Jun 4–8 · Palmer House Hilton

Chicago
Trip Plan

Pokémon GO Fest 2026. Five days, four city districts, 80+ raids a day target. Saturday's park session ends with the Mega Mewtwo X & Y Super Mega Raid at new 1,000-trainer gyms.

"No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force." — Helmuth von Moltke

"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Trainer Archeious Friend code 3847 6500 8556
Park Session Sat · 2-6 PM Park Venue Grant Park
Daily Raid Target 80+ Pass Supply 400 + 18/day free
Apex Cluster 8 gyms · 7.3 min Apex Moment Sat 5:30 PM
01 The four things that matter most

Executive Briefing

  1. 01Sat 5:30-6:00 PM is the apex. Mega Mewtwo X and Y at new 1,000-trainer gyms during the final 30 minutes of the park session. Both forms catchable. Be inside Hutchinson Field.
  2. 02Cloud Gate → Aon 8-gym cluster is the evening anchor every day except Saturday. 7.3 min from the hotel. Buckingham Fountain is inside the restricted zone — only accessible Sat 2-6 PM.
  3. 03Thursday is the insurance day. First citywide day unlocks four district Timed Research challenges. Completing ≥2 earns a guaranteed Mega Mewtwo X or Y encounter — the Super Mega Raid backup.
  4. 04Zeraora via park Special Research. Its GO debut was GO Fest Tokyo (May 29); your Saturday park-session Special Research still grants the encounter (first-completion only — repeats give candy). Story unfolds inside Grant Park.

🚧 Restricted Park Zone

Per official Niantic venue map: the event footprint is the Grant Park strip east of S Columbus Dr, west of Lake Shore Dr, south of E Monroe St, extending south past Balbo Dr to the peninsula. Three zones (Recruitment → Cultivation/Conservatory → Team GO Rocket Hideout). Closed to non-ticket-holders. Contains Buckingham Fountain, Hutchinson Field, and the Super Mega Raid gyms. Access window: Sat Jun 6, 2-6 PM only. Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, and Maggie Daley Park sit north of Monroe — public all five days.

02 Day-by-day order of operations

The Five-Day Operation

04
Thursday · June

Arrival & District Recon

"Land. Drop bags. Activate the first citywide bonuses. Hit all four districts."
  • 11:52 AM ORD → Blue Line → Palmer House by 1:00 PM
  • Open Timed Research; identify the four districts
  • Loop → Museum Campus → River North → Lincoln Park
  • Evening raid hour: Cloud Gate cluster
05
Friday · June

Citywide Grind

"First full event day. Mewtwo grinding, Paldean Tauros shiny hunts, lakefront circuit."
  • Dawn warmup: Cloud Gate area + Daily Adventure Incense
  • Loop sweep: Luke's, Daily News Plaza, Willis Tower
  • Lakefront-south: Museum Campus + Soldier Field
  • Evening raid hour: Cloud Gate cluster again
  • Target: 80+ raids
06
Saturday · June

Park Session Day

"Everything is built around the 2-6 PM park session inside Grant Park, ending with the Super Mega Raid at 5:30 PM."
  • Morning: Cloud Gate cluster + citywide grind (~30 raids)
  • 1:25 PM walk to Hutchinson Field NW Entrance (Grant Park)
  • 2:00 PM Premier Access entry · start Zeraora SR
  • 3:00–4:15 PM: 4 Shadow legendaries + Sierra battles
  • 4:15–5:25 PM: Conservatory + Cultivation zones
  • 5:30–6:00 PM: SUPER MEGA RAID — Mega Mewtwo X & Y
  • 🍕 6:45 PM: Lou Malnati's pizza w/ Utah Valley PoGo group
  • 🎧 9 PM–midnight: Beyond Wonderland (🎟️ 2-day VIP purchased · attendance TBD)
★ Park session day
07
Sunday · June

Cleanup + Cubs Game

"Last citywide day, capped by a night at Wrigley."
  • Slightly later start — Saturday left you tired
  • Mewtwo grinding through midday
  • Museum Campus + Lakefront-south circuit (shortened)
  • 5:45 PM Red Line north → Addison
  • ⚾ 7:30 PM Cubs vs Giants · Sec 213 Row 3 Seat 23
  • ~10:30 PM game ends · Red Line back · sleep ~11:30
  • 🎧 ~11 PM–midnight: Beyond Wonderland closeout (🎟️ purchased · attendance TBD · tight window)
08
Monday · June

Field Museum + Departure

"Lakefront grind, then fossils, then ORD."
  • 5:45 AM wake (early — line-drop priority)
  • 7:15 AM check-out, bags at bell stand
  • 7:45 AM line up at Field Museum (75-min wait for first-in)
  • 🎟️ 9:00 AM doors open · sprint to Field Museum Store for Excavator Pikachu Plush
  • 🎟️ 12:15 PM Pokémon Fossil Museum public program (~$20 timed-entry add-on)
  • 3:45 PM retrieve luggage at Palmer
  • 4:30 PM Blue Line → O'Hare
  • 7:37 PM Delta 2376 (first class)

Full day-by-day routing →

03 What Niantic confirmed

The Bosses

Citywide raids run all event days. Park-only bosses are limited to your Saturday 2:00–6:00 PM session.

Citywide rotation

3★ Paldean Tauros (Blaze Breed)Shiny (ticket boost)
5★ MewtwoRemote invites work
5★ Zapdos
5★ Raikou
Primal KyogreRare
Primal GroudonRare

In-park only (Saturday afternoon)

5★ Shadow ZapdosNo remote invites
5★ Shadow RaikouNo remote invites
5★ Shadow KyogreNo remote invites
5★ Shadow GroudonNo remote invites
Mega Mewtwo X · 5:30 PM★ Super Mega Raid
Mega Mewtwo Y · 5:30 PM★ Super Mega Raid
"During the final 30 minutes of each park session, new gyms will appear that allow over one thousand trainers to take on Mega Mewtwo together."
— Niantic, official announcement

Both Mega forms appear. Catches come with the Pokémon GO Fest 2026 location background and the first Mega Level pre-unlocked.

Full Niantic-confirmed facts →

04 Anchor selection

The Cloud Gate Cluster

DBSCAN clustering of 4,065 metro gyms surfaces one density-connected cluster as the apex walkable anchor: 8 gyms, 378 m diameter, 7.3 min walk from Palmer House. Stand at the centroid and reach 4-5 gyms within invite range simultaneously — Cloud Gate, Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Monument, BCBS, Prudential Plaza, the two Aon sculptures, and the Ice Rink anchor.

Open the interactive cluster map → Audited raid loops →

05 The dossier

What's in the briefing

Schedule →

Hour-by-hour routing, all five days.

Strategy →

Cluster analysis, Super Mega playbook, Mewtwo counters.

Intel →

Niantic-confirmed bosses, hours, mechanics, ticket bonuses.

Map →

2,285 gyms within 10 mi of Palmer · DBSCAN clusters · walkable filter.

Walks →

10 audited 2-hour walks through Chicago neighborhoods.

Loops →

34 audited 60-min raid loops · 12-15 gyms each.

Roster →

Caught-and-shiny checklist · auto-saves to your browser.

Hundo →

Catch-screen CP card · spot 100% IVs without appraisal.

Prep →

15-day countdown checklist: counters, eggs, bag, Mega energy, gear.

Full Plan →

The complete PLAN.md rendered in full.