The Aragon Ballroom – Chicago
The Aragon Ballroom is a beautiful venue in North Chicago that holds 5,000 people. It holds a variety of events from smaller bands to occasional big acts lie the 1975 and Twenty one Pilots this year for 2019’s The Nights We Stole Christmas Event held by WKQX 101.1 FM.
This venue looks fairly ordinary from the outside, but it’s magic lies waiting inside.
When you first enter the venue, you will walk down an arch lined hallway. Its very echo-ey and cold here, so if you have sound sensitivities, the sound bounces around in here quite a bit and seems naturally amplified. For us, this was actually the worst part auditorily, but ear plugs solved the problem.
Once you walk past the Merch area on the right and possible vendor tables on the left, you will see restrooms and a coat check on either side of the stairs leading up into the ballroom.
The stairs split in the middle, and either left or right staircase takes you up onto the ballroom floor, and here is where the magic awaits.
The Aragon Ballroom looks and feels like a Mediterranean Plaza, complete with canopied balconies (which serve as the VIP area) and turrets. Even the Ceiling is painted like the night sky.
It is a flat floor, so if you get stuck behind someone tall it may be difficult to see, but most places had great view of the stage. The side and back areas are elevated, which allows you to see over the crowd a bit. These areas are less crowded than the middle area. If you have a Sensory Processing Disorder, especially with crowd/tactile difficulties, we recommend the back and sides of the Main Floor, the VIP balcony or ADA areas. All ADA areas are upstairs, and reachable by elevator.
All bathrooms are on the lower, entry level floor.
Parking: There is pay street parking. The train station is only a few blocks from the venue.
Entry: Aragon will usually let disabled individuals in early (after VIP).
Stairs/Elevator:
The entry is flat, but the ballroom is upstairs, and reachable by either stairs or elevator; the balcony is reachable by elevator. The elevator is quite small, and will only fit one wheelchair/small power chair at a time.
Accessible Seating Area Details:
The balcony is the designated ADA area, but if you choose to sit on the floor, staff will usually do their best to accommodate you and get you in a safe place where you can still see. Abled people are allowed in the balcony as well. The view was not bad, but for someone with limited vision it may be harder to see.
