Halloween and the month of October are, as one might expect, peak season for freaks. So, planning and offers typically begin much earlier in the year. It was early July when I was first contacted by Melanie LaJoie of A Magi Productions with a request for information and rates to be part of Universal Studios annual spectacular at their Orlando park; Halloween Horror Nights. Given the Universal Studios name and the fact that the park would regularly see in excess of 20,000 patrons per night during the month long run, I was understandably excited. This would also be the perfect way to launch myself as a solo act once again since I had recently left The Jim Rose Circus.

Initially, the idea was that I would do my full show (an hour to an hour and a half) a couple times a night. However, it rapdily became clear that budget restrictions and conceptual themes would be at odds with this setup. In fact, the entire project appeared to have been scrapped when I left for Argentina to film for the Susana Giminez show - but upon my return I had a number of voicemail messages from Melanie telling me that Universal was very interested in having me and had made another offer. Some more negotiations ensued and ultimately it was agreed that I would perform a number of short (15-20 minute) sets each night on my own outdoor stage within the park.

Getting to Orlando would be something of an adventure unto itself. I had moved to Austin, TX in order to be with Meghan, so that meant I would have to travel back to NY to pick up Scott and from there we would drive down to Florida. This was actually convenient in a sense because I had borrowed my parents truck to move my stuff to Texas and needed to return it to them in NY and get my car. Thus, began a trip that would involve more than 60 hours of driving and close to 4,000 miles, bring me from Austin to Albany to Ellenburg back to Albany and then to Orlando in less than 5 days. Luckily, it was incredibly uneventful (beyond some heavy construction delays) and actually even pleasant. I enjoy driving alot, watching the countryside and cityscapes and doing some thinking.

We arrived at hotel, the Quality Suites, early in the morning on Thursday, October 4th. The decision to spend a month here was influenced by the usual factors of location (moments from the park), availability (we needed a two bed suite for a month), and rate (an affordable $52.10 per night for the off season rate after discounts) - of course, the two free hours of cocktails daily didn't hurt either. After checking into our suite, we took a nap and got cleaned up before heading over to Universal Studios for meetings and walk throughs.