Back in Orlando from taping Don Francisco, we began another week of shows. Things were going well, and relatively uneventful until the weather decided to intervene. A sudden and major storm struck the area. At the hotel we watched the rain pour down and the winds toss tables and umbrellas around the pool and into the hot tub.

When we arrived at the park that night, it was still raining but had lightened up a little. However, we soon found out that the storm had been even worse there - flooding streets and raining down damaging hailstones.

Our stage had been effectively destroyed and because the damage to houses and other areas, restoring it to show worthy condition along with getting lighting and sound back up was not a priority. The rain alone would have probably precluded most of our sets for the night anyway, so we were soon given the word to take the night off. We didn't just give in entirely though, before we did pack it in, I went out on what was left of the stage and did an extended human blockhead for the people who had braved the rain and were waiting for the house to open. The staff and security provided spotlighting with their flashlights and in lieu of a microphone I just bellowed as loud as I could.

The days following the storm were our off days for the week so we headed into Universal Studios during the day to hit some rides and go gift shopping. We very quickly went through the ones we had missed last year: Earthquake, Back to the future, and T2. Back to the future was definitely the standout among them.

Gatorland bills itself as the best half-day attraction in Orlando and I don't doubt that claim. Even taking into account my obvious bias, I think most anyone would agree that its a good time and value.

There are a number of free shows throughout and the day and you can take your time strolling about the various exhibits and enclosures at a nice self guided pace. This year we got a much better jumparoo show, with many of the gators working hard to get the free meal.