Tampa Bay’s ginormous and stylish romper room started way back in the day in 1965 as the kitschtastic Safety Village at the Lowry Park Zoo. That attraction evolved into Kids City, a mini-version of Tampa. Now, you gotta go deep inside the Glazer Children’s Museum, past the giant netted labyrinth called Water’s Journey and numerous eye-catching exhibits, to experience a newer, bigger, corporate-sponsored community with a miniature Publix, Carrabba’s, Outback and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Everywhere you look inside the museum, you see brand names and logos; it’s kinda like The Fifth Element meets Sesame Street. The biggest name of all — its namesake — reflects the museum’s single largest donation, $5 million from the family that owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The museum celebrates its first birthday with a big bash this weekend. See Do This for details. 10 W. Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, glazermuseum.org.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2011.
