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.
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.
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.
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.[9]
This episode was confirmed and added to the United States Copyright Catalog on June 6, 2011.[10]
•Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card] •Another Krusty Krab Day - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Krabs reading party invitation] •A Fishy Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Squidward and Sandy reading their invitations] •Spongetwist New Full MIx - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez, James King [Larry reading invitation] ‣Horlepiep - Jan Rap [Mrs. Puff reading invitation] •Light Conversation 1 Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Plankton reading invitation] •PI Befuddled #1 percussion (close mic rev) - Pat Irwin [Guests arrive] •PI Befuddled #1 winds brass (close mic rev) - Pat Irwin [Guests arrive] •PI Befuddled #1strings (close mic rev) - Pat Irwin [Guests arrive] •Steel Licks 54 - Jeremy Wakefield [Everyone leaves] •New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr [First slide] •winds, brass PI Befuddled #3 rev1 - Pat Irwin ["Wait, come back!"] •Gator - Steve Belfer [Patrick spraying the camera with the Cheese Fizz] ‣Hop and Skip - Phil Green [SpongeBob's parents arrive] ‣Bobbins and Spindles - Ronald Hanmer [Great Barrier Reef brochure] •Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick drooling] •Who Said That- Jolly Good Fellow 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["No, I mean I really can't! I've been in this confined space too long already! Help, get me out of here!"] ‣Hop and Skip - Phil Green [SpongeBob's mom suggests a road game] ‣Armed Attack - Jean Clero [Patrick blocking the windshield] •Shop O Rama - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez [Car goes down the escalator] ‣Drama Link (G) - Hubert Clifford [Car flies through air] •High and Lonesome Surf - Pat Irwin [Car bounces down a racetrack] ‣Cosmos Adventure - John Fox [Car ascends into space] ‣Bucaneers 1 [#1] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Car falls back down] ◦The Road Song - Aaron Springer, Eban Schletter •Solo Steel 3 - Jeremy Wakefield [Family pushing boat] •Hillbilly Home - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Servis stashun] •Steel Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick laughs] •Steel Licks 48 - Jeremy Wakefield [Waiting room] ‣Fresh as a Daisy - George French ["Playgrooouuund..."] •Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["This looks more like a grayground."] •Tentacally Speaking - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Seesaw] ‣Thrill Ride - Gregor F. Narholz [Swing set breaks] ‣The Jitters - Raymond C. Jones [End of drain] ‣Crazy Mind - Harry Lubin ["Patrick, are you okay?"] •Steel Licks 40 - Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick climbing up the drain] •Steel Licks 33 - Jeremy Wakefield [Slide back down SpongeBob and Patrick] ‣Planet Surface - Gregor F. Narholz ["How long have we been walking here?"/"Well, I could've sworn that I heard..."] •Hawaiian Solo Steel - Jeremy Wakefield [Vending machine] ‣Planet Surface - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob and Patrick hear a growling for third time] ‣Fight the Beast! [#20] - Gregor F. Narholz ["It's getting closer!"] ‣Fighting Legions (a) - Gregor F. Narholz ["I know how to get us out of this!"] ‣Fight the Beast! [#20] - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob and Patrick falling off the cliff] •Wahini Wobble No Lead - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Patrick, we did it!"] ‣Dramatic Encounter - Gregor F. Narholz [Giant insect behind Patrick] ‣Fight for Your Life! - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob and Patrick swinging from vines] ‣Big Bad Giant - Paddy Kingsland [Insect flies away] ‣Excited Tension 2 - Phil Green ["Patrick, Patrick, did you hear that?"] ‣Carefree and Gay - Phil Green, Geoffrey Love, Ken Thorne [Gift shop] •Solo Steel 1 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob crying] •Bikini Bottom Bound - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["We did everything we dreamed of doing at The Great Barrier Reef."] •Steel Licks 41 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I suggest we start walking."] •The Road Song - Eban Schletter [Instrumental Road Song] ‣Dramatic Impact (2) - Ivor Slaney [Giant insect reappears] •Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr ["I think it's offering us a ride."] ◦The Road Song - Aaron Springer, Eban Schletter ‣Hop and Skip - Phil Green [Ending]
The episode was promoted as "Runaway Roadtrip" in the UK and Ireland, but the actual episode is still called "A SquarePants Family Vacation."[citation needed]
This episode is listed and called "SquarePants Family Vacation" in Turkey.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
This episode reveals that Margaret SquarePants knits.
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.
