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Continuing our series of Chicagoland casinos, is a trip to the Great White North. Better known as Wisconsin. For a land of Cheeseheads and Shit-Kickers, they actually have some pretty solid Injun casinos here.
The closest to us, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, is in lovely Downtown Milwaukee.
We load up the family truckster and head up I-94. If you have read my other local casino reports, we never just drag the kids to a casino. We try our best to make an actual trip of things. First stop on this adventure is Gurnee Mills, just before the state border to WI. If you are asking "What the fuck is a Gurnee?" That is the town it resides in.
Gurnee is most famous for housing Chicagoland's Six Flags Great America. But no time for that this trip, Daddy has some money to lose!
Gurnee Mills is not your typical Simon Outlet Mall. This place is huge, with all stores under one roof. They even have an ice rink in here and a Merry-Go-Round!
First stop on the adventure, Rainforest Cafe. No, not to eat sillys. They want $15 for a burger. But the space has no walls and you can peak inside like a pervert if you wanted to see a fake elephant wiggle. And that is exactly what we did, while eating our McDonald's breakfast.
We did wander into the gift shop. I learned many years ago that kids only want something then. If I actually bought everything they held, I'd have a house full of shit that they no longer care for. The baby got to hold a toy while we wandered around. Then he had to "Go back with his friends"...
They had a talking tree you can play with. She was pretty preachy though, don't do this, you must protect the forest ETC. I didn't expect Grandma Willow to endorse deforesting, but I also didn't expect a sermon with my shopping.
Free crocodile show and we were off to shop.
"Just for holding, not for keeping" But that is one adorable pig!
While Mom goes off to shop for some grownup stuff, we swing by the Bass Pro Shop and watch the fishes. Plenty of free activities in the mall, including a nice Chicago themed play area for the kids.
Finally the debauchery can begin! I-94 is a straight shot North from Chicago, Gurnee Mills is exit IL-132 (Grand Ave West). The "Pot" is I-94 exit 309B. It couldn't be easier to get here.
Here is a shot of the hotel, the entire complex is massive though. Over 1.1MIL SQFT. Plenty of dining, 4 casino areas and over 2,500 slot machines.
We get checked in pretty fast and head up to our comped room. Just like the Four Winds, rooms here are pretty pricey on the weekends. I would never pay $450 for the night, but I will stay for free.
View from the room is lackluster. But in all fairness, this is Milwaukee. What do you expect to see? Laverne & Shirley? Maybe Fonzie?
The casino is quite striking. Your two main areas are the older "original" casino and the newer one shown below. The "older" area has most of your video poker, but both sides have plenty of slots and tables.
Since we checked in later on in the day, I don't really have a full bankroll for this trip. But it doesn't matter since I caught a great bonus early on.
Started with 40 something free games on a $3.00 bet. Retriggered for another 40 something.
And another retrigger! I ended up with 117 free games, each with these exploding wilds.
This had to have been the longest bonus round I have ever sat through. From the first trigger, to the last free game, I sat there watching it all play out for a good 20 minutes.
Zero clue on why this paid out so much for just bars. I was chasing the bonus game, that never came, but did cash out with a double up of my starting hundo.
If you have read my past reports, I LOVE Aftershock. The music, the "Shock" mode. The simple payouts. The entire game is everything I love about gambling. This bonus was pretty decent. $147 for my $5.00 spin.
I nearly pissed away all of my Aftershock money trying to get the bonus on this one. In the end, the best I did was a $120 hit that ended in a $100 loss from where I started.
But I did make up some ground on an older In The Money slot below.
The Pot is great for older games like this. In all honesty, most Injun casinos are. They usually have many of the older classic games out there. Not sure if they prefer to own their games, versus leasing them, or what. I guess you could ask an Indian, if you could find one. I don't think I ever saw a Native American actually working in one of their casinos.
I do find a super fancy new Aftershock flavor. I had never seen this one before. After a pretty fun bonus, I was right back to where I left off after my 1st Aftershock bonus.
Swing over to this game next door, also new to me. I just love these cabinets. I hit a smaller progressive pretty fast, so I didn't bother to play more. Maybe I left some money on the table with this one...
A final strip of hits below. I end up running just $6,000 of coin through their machines (late start and all). At one time I was up $500 but ended up just $300 by the time I pooped out.
But up is up! Free room, free food and free $300? Yes please!
Pack up in the morning and grab breakfast in their food court. We are pretty much the only idiots up and rolling at 7AM on a Sunday. Stupid kids. Tummy's full, we head back onto I-94.
But no need to stop our adventure, I have $300 burning a hole in my pocket!
7 Mile fair, Wisconsin's largest Flea Market, is just 15 minutes away from the Pot. Exit 326
I used to go to this Flea when I was a kid. Plenty of cool antiques, old toys and bootleg VHS tapes to be had. Today, it is a completely different animal. There had to be half a dozen guys selling birds. Some for looking at, like a pet. And some for eating, like a chicken.
The rest of the Flea was now all dollar store type items, knockoff clothes and goods for the Hispanic type clientele. If you are in Chicagoland on a Sunday, there is a Flea Market called Wolfe's in the parking lot of the All State Arena in Rosemont, just behind the airport. THAT one is the bomb yo!
Not sure who thought to put a bunch of horses inside, but the indoor wing of the Flea smelled like piss and shit. The kids didn't even want to go near the horses since it stunk so bad. I assume if you ever shopped a bizaar in India, you would be fine with the smell.
But we prefer out shopping light on the feces...
Continuing home on I-94, take exit 340 and you will end up right next door to the World Famous Mars Cheese Castle.
Much to the chagrin of the big kid, the Castle is most certainly NOT made of Cheese. False advertising if you ask me. I guess the marketing on "Mars Castle Full of Cheese" doesn't roll off the tongue very well.
If you know anything about Wisconsin, their top exports are Cheese and losing Basketball teams.
And this place is packed full of craft beers, cheese and even a pretty good dining area.
We did skip the bar, but if you don't want to drink your craft beer in the parking lot, you can do so inside.
We opted for some fried Cheese Curds and sammiches. The dining area is pretty whimsical, honestly most of the place is. Well worth the 30 minutes diversion before we head home.
And with that, yet another winning trip in the books!
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