Vogelei Park

Nice park with stuff for kids and nature/​fountain for adults. A little disappointed the small splash pad doesn’t turn on until 11.
Rock garden, flower garden, splash pad, bridges, amphitheater, fountains, playground.
See pics for more details.

Nice corner park that ends up being more secluded then expected for being at the corner of what used to be the most accident prone intersection in the state (ok in top 10 for years). Just far enough from the hub-​bub to get away while traffic dies down.

Hidden Park FOUND. I saw Laura N’s excellent review and it took me awhile to figure out where Vogelei was. NW corner of Higgins/​Golf but you are usually going BY there on the way somewhere else as have I.
I am sure I have been by here THOUSANDS of times, never noticed.
WHAT Laura said, and very refreshing breezy open space in the middle of the HoffmanEstates/​Schaumburg desert on the way to somewhere else.
FREE INTERNET! Nice break when you need one.
Haven’t been able to track down the origin of the name yet, but Activities are:
Biking, Playground, Picnicking, Fishing, Walking.
NO alcohol & NO BYOB. I’m also pretty sure a couple of the frazzled mommies had SOMETHING though…
I can add that unless you bring children or dogs you may feel a little out of place here so plan accordingly. My plan remains the same, just say «NO», and that is largely what I heard the mommies saying here so I did listen.
Have fun.

HIDDEN PARK ALERT! HIDDEN GEM ALERT!
When the sun came out one afternoon after a cloudy, dreary week, I knew I had to find some outdoor spot to frolic about in. Since I was in Palatine at the time, and wanted to go home to Roselle without driving too far out of my way, I pulled up the Unilocal app and typed in «park.» Too many places popped up, none were what I was looking for. So I tried, «zoo.» One of the first things to pop up was the Northern Illinois Raptor Center. What?! I did a quick search on what it was, expected there was some kind of magical owl zoo somewhere, and headed out this way.
The drive to this park is very easy to miss. I did miss it, and had to do a long turn about through a neighborhood to get back to the entrance, which is located off of Higgins at the intersection of Golf, in between a couple car dealerships. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Hoffman Estates Park District sign and turn RIGHT THERE. Then you’ll see a barn at the end of the drive and a park. Whew.
I got out of my car, walked over to the barn and older building, found locked doors, wandered over to a map, scanned the map, saw absolutely no mention of any raptors or owls or birds, and decided, «Screw it, I’ll just go walk around the park since I’m already here.» Fortunately, my disappointment was quickly dissolved after one leisurely lap around the park.
Here’s what Vogelei has:
— A pond that’s part of the Bio Swale Water Quality Initiative. I’m still not quite clear on what it is, but it’s a water system that cleans storm water runoff of man-​made chemicals while providing a habitat for animals and helping the environment. Whatever it was, it sounded and looked awesome — grassy, marshy areas, a walking path, a picturesque bride and gazebo. And white birds with long legs that fly away when I try to take pictures (darn bird).
— A rose garden. Not a very big rose garden, but it’s a nice little rose garden with blooms bigger than my hand. I kid you not. Crazy giant flowers.
— Lots of grassy areas for picnicking, hooping, and running around like crazy. The park district also holds concerts (mainly for kids) here sometimes.
— A playground jungle gym that’s shaped like a barn. Sweet.
— A splash pad! It’s basically a large, squishy pad with sprinklers. It’s turned on during the day — all you have to do is press down on one of the buttons on the padded surface to activate the water that shoots up. Yes, there is a chance you could get wet doing this. It’s fun. Take it from this lady with the crazy hair (oh, what a sight that must have been)!
— A conifer garden: an area with a bunch of tiny pine tree bushes.
— Safety town. One of those little set-​ups where kids can ride their tiny bikes around a little town and learn how to be safe when they cross the street and all that fun stuff.
— The barn. Apparently the barn holds some kind of banquet room that you can rent for events. Cool. The park district’s summer camp also uses the building for the kids — I kind of felt like a creep walking in there. Not sure what that other, seemingly abandoned building was for.
I probably spent a good forty-​five minutes lurking around the park. Not bad. Still no awesome owl zoo, though. Disappointed, I left and wrote this review.
As I was finishing up this review earlier this morning, I decided I really needed to go back and find that mysterious magical bird zoo before finishing this review! Back I went… and instead of an empty park, I was greeting with a full parking lot and tons of camp kids. Definitely not the kind of scene for aimless wandering with a camera. Fortunately, someone pointed me in the direction of the raptor center…
YES! IT EXISTS!
… which was in a cluster of tiny house-​like buildings, surrounded by a fence to keep people out. There were no birds. The birds will be on display later this year or something. Bummer, but so glad I figured out this mystery!
SO. This definitely isn’t your typical suburban neighborhood park. I won’t go out of my way to come back here again (OK, maybe I will — because I already did), but if I’m in the area and looking for a quiet park to hang out in, I’d re-​visit. Nice job, Hoffman Estates.

I planned to have my daughter’s birthday at my house — in my backyard. At the last minute, we found out it was going to rain so we had to find a venue stat. I called Hoffman Estates Park District and to my surprise and delight, they had Vogelei available to rent.
Vogelei has a great upstairs room that allows seating for up to 130 people. You let them know exactly how many tables and chairs you’d like and they do all the work for you. There was a person at my event that helped out and did what she could and then at the end of the party another member came and helped break down, we didn’t have to stay and clean up the tables and chairs which was so nice.
One downside was that it turned out to be a super hot, humid day and there wasn’t much air conditioning but it wasn’t so bad once you sat down and relaxed.
There is a small kitchen area with a fridge you can store cold food and a small room you could store all your belongings/​presents/​etc.
Definitely would recommend this place to anyone that is looking for a venue to host a party, bridal shower, baby shower, etc. Good luck!