I love the MSI!! My favorite was always the whispering gallery.
That’s some memory. International Harvester disappeared in 1985, when the company was bought out by Case.
Since we’re sharing memories… I’m still as awed (last visit 1.5yrs ago) by the U-505 as Elendil’s Heir and his heirs were. I also seem to remember a dissected body in slices from when I was a kid that was really cool, but didn’t get to see last time (dead bodies do too make good date material!). Is that still there?
My favorite vacation as a kid was driving to Chicago and staying in a lakefront hotel for a week. We watched a pre-season Bears game (my pee-wee football team was the Bears!), visited MSI which was cool, The Field Museum which was really cool, and Shed’s Aquarium sparked my love of the chambered nautilus. One day, while my mom and sister were shopping, my dad and I took a walk around and we visited the Playboy building. Apparently pretty cool stuff went on there, but I probably shouldn’t tell my mom. 
Deli-Man!! I believe it is still there, in one of the stairwells.
I do remember a darkened corridor that featured All the Stages of Life or some such in formaldehyde jars. I remember being completely repulsed by it. Maybe it was the birth defects exhibit?
Mostly I remember the Christmas trees from around the world, the awesome train and the pendulum. And coal mine–which scared me and boy was it HOT down there.
I’ve always preferred the Field or the Planetarium.
No, I think you’re confusing two exhibits here. The formaldehyde jars featured embryos and fetuses, and they had nearly the entire human development from conception to birth. All real corpses. I called it the Pickled Babies. “Hey, let’s go up and see the Pickled Babies.” They were there for years, and I can’t imagine why they aren’t considered as classic an exhibit as the walk-thru heart or the coal mine.
Awesome! That’s great news, as it means I don’t need to worry about having my own DIY version.
I vaguely remember those. Unfortunately they really freaked my mom out, so we didn’t spend much time looking at them and by the time I’d gone back, I couldn’t find them. Maybe they could try combining classic exhibits. Deep inside the coal mine is a giant heart that contains pickled babies. Then again, they might just want to trot that out around Halloween.
Pretty sure they’re still there.
Were these embryos mounted in containers on a large blue wall? I remember when I visited w/ my then girlfriend about 10 years ago, they freaked her out.
Yellow stairwell, I believe. This exhibit would have freaked me out, so I sent my Girlfriend on ahead to scout it while I took another stairway. She reported that the edges of the body slices seemed to be a little furry w/ mold…
First question: Yes, those were the Pickled Babies.
About the body slices. I think maybe your girlfriend was seeing body hair on the edges. Those slices are so thoroughly preserved I doubt that mold could live on them.
Just went a week ago to the MSI. Was visiting from out of town, had to show the GF the museum I grew up on.
A few bits:
– Hadn’t been there in probably 20 years. RADICALLY different, hardly any exhibit was the same, or in the same place. About the only things that remain as I remembered them were the color-coded stairwells.
– The pickled babies are still there, but relocated away from the curving wall to a darkened alcove. Still fascinating, but far more respectful for what you’re looking at.
– The sliced-man is also still there, but offset to another alcove (not a stairwell).
– The old ramp hallway with the circus exhibits (the ones where you stuck your face in the porthole to see yourself in the mirror) were moved to a boring old hallway of circus exhibits. Only two portholes remain, alas.
– The fairy princess castle is still in the same spot; ditto the old firewagons right outside the castle.
– Couldn’t ride the Coal Mine ride, there was a long delay. Felt gypped.
– The model rail road is even more spectacular nowadays, with detailed city models. Soooo neat.
– The “new” U-505 exhibit is first-rate, and worth the extra cash.
The aspect of it which gives me the particular squicks is the slices which go through his naughty bits. For some reason, that just gets to me. 
I love it, too. They completely rebuilt it some years ago (and switch from O gauge to HO gauge in the process). The models of downtown Chicago and (IIRC) Seattle are very cool.
I did the same thing 8 years ago; hadn’t been there in nearly 25, myself.
We did visit the Coal Mine; it’s not really a ride anymore. I was only in the mine once back in the '70s but I still remember riding in a mine cart sitting in the “classroom” in which they demonstrated how a lamp can set off a mine explosion. Now it’s mainly a trip down an elevator and some mining exhibits in a tunnel.
WHAT??? No more train ride??? WTF??? The Coal Mine is a so-called “classic” exhibit!! That means it’s supposed to stay permanently and never change!!! I mean, what the hell, it’s almost got landmark status!
Oh wait. The model railroad is a classic. And that changed. Now it’s better.
But still, no train ride? That absolutely sucks!
I can understand them not having a live piano player in the Nicklelodeon anymore, but not this. No coal mine train ride just plain sucks. Do they still charge extra for the coal mine then? They’re fucking crooks if they do.
The website still lists the mine train and the safety room as part of the exhibit so maybe they were just out of service when we went.
Sounds to me like Cecil needs to take an inventory of MSI exhibits to make sure the sacred essence remains the same. Assistance will likely be required for this, due to the scale of the place. In particular, somebody needs to volunteer for coal mine duty, since waiting in line for that is an all-day project (and was even when I was a Cub Scout). The description of the coal mine on the website makes it sound significantly different. My recollection is that you climbed a long stairs, then took an elevator down to what seemed to be the bowels of the earth (but was undoubtedly just the basement, the long hike up initially creating the illusion of depth). Then you got on the mine train for a twisty, noisy, dark, brief but nonetheless quite thrilling ride to the main exhibit area, where you saw the drilling equipment and such.
So, volunteers? We need to do this during the week to avoid crazy crowds, preferably starting when the doors open. If you can’t make it, you may at least wish to make additions to the list of can’t-miss exhibits that for you comprise the core MSI experience.
I was at the MSI in Sept 2006 as part of my “farewell tour”* when I was moving from Chicago to NC. Since I was doing this in mid-week I was able to do the coal mine tour, which I don’t think I had been on since I was in the Cub Scouts mumblety-mumble years before. It was just as I remembered it, including the long stair walk (not as much fun on my aging knees, but eased somewhat by the cute German tourists I was walking with), a long elevator ride down, the train ride, and the loud drilling equipment.
I seem to remember that the coal mine had been closed for a while, but can’t remember why. I was glad to be able to see it again in all its glory.
I can also attest to the quality of the vastly improved U-505 exhibit. I learned a lot of things about it that I had never known before.
*I bought a CityPASS and visited MSI, the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum, and the Hancock Observatory, most of them for the first time in decades.
Sounds like fun! I got lotsa time open next week. Any day but Thursday the 15th. Howzabout it?
There should be a chain of Science and Industry museums across the United States. The place is just cool and has absolutely anything and everything that would interest anyone and everyone.
If I am ever in Chicago (I doubt I would be, but if I am) I would go to that museum.