COOL STUFF

Visiting Chicago? Ferris Bueller's Day Off Can Be Yours, Too!

by Ethan Anderton
June 3, 2010
Source: City of Chicago

Many of us dream of being whisked away to the fantastical and amazing locations that some of our favorite films are set. While plenty of settings are merely backlots and soundstages with fake scenery or big green walls, many films use real locations around the world for a more practical and realistic approach. Well, the city of Chicago's official tourism site Explore Chicago has teamed with the location based social network FourSquare to make visiting the city more exciting and cinematical as you can earn the "On Location" badge by traveling the city like Alan Ruck, Mia Sara and Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Though the stops on the "tour" are probably typical of a regular set of tourist destinations, this feels like the perfect opportunity to try and live the movie while skipping out on school or work. The Ferris Bueller movie experience will take you to the Sears Tower Willis Tower ("I think I see my Dad. The son of a bitch is down there somewhere."), Wrigley Field ("Hey, battabattabattabattabattabatta Sa-wing, batta!"), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Trade, and even a collection of sculptures in Daley Plaza that are visible while Sloan and Cameron have a heart to heart. If you're lucky, you might even be able to hijack a parade and lip sync Twist and Shout (some people are already trying to do that in New York City) - who knows?!

If the Ferris Bueller's Day Off experience happens to not be your cup of tea or is just too typical of a tourist experience, there are four other movie experiences that will take you across Chicago and many locations for films like: The Blues Brothers, The Dark Knight, High Fidelity, plus a whole slew of "chick flicks." Though some of the locations like Championship Vinyl and Ray's Music Exchange are fictional and were made-up, it's cool to be on-location where a film was shot. Maybe you can re-enact a big musical number from The Blues Brothers or flip a semi-truck on LaSalle Street (although I don't recommend trying that).

So if you visit Chicago, and happen to love FourSquare, then take it upon yourself to earn your On Location badge in The Windy City. Or if you don't use FourSquare, just visit these great Chicago locations anyway!

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