National Lampoon's Vacation

Question: In all the Vacation movies, the children are played by different actors. What is the reason behind this? Is it simply a joke?

Answer: According to the commentary from "Christmas Vacation" this is an inside joke referencing the fact that Clark is away from home so much with work, he hardly even recognizes them anymore. "European Vacation" could not obtain the same kids who played in the original Vacation, namely Anthony Michael Hall, and tried to cast kids whom looked close. Thus the joke began. No doubt the actors' aging between movies also plays a part.

Jazetopher

Answer: Ironically in 2003, Dana Barron (the original Audrey in the first film) returned as Audrey Griswald in "Christmas Vacation 2: Eddie's Island Adventure" although this film did not contain Chevy Chase, Beverly D' Angelo or a Rusty actor (Rusty not in this film).

Question: I've always found it odd that although Wallyworld is closed, the car park is still open and accessible. Is this normal for closed US parks, or could it be considered a goof?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: The parking lot is huge. There's really not any way to close the lot itself, but even if there were gates, Clark would probably have been oblivious to them by then.

Question: Where were the Wally World scenes shot?

Answer: The Wally World scenes were shot in two locations. At Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The parking lot scene was filmed in Santa Anita Park's large parking lot, whilst the scenes taking place inside Wally World were shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Casual Person

Answer: Harold Ramis voiced Marty Moose.

Chosen answer: Five times. The first time is when the Griswald's leave the house because the luggage hit the garage roof (00:09:05). The second time is going into the motel. The third time is about half way through the movie where two bags fall off the station wagon (00:49:00). The fourth time is when the station wagon flies off the closed road where every single bag falls off due to the crash (00:50:35). The fifth time is in the scene where Aunt Edna dies and Clark stops the car immediately where all but one bag falls off (01:02:30).

Casual Person

Chosen answer: Rusty was just being an ass. That's his character, him and his dad are usually going at one another. They really play up this relationship in European vacation.

Carl Missouri

Answer: Maybe, too, because he inadvertently killed her dog so maybe that killed her, too.

Kitty1019

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Christie Brinkley takes off her clothes and invites Chevy into the pool, he takes off his pants and we are supposed to assume he's naked. When he dives in you can see he's wearing flesh coloured underwear.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: No they show he is never naked, absurd post.

More mistakes in National Lampoon's Vacation

Cousin Vicki: I'm going steady, and I French kiss.
Audrey Griswold: So? Everybody does that.
Cousin Vicki: Yeah, but Daddy says I'm the best at it.

More quotes from National Lampoon's Vacation

Trivia: Harold Ramis' voice can be heard as a member of the SWAT team telling Roy Wally, "Everything is wrapped up here" just before Roy decides not to press charges.

Gibbsdoc

More trivia for National Lampoon's Vacation

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.