Here's the thing about Thursday: It's way too easy to start thinking of it as Friday Eve. So let's look back at Wednesday to remind us that today is still, in fact, a weekday, and not a tailgate party for the beginning of the weekend.
Disney World showed the non-Disney world the location of its eventual Star Wars-themed expansion — expected to open in late 2019 — and a whole bunch of adults who think adults who like Harry Potter are weird completely lost their shit. At least the Harry Potter people haven't started making movies about, like, Hermione's cat yet.
Speaking of wildly overpriced theme parks, Tampa's own Busch Gardens is still offering up one-day tickets for $45 as a summer promotion, which is more than half-off. That they've got $45 tickets is far less newsworthy than the realization that regular Busch Gardens tickets are $104.99 these days. (The promotion ends June 3, BTW.)
Speaking of super-expensive things, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino announced a $700 million expansion to its facility, to include another hotel tower, pool, ballroom and other attractive additions. It must be really cool to look at a $700 million price tag, sigh, and think, "there goes two weeks' income."
Tomorrow will be Tampa Bay Lightning Appreciation Day across the Bay area. Half-off beers for anybody dedicated/crazy enough to wear an official NHL jersey in 90-degree weather and 104 percent humidity!
And finally, financial site WalletHub's latest fun listicle ranked Tampa as America's 6th best city for staycations. Well, it's tough to go anywhere on vacation when you've already spent all your money on theme parks and gambling…
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 7, 2018.