One of the unrealistic things about movies. If you are driving a 1000 miles cross country you would call the park ahead of time to make sure they are open! But that would've ruined the plot of the movie.
sharerealistically. at the bottom of the screen during the commercial, they would have the closing dates.
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i got that Justin Bieber please believe it
They wouldn't have called because they're stupid.
shareRight, but Clark was a moron so he didn't.
shareThe unrealistic part is that they close the entire park for 2 weeks. They would never close an entire amusement park to clean and repair it. They might close down certain rides or sections of the park to clean and repair but they would do it bit by bit, never the whole park at once.
shareNATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION
"Hi there. This is Clark W. Griswold, I'm planning to take my family on a vacation out to your park. Just wanted to double check to make sure you were open."
"Yes we are, sir. 24/7, 365."
"Thanks, bye."
THE END
Once drove from San Diego to magic mountain past LA. About a 2 hour drive if I recall. Sister and I got there and it was just like this movie. Nobody in the parking lot, closed for the week for repairs LOL. We were talking about how it'd be funny like in Lampoon's Vacation if it was closed (since it was traffic/hot and kind of a pain drive) and sure enough...
shareWait a tick. Wasn't Magic Mountain the actual filming location for the third act? And wasn't it closed in real life while the movie was filming? If not, how could it be shown deserted except for the Griswolds and the 2 security guards? And it WAS summer, Rusty (A.M. Hall) had a heat stroke. In real life. Although SoCal gets hottest after school starts. See 'Santa Ana'.
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Guacamole in my choos
Hmm, the entrance at Magic Mountain looked different than Wally World but my sister and I went years later (was like 2006-7 I think). Maybe it was the same, but no idea.
shareI lived in SoCal in the '70s and '80s, and all of those big amusement parks around LA are much different now, but it's been around 35 years since Vacation was filmed so that's not surprising.
For example, Disney California Adventure is built on what used to be the giant parking lot of Disneyland in the '70s and '80s. Knott's Berry Farm today is pretty much unrecognizable compared to the '70s/'80s. Magic Mountain has gone through several owners, changes of themes, and remodelings since the early '80s, and rides have come and gone although a few are still there from those days. I'm not even sure the main entrance is in the same place now as it was in the early '80s. To me, MM always seemed the least well arranged and focused amusement park of the big three in the LA area.
That's the sensible thing to do, but not the Clark W. Griswold thing to do.
My people skills are fine. It's my tolerance of morons that needs work.
"They would've called ahead of time and found out park is closed!"
Yeah, because that's what impulsive, stubborn trend-followers that make bad decisions do.