Wildlife Prairie Park, Illinois, United States

5172nancyj 5:00 PM Sep 19, 2017

The wildlife prairie park is great but the Red Santa Fe train Caboose rental?
This is our 3rd visit to the Wildlife Prairie part and our first overnite in the park where we rented one of the Red Santa Fe train cabooses for 2 nights. After reading previous reviews my women's intuition kicked in and I packed: paper plates, cups, a gallon of water, and fruit cups, trail bars, plastic silverware, paper towels and 1 roll of t.p. Hubby laughed, he thought why? Well..we arrived and there was garbage scattered all over.. due to wild animals or messy people? We collected the trash and put it into the bin. We entered the caboose..how did those engineers ever stand it? It was small, it had futon and bunk bed in one room, a bunkbed in the other. One sink in the bathroom, a shower with surprisingly good water pressure. A microwave, a coffee maker, a tv, a 'frige, a small table and 2 chairs. Linens and towels are furnished. I think this is 1/2 step above tent camping. I quickly wiped down the table, the counter top, the microwave, the windowsills. There is A.C. which runs well, but the adjusting knob kept falling off. The frig had a lot of ice build up but it kept our packaged fruit cups and water cold. Most of the time we hiked the trails, watched the wildlife [fenced and caged in] and had a lunch at the small café attached to a high school in the same building. The staff all were friendly and helpful and knew a lot about the animals they care for. At night in our Red caboose we made our beds and listened to the wildlife, especially the elk, bugeling. It was a once in a lifetime experience. If you rent a caboose or any of the other rentals available [remodeled grain bins, stables, etc.] just remember its like camping. Their brochures say "spend a nite" I'd say spend 2 nights so you can hike the trails and do the other activities available in the 'busy' season. We were there in the 'off' season. Still it is something we will never forget.

4Deb R 5:00 PM Oct 19, 2020

Great stay for October colors
Wonderful stay in lakeside cottage. Cute, kitchy, convenient, and very comfortable. We were expecting to 'rough' it a little and really appreciated the extra comforts. Park was bigger than I remembered, and we got in 4-5 hours of walking and never got to the western hiking trails. Great experience and will definitely be back.