National Lampoon's Vacation Trivia
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This National Lampoon's Vacation trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the 1983 original from the Wagon Queen Family Truckster to the SWAT team at Walley World: the John Hughes short story it grew from, the studio that thought a road trip was too episodic, the Harold Ramis and Chevy Chase rewrite, Aunt Edna and Dinky, the girl in the red Ferrari, the ending that test audiences hated and the John Candy ending that replaced it, and why the park could not be called Disneyland. It also follows the Griswolds through the sequels: the game show that sent them to Europe, the Lambeth Bridge roundabout, Stonehenge, the Hoover Dam and Wayne Newton in Vegas, and the 2015 reboot with Ed Helms and an Albanian minivan. Christmas Vacation gets a couple of questions here and its own quiz elsewhere. The early questions are for anyone who can hum Holiday Road; the later ones are for people who know which coaster stood in for Walley World and how much the original ending cost the film's continuity. Every answer was checked against a reference source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01John Hughes wrote National Lampoon's Vacation, but who directed it?
Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis shot it as a genuine road trip, starting in Colorado in July 1982 and working through dozens of locations in under two months.
Q 02National Lampoon's Vacation was based on a John Hughes short story with which title?
Vacation '58
Vacation '58 sends its family to the real Disneyland, and it is Walt Disney himself who ends up shot in the leg by the father.
Q 03Producer Matty Simmons said a Paramount executive told him Vacation would never make a movie because it was too what?
Episodic
Episodic, said Jeffrey Katzenberg, then at Paramount; Simmons shot back that a road trip is 'supposed to be episodic', and one Warner Bros. executive fought to get it made.
Q 04What slogan does Walley World go by in National Lampoon's Vacation?
America's Favorite Family Fun Park
America's Favorite Family Fun Park is Disneyland in thin disguise: John Hughes's story sent the family to the real park, but the film was not allowed to use the name.
Q 05What has the dealer done to Clark's old car by the time he tries to refuse the Family Truckster?
Crushed it flat
Crushed it flat: 'like a pancake', as Clark tells Ellen, which is why he drives home in a station wagon he never ordered.
Q 06What colour is the Family Truckster's paint scheme called?
Metallic pea
Metallic pea was the dealer's idea, not Clark's: he had ordered an Antarctic Blue Super Sportswagon, and is told the right car would take six weeks to arrive.
Q 07When his family wants to give up and go home, Clark declares the trip is no longer a vacation but what?
A quest for fun
A quest for fun: 'I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun', Clark rants, ten hours short of the park, before muttering 'I gotta be crazy'.
Q 08Which SCTV comedian plays Ed, the car salesman who sticks Clark with the Family Truckster?
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy's Ed promises 'You think you hate it now, but wait until you drive it', a line Clark is soon repeating to his own wife.
Q 09In which city does a wrong turn leave the Griswolds asking for directions in a rough neighbourhood?
St. Louis
St. Louis: a man asks five dollars for directions and keeps Clark's ten, while his friends steal the hubcaps off the car.
Q 10Which make of sports car does the flirtatious blonde drive past Clark in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Ferrari
Ferrari: the credits call her only 'the girl in the red Ferrari', and Clark nearly drives head-on into a truck while trying to keep alongside it.
Q 11In which state do the Griswolds stop to visit Cousin Eddie's family in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Kansas
Kansas: Eddie's farm is in Coolidge, where dinner is Hamburger Helper with no hamburger, which he says 'does just fine by itself'.
Q 12What is the name of Aunt Edna's mean dog?
Dinky
Dinky is still tied to the rear bumper when Clark drives away from the campsite; a motorcycle cop pulls the family over and hands back the empty leash.
Q 13Which comedy legend plays Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Imogene Coca
Imogene Coca, Sid Caesar's partner on 1950s television, plays Edna as pure spite: after her dog's death she sneers at Clark's choice of restaurant and adds, 'Dog killer.'
Q 21What is the name of Walley World's mascot in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Marty Moose
Marty Moose is Mickey Mouse with antlers: barred from using Disney's names, John Hughes wrote, 'Mickey Mouse became Marty Moose', and the family even sings his anthem in the car.
Q 22Which two California locations stood in for Walley World?
Santa Anita Park and Six Flags Magic Mountain
Santa Anita Park and Six Flags Magic Mountain split the role: the racetrack's vast car park plays the entrance, and the coasters the family finally rides are Magic Mountain's Revolution and Colossus.
Q 23In which Wild West tourist town does a saloon bartender 'shoot' Clark in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Q 14After Aunt Edna dies mid-trip in National Lampoon's Vacation, how do the Griswolds carry her body to Phoenix?
Tied to the roof
Tied to the roof under a tarpaulin, through a thunderstorm; finding her son away from home, they leave her on his back patio and drive on.
Q 15Near which landmark do the Griswolds crash and get stranded in the desert in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is where Clark launches the car past a 'road closed' sign, then staggers for miles in search of help, only to find his family already rescued.
Q 16Which famous sight gets only a two-second glance from Clark in National Lampoon's Vacation, just after he empties a hotel till?
The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon: refused cash for a cheque at the El Tovar hotel, Clark raids the till, leaves the cheque behind, nods at the view and hustles everyone back into the car.
Q 17What do the Griswolds find on reaching Walley World?
It is closed for two weeks of repairs
It is closed for two weeks of repairs, as a cheery recording from the park's mascot tells the empty car park; Clark's answer is to go and buy a BB gun.
Q 18Who plays Russ Lasky, the Walley World security guard Clark takes hostage?
John Candy
John Candy was a late addition: his scenes were written and shot months after the rest, as a new ending, because preview audiences had despised the first one.
Q 19Preview audiences hated Vacation's first ending, in which the Griswolds take whom hostage?
The park's owner
The park's owner, Roy Walley, was held hostage and made to sing and dance before Clark went off to jail; the reaction was so bad that a new ending was shot months later.
Q 20After Clark insists on driving to California, how do the Griswolds travel home at the end of Vacation?
By plane
By plane: the end-credit snapshots finish with the family flying back to Chicago, which is exactly what Ellen had begged to do before they set off.
Dodge City
Dodge City: warned that the Long Branch's bartender is 'an ornery cuss', Clark needles him anyway until the man pulls a gun and 'shoots' him, to Ellen's horror.
Q 24Which Fleetwood Mac member wrote and sang 'Holiday Road', the theme of National Lampoon's Vacation?
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham ended 'Holiday Road' with dog barks for a laugh, not knowing the film had a scene in which a dog is dragged behind the family car.
Q 25In National Lampoon's Vacation, the desert mechanic who takes all Clark's cash also holds which other job?
Sheriff
Sheriff: asked what the repairs cost, he replies 'How much you got?', and when Clark threatens to report him to the law, he laughs and shows his badge.
Q 26In National Lampoon's Vacation, what does Clark claim to do for a living when he finally talks to the mystery blonde?
Owns a motel chain
Owns a motel chain: all 2,200 units of it, he says, which he tours 'incognito' once a year, with his brother's family borrowed as a disguise.
Q 27How does Clark come to park outside the family's first motel in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Fast asleep at the wheel
Fast asleep at the wheel: having sworn he could 'go another 100 miles', he snores down an exit and through town until Ellen stirs, then brakes so hard the car spins into a space.
Q 28Which future teen-movie star plays Clark's son, Rusty, in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Anthony Michael Hall
Anthony Michael Hall caught the eye of the film's writer: John Hughes called it 'a remarkable accomplishment' for a kid to 'upstage Chevy', and went on to cast him in Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.
Q 29Which future 30 Rock star plays Cousin Eddie's daughter Vicki in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski made her film debut at 14 as Vicki, who stirs the family's Kool-Aid with her bare arm until Clark begs to take over.
Q 30Which Vacation sequel first dropped 'National Lampoon's' from its title?
Vegas Vacation
Vegas Vacation (1997), the third of five follow-ups, dropped the Lampoon name; it came back in 2003 for a made-for-TV sequel built around Cousin Eddie.