things we bring, then eat dinner out. D and I went to one very nice dinner two years ago; the balance were modest.

I used to live in the Chicago area and work downtown not far from the Palmer House. We usually took public transportation but when we drove, we parked in the public lot near Grant Park. Looks like this is still an option and the prices are pretty reasonable compared to the hotel rates. I added spaces after the dots so the link wouldn’t be deleted. www. millenniumgarages. com/multi-day-rates/ Two day pass is $42, three day pass is $60. You can come and go as needed.

Regarding food, the CVS a couple of blocks from Palmer House has a good selection of snacks and some basic groceries and there are lots of reasonable and delicious eating out or take-out options in the surrounding blocks (which are home to thousands of college students). You may want to check if a fridge is already available in your room–we hadn’t specially ordered one and there it was. Mostly we ate in with me taking the orders and going out to get the food while D was auditioning or getting ready. We also found it worthwhile to map out D’s audition locations in advance; all that weren’t at Palmer House were walkable although I think it is worth a cab or Lyft to reduce stress if the weather is awfu. I can’t imagine needing access to your car while you’re there. You may find reasonable parking closer by than you would think if you check online.

This is finally the mom on my D’s (as she says you say on here) account!
She’s been recommending that I get on here for a while, and since we are from Chicago and she attends a HS downtown, I figured this was a good place to start.
There’s a target super close to the Palmer house, as well as a David’s Tea (My D LOVED it while she was in a show not too far away), protein bar, qdoba, panera, Starbucks, a great breakfast/brunch place called Meli, which is a little farther south but still pretty close, and her favorite place, a Cuban restaurant that is right across the street from roosevelt! That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but I’ll ask her to see if she has any ideas.

For parking, I use parkwhiz for all of her school performances-has probably saved me at least a hundred over the years.

Cafe Cito is a block away from CCPA at 26 Congress Parkway (in the ground floor of a youth hostel) and has wonderful , reasonably priced cubanos, soups and cafe con leche. I don’t think we’ve ever been to Chicago and not ended up there once or twice. There’s free wifi, too, if that matters. (It used to matter more before unlimited data.)

Chicago Cultural Center is at 78 E. Washington, free, reasonable places to sit and play with your phone, wifi and usually some really interesting art exhibits, not a terrible place to spend a couple of hours if you have time to kill. (Sometimes there are concerts, too.)

HotTix is right across the street for discounted theater tickets.

I have also gotten a couple of hours work in, here and there, at the Harold Washington Library, though there are a lot of homeless people in there. (Not to blame them, it’s awfully cold in Chi in the winter).

Chicago is MUCH more reasonable than NYC or Boston in general. If you get outside the loop at all, there is wonderful cheap Thai food at the Argyle stop on the Red Line, good Mexican in Pilsen, Chinatown is, IMHO (NYer talking), not worth the train ride.

We usually do the blind Priceline dealfinder for hotels; it’s not unusual to find 3-4 star hotels in the Loop for less than $100 in winter.

@Jkellynh17 …I love that Cultural Center!!! @ everyone else…lol…I did this two years ago with my daughter who is now at Coastal Carolina. We took our own tea bags and a lemon and just asked for hot water at Palmer in the restaurant. The restaurant actually IN the Palmer House downstairs was great for soups and healthy options. I know some ppl rented a mini-fridge and microwave for an extra fee. Break legs to all this year! I am taking my junior daughter to check it out this year in preparation for next year- round two for my fam!

My son ate at McDonald’s a block away almost every meal. Not healthy but not expensive!

A few notes from Chicago Unifieds. Driving in and Parking at the Cumberland park and ride station and riding the train in was super easy. We drove 10 hours which was soooo much cheaper than airfare for us as we don’t live near a hub airport. I booked and prepaid the parking through spot hero before leaving home and paid $73 for Friday 3:30pm (S had a Saturday audition) til Thursday at 8pm - so almost a week. This was longer than I thought we’d need, but I booked extra time to be safe - and it was cheaper than paying the going rate at the ramp for less days. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Majestic which is a block from the Palmer. It was cheaper (The earlier you book, the better your rate. I booked the most possible nights we could need and then cancelled out early which was easier than trying to get a room if you decided to stay longer.), had free breakfast and free coffee/tea all day long, and seemed quieter and less hectic than the Palmer. Though to be fair - we were only in the conference room areas and lobby when at the Palmer. Also - taking the train, the Monroe station is just around the corner from the hotel - like half a block - and it was a straight shot on the blue line from Cumberland to Monroe. Cost us $3 per person to ride in and the same for the way back out.

There is a target about 2 blocks away. We were able to get snacks and a case of water there. There’s also a TJ Maax by Target, if you forget a scarf or gloves like my son did. There are many fast or semi fast food places within walking distance. On the same block as target, you’ll find Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, and Giant Panda. The corner café/bakery on the corner right next to Palmer was good and reasonable. If you walk another block toward the park (Michigan Ave I think), you’ll find things like Shake Shack and Good Eats. We found a local coffee shop in the building across Wabash from the Palmer. It’s a big building that has the Chase bank in it. (We were there trying to find a cash machine) It was good, reasonable, and very quiet in the afternoon. We walked over there a couple of times for a break from the noise and crazy. They also had food, but we were only there in the afternoon for coffee/tea. Finally, If you’re driving in and are done at the end of the day but don’t want to drive home that night, get out of the city and book a hotel in the suburbs or a smaller town not to far along your route. You’ll save another $40-50.

Once side note- I was also going to take my son out for a nice dinner one night. Rosebud Prime was a block from the hotel and was FANTASTIC. They are certainly not a money saver, but when I was looking at websites of restaurants to see what restaurants served and prices, I found out it was “Best of Chicago Restaurant Week”. Not sure if it is the same week every year, but worth it to look for this if you’re looking to have a very nice evening out. We had a 3 course dinner for $44 per person. Each course had 3 selections, and the food was fantastic. The steak each of us had would have cost $47 each before adding any sides, appetizers, or desserts so it was definitely a deal even though it wasn’t cheap.