A SquarePants Family Vacation

Characters

• Eugene H. Krabs
• Squidward Tentacles
• Sandy Cheeks
• Larry the Lobster
• Mrs. Puff
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Template:Data:Links
• Pearl Krabs
• Patrick Star
• Harold SquarePants
• Margaret SquarePants ^{(first name revealed)}
• Template:Data:Links
  • Billy
  • Incidental 31
  • Don the Whale
  • Incidental 14
  • Steven
  • Frank
  • Incidental 105
  • Harold (Inc 36)
  • Incidental 40
  • Incidental 9
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 68
  • Incidental 37B
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 60
  • Putzy
  • Old Man Walker
  • Incidental 28
  • Sandals
  • Incidental 45
  • Incidental 8
  • Tom
  • Incidental 12
  • Carol
  • Incidental 102
  • Incidental 103
  • Incidental 47
  • Incidental 69
  • Fred
  • Incidental 13 ^{(light blue; normal)}
  • Incidental 37A
  • Incidental 49
  • Anchovies
    • Incidental 30
    • Incidental 115
    • Billy Fishkins ^(blue)
    • Teen 4A
  • Incidental 2 Template:Cameo
  • Incidental 16
  • Charlie
  • Incidental 152
  • Incidental 64
  • Angry Jack
• Baytona 400 announcer ^{(heard only)}
• Live-action cow
• Mechanic Template:Debut
• Jellyfish Template:Cameo2
• Forest Inhabitants
  • Giant blue anemone Template:Debut
  • Loud creature Template:Debut
  • Giant fruit fly Template:Debut
  • Flower creatures Template:Debut
  • Octodecapede Template:Debut
  • Triclops Template:Debut
  • Cyclops creature Template:Debut
  • Rock creatures Template:Debut

Synopsis

Act 1

In the beginning of the episode, everybody gets special invitations from SpongeBob, promising each the thing they love most in life. For example, SpongeBob says to Mr. Krabs that he will have free money, says to Squidward that he will have a latte sipping contest, and says to Sandy that she will have a science experiment. Everyone goes to his house, only to be surprised and disappointed that they are going to see vacation slides, which they do not care about. They are about to leave, but SpongeBob persuades them back.

File:A SquarePants Family Vacation 119.png

"Let's All Sing The Road Song!"

The adventure starts with Patrick squirting the Cheese Fizz on the camera. SpongeBob's parents pull up and get him and Patrick in. SpongeBob looks at a brochure and Patrick suggests a game- Hide and Seek. Patrick gets on the windshield of the boat and Harold yells "Egad!!!"' and loses control. They slide and burst into The Outskirts Outlet Mega-Mall, and Basscar Racing Stadium. Then, they fling off the stadium and head straight into space where a floating cow gets hit by them and lands on the moon. Then, they fall back down to the Earth and slide down a rocky cliff onto the road. SpongeBob then suggests they sing a road song. Everyone sings the road song, and at the end of the song, the engine blows up. They move the boat to a local service station. They wait in an outhouse. Margaret sees a playground and offers SpongeBob and Patrick to play on it. They do, but they slide down a sewer pipe and onto a small puddle.

Act 2

When they get up, they try to get back up, but they cannot. They enter a mysterious red kelp forest with many mushrooms. They hear a hollering noise and run. It turns out it is a small creature. They jump over a cliff, onto an anemone and onto a mushroom. Behind Patrick is a giant fruit fly. They run away and go behind a rock. They hear a noise. It came from a gift shop. SpongeBob wastes his money on useless knick-knacks. They sing the road song wearily. Then, SpongeBob decides to play the road song on a flute he bought at the gift shop.

File:A SquarePants Family Vacation 279.png

Giant fruit fly.

They walk along past Harold and Margaret and into the forest again. Animals follow them. The animals suddenly run away because the giant fruit fly is behind them. SpongeBob stops playing. When they turn around, they see the fruit fly wants to give them a lift. They then sing the above the road song. He drops SpongeBob and Patrick off. SpongeBob's parents call them over, but SpongeBob and Patrick just fall asleep. Margaret says "Do something Harold!" while Harold says "He's your son, Margaret, he's your son..." As the episode ends.

Production

This episode was in production on September 30, 2010.

During a tour of Rough Draft Korea for students of Yongsan International School of Seoul in 2016, various SpongeBob color background books were discovered for many episode segments. One of the books found was created for the second half of "A SquarePants Family Vacation," confirming that it was shipped to Korea sometime during October 2010.

This episode was confirmed and added to the United States Copyright Catalog on June 6, 2011.

File:12967920 473910576130180 5318106348810033595 o.png

A picture of various SpongeBob color background books, going as far back as episode #507, "Best Day Ever."

Promotional art

• Production artwork for the episode.
  Production artwork for the episode.
• Stock artwork for the episode.
  Stock artwork for the episode.

Art

Character design

• Designed by Virgina Hawes.

• SpongeAccordion
  SpongeAccordion
• File:Sb815Asc036 ma sponge.png
• File:Sb815asc036 Sponge Dad.png

Storyboards

• Storyboard panel for this episode.
  Storyboard panel for this episode.

Release

Distribution

• This episode is available on the SpongeBob's Runaway Roadtrip, Bikini Bottom Getaways, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 13, High Tides and Wild Rides, Complete Eighth Season, On the Road, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, 3 DVD Value Pack, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Next 100 Episodes, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, The Seventh & Eighth Seasons, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs.

Trivia

General

• This episode was initially called "A SquarePant's Family Vacation," which included the grammatically incorrect placement of an apostrophe.
  • In the UK, this episode was known as "SpongeBob SquarePants Runaway Roadtrip Part 1."
• This is the only special after season 3 to take up one production code, labeling parts one and two as "268-815A" and "268-815B."
• This episode was available on the SpongeBob's Runaway Roadtrip DVD, released earlier in 2011, before it aired on television.
• This episode on iTunes was paired with the short "Sandy's Vacation in Ruins."
• The original title for this episode was "Runaway Roadtrip." The DVD cover and the premiere event use this title.
• This is the first episode of the SpongeBob's Runaway Roadtrip miniseries.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick jump off the cliff, it is similar to what they do in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
• The episode was promoted as "Runaway Roadtrip" in the UK and Ireland, but the actual episode is still called "A SquarePants Family Vacation."
• This episode is listed and called "SquarePants Family Vacation" in Turkey.
• SpongeBob's mother's first name is revealed to be Margaret.
• This is the first episode in the series where Harold and Margaret both play a major role.
• This is the first episode to be rated PG in Canada.
• This episode reveals that Margaret SquarePants knits.

File:The Great Barrier Reef Billboard in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

File:The Great Barrier Reef Billboard in SpongeBob Simulator.png

• The Great Barrier Reef billboard later appears in SpongeBob Simulator.
• This episode preceded the premiere of a new season of "Camp Orange: The Lost Kingdom" in the UK and Ireland.

File:Runaway ratings.jpeg

Ratings charts provided by BARB

• • The episode received exactly 100,000 viewers on its United Kingdom premiere and was the third most viewed program on Nick UK for the week ending August 19, 2012.

Cultural references

• When the boat is sent flying into space, there is a cow jumping over the moon, which is an allusion to the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle."
• Baytona and Basscar are parodies of Daytona and NASCAR.
  • The Baytona 400 is a race parody of the Daytona 500.
• When the Service Station Worker is explaining what's wrong with the car, he repeats word-for-word an exact copy of what the mechanic in Mad Max 2 says what's wrong when another character asks about the condition of a semi-truck.

Errors

• When SpongeBob says, "I'm so glad you all could make it...," Mr. Krabs does not have any legs.
• When Squidward reads the invitation letter, SpongeBob's house is gone.
• When the boat is crashing through the Bikini Bottom Outskirts Outlet Mega-Mall, two incidentals who are walking near the edge disappear too early.
• When SpongeBob walks towards the outhouse, one of his blue eyes turns white for a split-second.

  File:SpongeBob's white eye mistake in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

  The white eye.

• When SpongeBob is on the seesaw while laughing, both of his blue eyes turns white for a split-second.

File:SpongeBob's white eyes mistake in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

The white eyes.

• When SpongeBob and Patrick stand in the Grayground puddle, they have waves around their feet, but Margaret does not have them.
• When SpongeBob says, "For a second I thought it was some scary monster coming to eat us," his left arm goes missing for a frame.
  • Also, in the same scene, his left arm partially goes behind his body for another frame.

    File:SpongeBob is missing an arm error in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

    SpongeBob's missing left arm.

    File:SpongeBob's right arm going behind his body error in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

    SpongeBob's left arm going partially behind his body.

• When the swing breaks, Patrick is seen bouncing down the hill, When he is next seen, he is rolling and the broken chair disappears.
• Pearl's red lips are missing when she comes to SpongeBob's house.

File:Pearl's red lips missing error in A SquarePants Family Vacation.png

Pearl's missing red lips (left), and when they came back after everyone says "I knew it was too good to be true!" (right).

• When SpongeBob and Patrick are falling, Patrick's eyebrows disappear.

  File:A SquarePants Family Vacation 259.png

  Patrick's missing eyebrows.

Videos

• File:Nickelodeon Split Screen Credits (October 22, 2011)
• File:SpongeBob SquarePants - "A SquarePants Family Vacation" Official Promo
• File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Road Trip - Nickelodeon UK
• File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Tourist Trap Nickelodeon
• File:SpongeBob and Patrick Escape a TOURIST TRAP! - SpongeBob
• File:The Road Song Remix by Lil Sponge B! 😎 ft. Patrick Star -
• File:"The Road Song" IRL! 🚙 - SpongeBob
• File:SpongeBob SquarePants - The Road Song (S8, E7) - Paramount+
• File:SpongeBob's Best Songs Ever! 🎶 - 30 Minute Compilation - @SpongeBobOfficial
• File:45 MINUTES of SpongeBob Songs 🎶 - @SpongeBobOfficial

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Des vacances en famille	Family Vacations
German	Einmal Chaos und zurück	Chaos and Back Again
Hungarian	Kockanadrág családi vakációja	SquarePants Family Vacation
Italian	Vacanze in famiglia	Family Vacation
Russian	В отпуск всей семьёй V otpusk vsey sem'yoy	To Vacation with the Whole Family
Spanish (American)	Una vacación familiar a lo Bob Esponja	A SpongeBob Family Vacation
Spanish (European)	Las vacaciones de la familia Esponja	The Sponge Family Vacation